Imaging / ActiveX Components (ActiveX Controls, COM Objects & OLE Objects) / Microsoft (Tools & Add-ins, Controls & Components)

ActiveX Components (ActiveX Controls, COM Objects & OLE Objects)

Microsoft first introduced the term ActiveX in 1996 when they launched a downloadable user interface control or software component that could be used by Internet Explorer to give more interactive or active content on a Web page to the reader. ActiveX controls were a re-branded subset of OLE custom controls (OCX) or OLE controls (OCXes) that were streamlined for downloading over the Internet and that could be digitally signed for security and authentication reasons. These ActiveX downloads were also tagged or marked as being safe for scripting and safe for initialization, to help give users confidence in using them in ActiveX Internet apps, as they were less likely to start making unauthorized actions on their systems. ActiveX controls also supported threading models, such as Apartment Model Threading, to try and improve performance in a multi-user or multi-process environment.

OLE controls (OCX's) or Object Linking and Embedding controls were themselves the successor to VBX controls first introduced by Microsoft to help programmers extend the functionality and features of their Visual Basic program by buying and reusing a VBX control built by another programmer or company, with expertise in a specific area. VBXes were limited to 16 bit usage for example on Windows 3.x, OCXes were available for both 16 bit or 32 bit architectures and began being widely used as people adopted Windows 95, although most people tended to use VBXes on 16-bit systems and OCX controls or OLE components on 32-bit systems for performance reasons. OLE itself was based on earlier work by Microsoft in their Office products to allow data to be exchanged and reused as objects inside other documents or files, such as embedding an Excel spreadsheet in a Word document and updating the content of that Excel spreadsheet for display using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). Hence the term OLE document, that is still in use today.

OLE was part of the Microsoft COM or Component Object Model, that enabled programmers to reuse software components and services in a logical and object oriented manner. COM was extended and expanded over the years to include DCOM, the Distributed Component Object Model that allowed programmers to call OLE objects or COM objects situated on other computers or servers. COM+ was added to support transaction services using technologies such as Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) and this first appeared when Windows 2000 was launched to better support distributed transactions in more complex applications, where higher performance and throughput was required. COM has gradually become a common term used to refer to: COM, DCOM, COM+, OLE and ActiveX technologies in general.

ActiveX components can be created in a variety of object oriented programming languages, but are most commonly created using C++ and the Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC), such as: MFC 4.0, MFC 4.2 and MFC 6.0. When VB 5 was released in became possible for a Visual Basic programmer to create an ActiveX component for reuse by other people and whilst most programmers claim that the best ActiveX components were written in Visual C++ or by utilizing the ActiveX Template Library, it did not stop some entrepreneurial developers from Janus Systems writing one of the bestselling ActiveX UI controls of all time in VB5 and VB6, called Janus GridEx, a VB6 ActiveX, that gives the look and feel of the Microsoft Outlook UI inside your app.

ActiveX components and ActiveX controls come with a variety of file extensions such as: .exe, .dll and .ocx and these denote a certain type of usage either in-process as part of your program or app (an ActiveX DLL), or out-of-process as a standalone executable (an ActiveX Exe), as an ActiveX control or OCX control mainly used as a UI control on a form or page. Downloadable ActiveX controls are also packaged as .cab files or Cabinet files. These CAB files are packages of files compressed to take up less space and hence can be downloaded more efficiently over the Internet.

In this ActiveX Component gallery you will find a variety of commercial products that are ActiveX objects or ActiveX controls that people sometime refer to as VB controls or as a VB object, as they are often used within Visual Basic. You will find ActiveX Windows components that allow you to carry out visuals tasks, such as an ActiveX UI control for displaying video or images, an ActiveX image control or a non-Visual ActiveX upload component that will allow you to push a file up onto a server over the Internet using HTTP or FTP protocols.

Microsoft (Tools & Add-ins, Controls & Components)

The Microsoft software platform provides Microsoft developers with an array of Microsoft tools to create solutions for their customers and end users. The Microsoft applications that programmers develop can be created using the MS Visual Studio range of Microsoft development tools, including: MS Visual Basic; MS Visual C# (C-sharp); MS Visual C++ (C Plus Plus), as well as older MS dev languages and MS IDEs, such as MS Visual FoxPro. MS Visual Studio, the Microsoft .NET Framework and the more mature Microsoft COM platform can be extended to provide additional functionality to help MS developers create solutions faster. For example, there is a Microsoft add-in model that allows a Microsoft tool to be extended by other third-party companies, as long as they comply with the Microsoft addin model. As a result you can get a Microsoft extension for Visual Studio to refactor your Visual Basic code to make it easier to read or maintain and to speed up your coding by helping with code layout. Many Visual Studio add-ins are available, including add ins to do C# code generation for you, giving you a faster way to create an application from scratch.

