As
sites move away from the thick clients solely on the OS, web applications are relying on
ActiveX controls that will still depend on the OS but now reside inside the browser itself.
Using some type of client with a web application is becoming more popular as applications
try to do more on the web than simply display static content.
ActiveX is a Component Object Model (COM) object. COM is used to enable interprocess
communications (IPC) through various parts of the OS and its applications. COM also is
used for intraprocess communication, meaning the control is loaded in-process. The
latter is the most common usage scenario for ActiveX controls. COM is used with ActiveX
primarily because it provides a common interface for interacting with arbitrary objects.
ActiveX objects allows a program to self-register, add registry/file system entries, and
automatically run. Essentially, COM objects allow methods and interfaces to be called
from one application to another, without them having to know the ins and outs of the
application itself. A simple example of COM is allowing Microsoft Word to incorporate
data from MS Excel in real-time (with no copying and pasting required).
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