What Is ActiveX Technology?

ActiveX technology adds functionality to Windows applications.

ActiveX is the name of what Microsoft calls a "technology": a group of controls and programming objects that add functionality to Windows programs and applications. Microsoft developed ActiveX to help programmers create objects or controls that can be used to integrate PC operating systems and programs with content on the World Wide Web.

Common Usage

ActiveX controls are most often provided to users when browsing the Internet. They commonly allow Microsoft's Internet Explorer to use multimedia content such as Flash applications, sound or video that is embedded in web pages, or to provide different functionality to the browser such as toolbars.

Microsoft Platform

While any developer or programmer can create ActiveX controls using the ActiveX framework, the technology is designed to work only within Windows operating systems. Web pages that need ActiveX controls will not normally work correctly on Linux or Mac operating systems.

History

Microsoft developed the Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and Component Object Model (COM) technologies to allow programmers to use the functionality of existing applications within a newly developed program. ActiveX was an extension of both OLE and COM that Microsoft rebranded and released as ActiveX technology in 1996.

References

• MSDN Library: Introduction to ActiveX Controls
• Mozilla: Firefox Support: ActiveX
• MSDN Library: Creating ActiveX Components in C++