Microsoft Visual Studio software can also be extended beyond the Microsoft controls and Microsoft components that are supplied within the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (VS IDE) to give additional functionality. You can get Microsoft .NET components from companies that specialize in writing Internet communications components or eCommerce components that can be programmed like any other Microsoft component and save you a vast amount of time and money in programming your next Microsoft project. Or you can get an advanced Microsoft control for charting that enables you to draw many more styles of charts and graphs than are available inside the standard Microsoft controls in Visual Studio. These Microsoft components are available in many different forms as: Microsoft DLLs or as a Microsoft library, or as a Microsoft ActiveX or COM component supporting the COM object model or for the .NET Framework as Microsoft WinForms controls or ASP.NET controls, or as Microsoft WPF controls for Windows Presentation Foundation applications or as Silverlight controls for Microsoft Silverlight developers to use.

In this Microsoft marketplace you will find lots of different MS UI controls, as well as non-visual components, Microsoft utilities and Microsoft plug-ins to help you program in Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++ & Visual C#. You will also find Microsoft visual tools written by ISVs that can be used by MS Access developers or by MS Office programmers as Office components to be embedded inside their MS VBA or VSTO apps. There are also SharePoint tools and SharePoint Web Parts for MOSS bases apps being created by SharePoint developers. Plus for SQL Server you will find Microsoft utility products that allow you to access or bind to your data sources, compare data, manage your data, backup your data efficiently and much more. There are over 1,800 commercial products compatible with Microsoft software shown here in this Microsoft product gallery and many come with free downloads or free software trials for you to use listed in our Microsoft downloads product pages.

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1. MetaDraw OCX  Average Review: based on 1 review

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Publisher: Bennet-Tec Information Systems  Primary Category: Imaging  Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

Give your application support for the creation, editing, and displaying of Metafiles. MetaDraw is a special purpose picturebox/image editing component. To your application, it looks like a standard picturebox, but it offers unique support for metafiles - a graphical format well suited to the drawing and/or moving of graphical objects - including the ability to tag individual graphic objects for HyperGraphic/HotSpot applications. Use as a metafile viewer with support for zoom and scroll.
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2. CapturePRO

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Publisher: Accusoft Pegasus (formerly Pegasus Imaging Corp.) Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET Class / ActiveX OCX

Perform robust capturing of digital images and video. CapturePRO interfaces with any video capture device that supports USB, FireWire, WDM, or native DirectShow including digital video and legacy Video For Windows devices. CapturePRO contains managed .NET, COM and VCL components (CapturePRO and TwainPRO) that perform image and video acquisition from video capture devices.
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3. GdImageBox OCX

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Publisher: GdPicture Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

A royalty-free Image Viewer component that can display most popular image formats. GdImageBox OCX is a royalty-free image viewer component that can display popular image formats like TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WMF, BMP, WBMP, PCX, PNM, PFM, J2K, JP2, HDR, JBIG, PSD, TGA, JNG, EXR, DDS, PPM, SGI, PBM, PGM, XBM, XPM, KOALA and IFF. GdImageBox OCX can be used within any 32-bit and 64-bit Windows development environment that supports ActiveX components, including Visual Basic 6 and Visual Studio .NET languages, Delphi and MS Access. Using GdImageBox OCX, you can view, zoom and rotate images, zoom in on a specific area, loop animated gifs, display multi-page tiff files, use the keyboard & mouse to scroll down and across images, select the display quality mode and read image exif metadata, including TIFF, GPS and THUMBNAIL tags. GdImageBox OCX does not include the Image viewer container class: GdImageBoxCnt (This is similar to a VB PictureBox in that it can contain other controls placed within it). GdImageBoxCnt is included in GdImageBox Pro ActiveX.
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4. GdImageBox Pro ActiveX

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Publisher: GdPicture Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

A royalty-free Image Viewer component that can display most popular image formats. GdImageBox Pro ActiveX is a royalty-free Image Viewer ActiveX control for developers who need to support popular graphic image formats like TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WMF, BMP, WBMP, PCX, PNM, PFM, J2K, JP2, HDR, JBIG, PSD, TGA, JNG, EXR, DDS, PPM, SGI, PBM, PGM, XBM, XPM, KOALA and IFF. Using GdImageBox Pro ActiveX, you can view, zoom and rotate, define a display area, zoom in on an area, play animated gifs, display multi-page tiff files, define your own zoom in or zoom out values, use the keyboard to scroll down and across images, and set an anti-aliasing & smoothing display mode. GdImageBox Pro ActiveX can be used within any Windows development environment that supports ActiveX components, like Visual C++, VB6, Visual Foxpro, Delphi, Visual Studio .NET, VB.NET, MS Access and WinDev. GdImageBox Pro ActiveX includes an Image viewer container class: GdImageBoxCnt. This is similar to a VB PictureBox in that it can contain other controls placed within it.
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5. GdViewer Pro ActiveX

