Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

Hello,

I am creating a Vista Sidebar gadget that depends on an ActiveX control.  I 
have gotten it to work if the ActiveX control is specified by an <OBJECT> 
tag within HTML.  I can write JScript to sink events OK.

Ideally, I'd like to create the ActiveX control with

    new ActiveXObject()

instead, because this will let me register the ActiveX control prior to 
instantiating it.  (The <OBJECT> tag tries only once when the page loads to 
instantiate the control, and since the page itself has script to register 
the control, this is too early.)

However, it seems an object created with  "new ActiveXObject()"  can't sink 
events.  At least I haven't found a way for it to.

Is there a way to

    a) dynamically create an ActiveX object
    b) that sinks events
    c) in JScript
    d) that runs in IE

I think it's possible if the script host is Wscript or CScript, but not IE. 
This is maddening!!  :-O


Thanks,
David

date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 16:20:32 -0800 author: David Ching

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

David Ching  wrote:
> However, it seems an object created with  "new ActiveXObject()" can't 
> sink events.

As far as I can tell, this is correct.

> Is there a way to
>
>    a) dynamically create an ActiveX object
>    b) that sinks events
>    c) in JScript
>    d) that runs in IE

To the best of my knowledge, no.

> I think it's possible if the script host is Wscript or CScript

Quite.
-- 
With best wishes,
    Igor Tandetnik

With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not 
necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to 
land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly 
overhead. -- RFC 1925

date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 19:29:45 -0500 author: Igor Tandetnik

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

Igor Tandetnik wrote:
> David Ching  wrote:
>> However, it seems an object created with  "new ActiveXObject()" can't
>> sink events.
>
> As far as I can tell, this is correct.
>


Unless you use a 3rd party helper component like ScriptX (in the free 
feature set)...


>> Is there a way to
>>
>>    a) dynamically create an ActiveX object
>>    b) that sinks events
>>    c) in JScript
>>    d) that runs in IE
>
> To the best of my knowledge, no.
>
>> I think it's possible if the script host is Wscript or CScript
>
> Quite.

-- 
Michael Harris
Microsoft.MVP.Scripting

date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 17:35:07 -0800 author: Michael Harris \(MVP\) mikhar.at.mvps.dot.org

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

"David Ching"  wrote in message
news:12upcuja7gs6ub4@news.supernews.com...
> Hello,
>
> I am creating a Vista Sidebar gadget that depends on an ActiveX control.
I
> have gotten it to work if the ActiveX control is specified by an <OBJECT>
> tag within HTML.  I can write JScript to sink events OK.
>
> Ideally, I'd like to create the ActiveX control with
>
>     new ActiveXObject()
>
<snip>

Is this control something you have written?  If so what language?

date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 09:20:03 -0000 author: Anthony Jones

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

> Is there a way to
>
>    a) dynamically create an ActiveX object
>    b) that sinks events
>    c) in JScript
>    d) that runs in IE

Can you dynamically insert the OBJECT tag into the document, then use 
..readyState in a setTimeout to wait until it's loaded?

It may help that there is a special syntax for event handlers in IE:

function myobject::myevent() { ... }

The double-colon syntax was documented in one MSDN article and I can't find 
it at the moment.

date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 08:48:12 -0500 author: Dave Methvin

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

> It may help that there is a special syntax for event handlers in IE:
>
> function myobject::myevent() { ... }
>
> The double-colon syntax was documented in one MSDN article and I
> can't find it at the moment.

Scripting Events
<http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms974564.aspx>

-- 
Michael Harris
Microsoft.MVP.Scripting

date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 17:27:34 -0800 author: Michael Harris \(MVP\) mikhar.at.mvps.dot.org

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

"Anthony Jones"  wrote in message 
news:O0wFhC9XHHA.2448@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> Is this control something you have written?  If so what language?
>

Yes, the ActiveX control is my own and was created in C++/ATL.

-- David

date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 12:23:18 -0800 author: David Ching

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

"Dave Methvin"  wrote in message 
news:eu8Oh9LYHHA.688@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> It may help that there is a special syntax for event handlers in IE:
>
> function myobject::myevent() { ... }
>

Thank you, this works for objects created with <OBJECT> tag but not for 
objects created with

    new ActiveXObject()

This is because the functions are parsed when the page is loaded, and the 
object created with "new ActiveXObject" does not get created until the 
script starts running.  Therefore, the parser has no way of knowing the name 
of the object.

BTW, the '::' method was the only way that I could sink events in IE at all, 
and that only works for <OBJECT>.  It's really stupid.  Whoever invented 
this COM thing should have made sure the same methods worked for all clients 
so we don't have this hodge podge of methods that work with "this host but 
not that one".  I guess that's why we have .NET now so that everything is 
uniform.

