ActiveX Control Containers
An ActiveX control container is a container that fully supports ActiveX controls and can incorporate them into its own windows or dialogs. An ActiveX control is a reusable software element that you can use in many development projects. Controls allow your application's user to access databases, monitor data, and make various selections within your applications. For more information on ActiveX controls, see the article MFC ActiveX Controls.
Important
ActiveX is a legacy technology that should not be used for new development. For more information, see ActiveX Controls.
Control containers typically take two forms in a project:
Dialogs and dialog-like windows such as form views, where an ActiveX control is used somewhere in the dialog box.
Windows in an application, where an ActiveX control is used in a toolbar, or other location in the user window.
The ActiveX control container interacts with the control via exposed methods and properties. These methods and properties, which can be accessed and modified by the control container, are accessed through a wrapper class in the ActiveX control container project. The embedded ActiveX control can also interact with the container by firing (sending) events to notify the container that an action has occurred. The control container can choose to act upon these notifications or not.
Additional articles discuss several topics, from creating an ActiveX control container project to basic implementation issues related to ActiveX control containers built with Visual C++:
ActiveX Control Containers: Manually Enabling ActiveX Control Containment
ActiveX Control Containers: Inserting a Control into a Control Container Application
ActiveX Control Containers: Connecting an ActiveX Control to a Member Variable
ActiveX Control Containers: Handling Events from an ActiveX control
ActiveX Control Containers: Viewing and Modifying Control Properties
ActiveX Control Containers: Programming ActiveX Controls in an ActiveX Control Container
ActiveX Control Containers: Using Controls in a Non-Dialog Container
For more information about using ActiveX controls in a dialog box, see the Dialog Editor topics.
For a list of articles that explain the details of developing ActiveX controls using Visual C++ and the MFC ActiveX control classes, see MFC ActiveX controls. The articles are grouped by functional categories.