vb-activex

[kathir]

what is the actual difference between standard EXE and activeX EXE?

[Chris Eastwood]

Hi

An ActiveX EXE is an executable program which can also have Objects created from it (eg. Word, Excel, Outlook etc). To make an ActiveX EXE you can either start a new project as an ActiveX EXE or change the project type in the Project options dialog.

You must have at least one publically creatable class module in your ActiveX EXE for it to be any use as an Automation Server.

The ActiveX EXE can be started in two ways - normal command line / double clicking, or by creating an instance of the public class module. The following rules are implemented when an ActiveX EXE starts :

eg.

1. If the EXE has a starup of Sub Main() then that is called first when an instance of the class is created.

2. If the EXE has a Form as startup, then that is ignored if the EXE is started by creating an instance of the class.

3. You can check how the exe was started in it's code by looking at the App.StartMode property (see the VB help for more details).



Chris Eastwood

CodeGuru - the website for developers
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