Adding COM/ActiveX controls

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How to add a COM/ActiveX control to your project.


First, add the COM/ActiveX control file to your Thinstall project.

·

How to add files to your Thinstall Project.

·

How to determine what COM controls are needed by your application.

Next, decide if your control will be shared with other applications, or only used by your application (Private)

Private Controls

A Private controls can be used by your application without installation or system registration. Private controls have many advantages:

·	Write permission to system registry is not needed

·	File does not need to be extracted to system directory

·	Never creates conflicts with other applications due to versioning or uninstalls

·	Multiple versions of the same control can be used at the same time by different applications

To create a private control:

1. After adding the file to your project, right click on it and select:
DLL/OCX Registration -> Record registry script during build
During the Build stage, Thinstall will record a registry script for this DLL and add it to the final EXE.



Shared Controls

If are providing COM/ActiveX controls that need to be loaded by other applications, then you must choose a system-install.

To do this:
1. enable Thinstall's Installer.
2. Right click on the DLL/OCX/EXE file inside your project and select :
DLL/OCX Registration -> System Extract / System Register



Controls that must be installed to the system using the installer are mainly limited to
plugins that will be loaded by other applications, for example Internet Explorer Plugins

·	Click here for more information about COM/ActiveX registration.

·	Click here for an article describing some of the problems that occur when installing COM/ActiveX controls.