How do you create multiple versions of an ActiveX control?

Question

Hopefully this is a straightforward question, but googling has proved fruitless (and frustrating, to say the least). Links to good documentation would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the problem. We have a web application with an associated ActiveX control. (The control wraps a crufty old MFC application if it matters.) Moving forward, we expect to release multiple versions of this application, and each will have a corresponding version of the control.

If someone accesses two versions of the web application, then that user should end up with two different versions of the control on his system. (The controls should play nice and not clobber each other.) In addition, I want to automate this process. Our system has a global version number that applies to all components. If we change the version number, the next build should produce a new version of the control.

What's the best way to do this?

Answer 1

If your ActiveX control is exactly the same for all versions of your application, you shouldn’t change control’s version to avoid annoying installation process for end users. AX version is needed for automatic update if it is necessary.

If control differs for each version, I would use different CLSIDs for controls.