-- David (MVP - Visual C++)

date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 12:22:08 -0800 author: David Ching

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

"David Ching"  wrote in message 
news:12upcuja7gs6ub4@news.supernews.com...
> Is there a way to
>
>    a) dynamically create an ActiveX object
>    b) that sinks events
>    c) in JScript
>    d) that runs in IE
>

Thanks for all the replies!  I appreciate them very much.

After a few days of fiddling with this, I came up with a solution.  Since 
the "new ActiveXObject" could not sink events, I was stuck using the 
<OBJECT> tag.  So I wrote script that registers the COM object (if not 
already registered) and then reloads the page so that the <OBJECT> tag is 
reparsed and the object can then be created after the control has been 
registered.  Here's the script:

<SCRIPT language=JSCRIPT>
   function main()
    {
        if ( ctl && ctl.object ) // already registered -- thanks to Igor 
Tandetnik for providing this technique
        {
            ctl.Init();             // Inititalize it
        }
        else
        {
            window.setTimeout("DoRegister()", 500); // timeout fixes gadget 
appears in offset position sometimes
        }
    }

    function DoRegister()
    {
        // Register the COM object, then reload the page so the COM object 
can be instantiated now that it's
        // registered.
        RegisterCOMObject();
        window.location.reload();
    }
</script>


    function RegisterCOMObject()
    {
        // COM Object registration is from 
http://www.codeproject.com/gadgets/GadgetInterop.asp
        // Register the COM object under the Current User registry key
        var wshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");

        wshShell.RegWrite(root + "\\Software\\Classes\\" + progID + "\\", 
"");
        wshShell.RegWrite(root + "\\Software\\Classes\\" + progID + 
"\\CLSID\\", clsID);

        ...
    }

<body onload="JSCRIPT:main();">
    <OBJECT ID="ctl" 
CLASSID="CLSID:475C0DF3-4CA5-4D22-9ACE-F80FAB36B4F0"></OBJECT>

    <script>
     function ctl::OnKeyDown(vkKey, repeat, locked)
     {
            // Sink event from my ActiveX control
           ...
     }
    </script>
</body>


-- David (MVP - Visual C++)

date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 12:33:08 -0800 author: David Ching

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

David Ching wrote ::
> Hello,

> The <OBJECT> tag tries only once when the page loads to 
> instantiate the control, and since the page itself has script to register 
> the control, this is too early.

Change the classid of Object tag with script to update the object when the 
control is registered.

Good Luck, Ayush.
-- 
Setup Outlook Express to read MS Newsgroups :
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/support/newsgroups/howto.mspx

date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:07:27 -0600 author: Ayush ayushmaan.j[aatt]gmail.com

Re: Is <OBJECT> the only way in IE for an ActiveX control to sink events

"David Ching"  wrote in message
news:12v0s6btmph9374@news.supernews.com...
> "Anthony Jones"  wrote in message
> news:O0wFhC9XHHA.2448@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> >
> > Is this control something you have written?  If so what language?
> >
>
> Yes, the ActiveX control is my own and was created in C++/ATL.
>
> -- David
>

In that case an alternative to an event is to pass into your control a
JScript function:-
CComPtr<IDispatch> m_pOnSomeEvent;

STDMETHODIMP CYourClass::putref_onsomevent(LPDISPATCH newVal)
{
 m_pOnSomeEvent = newVal;
 return S_OK;
}

void CYourClass::raiseSomeEvent(ULONG SomeValue)
{
 HRESULT hr;
 if(m_pOnSomeEvent==NULL)
 {
  return;
 }

 DISPID dispid;
 OLECHAR FAR* szMember = L"call";
 DISPPARAMS dispparams;
 VARIANTARG * pvarg = NULL;

 hr = m_pOnSomeEvent->GetIDsOfNames(IID_NULL, &szMember, 1,
LOCALE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT, &dispid );
 if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
 {
  pvarg = new VARIANTARG[2];
  dispparams.rgvarg=pvarg;
  dispparams.rgvarg[0].vt= VT_I4;
  dispparams.rgvarg[0].intVal = SomeValue;
  dispparams.rgvarg[1].vt= VT_DISPATCH;
  this->QueryInterface(IID_IDispatch,
(void**)&dispparams.rgvarg[1].pdispVal);
  dispparams.cArgs=2;
  dispparams.cNamedArgs = 0;
  hr =
m_pOnSomeEvent->Invoke(dispid,IID_NULL,LOCALE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT,DISPATCH_METHOD
,&dispparams, NULL, NULL, NULL);

  delete(pvarg);
 }
}

Now in your JScript code like this should work:-

var o = new ActiveXObject("YourLib.YourClass")
o.onsomeevent = fnOnSomeEvent

function fnOnSomeEvent(Value)
{
    alert('Some Event value is :" + Value.toString())
}

Ok so it's not really an event, you can't use attachEvent but it ought to
work for what you seem to need.

Anthony.

date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 09:55:45 -0000 author: Anthony Jones