ActiveX and COM

[eida_hanafiah]

1. What is ActiveX and COM?
2. What is the difference between those two?
3. Where can learn easy/simple more about this on the internet?

[Wak]

Is far as I know:

Active X only recreates existing events from controls, and properties are similar or less complex. Active X is a highly developed verion of the old OLE. It is used in VB and higher level languages.

COM is more low lovel, and deals with more specific functions and events, by recreating them from scratch using API SendMessage, for example. It is more commonly used in C and C++ ect.

For a begginer, I'd say start off in Active X, as there is no real use for COM unless you are trying to make a whole new control, or a control that doesn't follow the windows standards.

Active X controls, usually consist of a group of controls, that interact with eachother inside their own container, but they too can be individual controls.

The real advantage to COM is the size. But it is not noticeable when making smaller controls.

I recommend that you read up on COM as it is the glue that binds ... a good book is VB COM by Thomas Lewis ..WROX PRESS ...about 30 bucks but covers both areas well ......... p.s. each time a "class" is declared it is a declaration of a COM Interface with Implementation.

[Edited by wen-sar on 01-02-2001 at 02:07 PM]