Multimedia / ActiveX Components (ActiveX Controls, COM Objects & OLE Objects) / Visual Studio .NET (Tools & Add-ins, Controls & Components) - Top Reviews

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 Visual Studio .NET (MS Visual Studio .NET) allows Visual Studio .NET programmers to create Windows applications for their end users fast. Visual Studio .NET developers can extend the standard functionality available inside the Visual Studio .NET IDE with a variety of Visual Studio .NET add-ins and Visual Studio .NET tools. The extensibility of Visual Studio .NET software is one of the main reasons it has proved to be so popular with developers, as Visual Studio .NET software engineers can find Visual Studio .NET downloads from other companies or other developers to act as a Visual Studio .NET extension to their Visual Studio .NET IDE.

The versatility of Visual Studio .NET also extends to various forms of Visual Studio .NET software components. Visual Studio .NET controls can be used to create feature rich Visual Studio .NET user interfaces on forms and Web pages for Visual Studio .NET apps. These Visual Studio .NET UI controls are augmented by non-visual Visual Studio .NET components or Visual Studio .NET libraries that can help a developer add many hidden features in Visual Studio .NET applications running in the background. These non-visual components are commonly available as a Visual C++ library, Visual C++ Class library, Visual Basic library, Visual Basic Class library or as a Visual Basic custom control or ActiveX/OCX component.

An example of a visual Visual Studio .NET control is Janus GridEx for .NET, a .NET UI control that allows you to create an MS Outlook style or look and feel to your latest Visual Basic project. A non-visual .NET component example is a Visual Studio .NET compatible product that allows you to create and output files in different formats, such as: PDF, XPS, PostScript, RTF, HTML, XML to help solve file conversion and document storage needs.

Other examples of a visual Visual Studio .NET control is BCGControlBar Professional, a Visual C++ Class Library that allows you to create an MS Office Ribbon style or look and feel to your latest Visual C++ project. A non-visual Visual C++ Class Library component example is a Visual C++ compatible product call IP*Works! C++ Edition that allows you to send emails via SMTP and POP or to transfer files reliably  using HTTP or FTP Internet protocols from within your Visual C++ program.

The Visual Studio .NET software products listed in this Visual Studio .NET product gallery will allow you to save a lot of time and effort in creating your new Visual Studio .NET app. Whether you are looking for a Visual Studio .NET plug-in or Visual Studio .NET utility, or you are looking for a Visual Studio .NET control or a Visual Studio .NET component, you will be able to find a wide variety of Visual Studio .NET tools to help you finish your project faster.

We also have other Visual Studio product galleries for: Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio compatible products.