Alternative to ActiveX controls

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Alternative to ActiveX controls

Hi,

I am developing and application service and I want users to be able to query programatically (the service would then return back any data requested). My working plan now is to use ActiveX controls, but i have been told they are out of date. I was wondering what would be some more recent/platform-independent solutions out there? (I don't know much about controls) Any help would be very appreciated :)

Andrew

+1 A:

I'm not really sure about how you plan the application to function based on the the information you have provided. If you have a service and ActiveX controls you are really limited to certain Windows platforms. Assuming the ActiveX controls need to run inside a browser, you are limited to Internet Explorer.

Consider whether you need the service to communicate with other computers. Perhaps exposing the server with some sort of web services or web-based protocol would allow:

Access from other computers
Browsers other than IE to access your service

Update: To follow on from @voyager's comment on web services you are building a communications layer which could be written in TCP/IP sockets (low-level) up to Web Services (mostly XML over HTTP). Your service could listen on port 80 for HTTP requests and respond accordingly, or you could leverage a web server like IIS. This means you don't need to have your own HTTP/Web stack which may be desirable. With IIS you would have some web services which exposed your logic implemented by your service (service <==> iis <==> client/browser).

IIS provides a range of security options for intranet or internet. Connections can be secured with SSL and you can leverage various authentication methods (NTLM, Kerberos, Basic).

BrianLy 2009-09-12 17:56:47

Thanks for the tip...I think I should have been more specific:I don't need accessibilty over the web, only intranet.For example:If someone is making a program using C++ or something and running it on the same network as my application service...I would want them to be able to retrieve information from my application and use it in their code.I am looking for a secure way to do this...would web services qualify for this (I'm assuming you mean like XML?)Thanks,Andrew

Andrew 2009-09-12 18:26:19

Web services should be enough for that.

voyager 2009-09-12 18:32:34

Thanks voyager...what do you specifically mean when you say "web services"...running a web server and receiving/sending XML requests?

Andrew 2009-09-12 18:36:16

Do developers actually look for platform independent controls? .NET Winform developers are more likely to buy Winform components. MFC developers want MFC components. For all I know, legacy VB6 developers may be biggest market for ActiveX components.

My point is, by trying to appeal to the broadest market, you may end up doing the opposite. I would pick a specific platform and target that first. If it's successful, port it to other platforms.

Nick Hebb 2009-09-12 18:23:17

ansaurus

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