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Publisher: GdPicture Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

A royalty Free Image and PDF Viewer. GdViewer Pro ActiveX is a royalty free Image Viewer ActiveX and PDF Viewer ActiveX control. GdViewer Pro ActiveX functionality includes: view, zoom, print, rotate, define display area, zoom on area, play animated gif, display multi pages tiff files, display PDF files, set antialiasing & smoothing display mode and more. GdViewer Pro can be used on any 32-bit and 64-bit Windows development environment that support ActiveX / COM components, including Visual Basic 6, VBA, Visual C++, Delphi, Visual FoxPro, PHP, ASP, Access, Windev, PowerBuilder, PowerBasic and more.
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6. ImageX

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Publisher: Fath Software Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX / ActiveX DLL

Add image viewing, printing and conversion to your applications. ImageX control easily adds image view, print, create and convert capabilities to your applications. ImageX supported file formats include BMP, DIB, GIF, TIF, PCX, EMF, WMF, PSD and more. ImageX can be used to create an image viewer, to create a full-featured graphics editor application, to acquire/scan images from TWAIN devices or to create windows icons among many uses. C#, VB.NET, VB 6, HTML, ASP, MS Access samples included.
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7. THBImage Enterprise Edition

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

Add professional graphics capability to your applications. THBImage control allows you to add professional graphics capability to your applications. Features include a PreviewScrollWindow for scrolling, Popup menu to access all zooming functions and integrated printing capabilities allowing you to print images with a single statement. You can copy/paste images from/to the clipboard, draw smooth shaded color gradients. THBImage products include .NET, C#, VB.NET, ActiveX, COM and Dll versions. Buying a license or upgrade license includes 1 Year product specific support and download access to software updates.
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8. THBImage Professional

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

Add professional graphics capability to your applications. THBImage control allows you to add professional graphics capability to your applications. Features include a PreviewScrollWindow for scrolling, Popup menu to access all zooming functions and integrated printing capabilities allowing you to print images with a single statement. You can copy/paste images from/to the clipboard, draw smooth shaded color gradients. THBImage products include .NET, C#, VB.NET, ActiveX, COM and Dll versions. Buying a license or upgrade license includes 1 Year product specific support and download access to software updates.
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9. THBImage Standard Edition

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

Add professional graphics capability to your applications. THBImage control allows you to add professional graphics capability to your applications. Features include a PreviewScrollWindow for scrolling, Popup menu to access all zooming functions and integrated printing capabilities allowing you to print images with a single statement. You can copy/paste images from/to the clipboard, draw smooth shaded color gradients. THBImage products include .NET, C#, VB.NET, ActiveX, COM and Dll versions. Buying a license or upgrade license includes 1 Year product specific support and download access to software updates
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10. THBVector Standard Edition

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

An advanced vector data processing component. THBVector holds one or more vector layers where each layer contains geometry objects and you can insert or delete layers. Geometry objects can be manually created and put into layers. You can create objects like point, line, line string, rectangle, polygon, polygon with holes, circle and ellipse. With THBVector you can edit, store, process, analyse your vector and geometry data . THBVector can render raster image data and vector data at more than 50 frames per second using DirectX or Toggle between DirectX and GDI rendering at runtime. THBVector is ideally suited for annotation purposes too.
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MetaDraw OCX

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MetaDraw OCX

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Imaging / ActiveX Components (ActiveX Controls, COM Objects & OLE Objects) / Microsoft (Tools & Add-ins, Controls & Components)

ActiveX Components (ActiveX Controls, COM Objects & OLE Objects)

Microsoft (Tools & Add-ins, Controls & Components)

Related News

Royalty-free image viewers now available

Manipulate vector data with THBVector

1. MetaDraw OCX Average Review: based on 1 review

Publisher: Bennet-Tec Information Systems Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

2. CapturePRO

Publisher: Accusoft Pegasus (formerly Pegasus Imaging Corp.) Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET Class / ActiveX OCX

3. GdImageBox OCX

Publisher: GdPicture Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

4. GdImageBox Pro ActiveX

Publisher: GdPicture Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

5. GdViewer Pro ActiveX

Publisher: GdPicture Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX

6. ImageX

Publisher: Fath Software Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / ActiveX OCX / ActiveX DLL

7. THBImage Enterprise Edition

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

8. THBImage Professional

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

9. THBImage Standard Edition

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

10. THBVector Standard Edition

Publisher: THBComponentware Primary Category: Imaging Product Type: Component / .NET WinForms / ActiveX OCX / DLL

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