ActiveX and Internet Explorer 3.0

Internet Explorer 3.0 is the Web browser that puts you a step ahead on the Internet! Now with unique HTML, ActiveX, Java, and Netscape Plug-in support, Internet Explorer provides the best browsing experience and most technically advanced development platform for end users, organizations and content developers. And with innovative Internet conferencing, collaboration, and browser customization, Internet Explorer 3.0 provides the richest feature set of any browser while still offering an easy to use and personalized Internet experience.

Accessibility

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 provides greater Internet accessibility for all people by being the first browser to provide any significant accessibility features. It enables keyboard navigation of the Web, and provides the option to increase font size on any Web page, and other accessibility features.

Keyboard Navigation

With Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, you can explore the Web from the keyboard by pressing TAB and SHIFT+TAB to navigate back and forth between image and text links, hotspots in client-side image maps, and more.

As you move to or click a hyperlink or image, a one-pixel border is drawn around it so you can see what is selected. This works for client-side image maps, too - even for hotspots that are circles or polygons!

Other keyboard shortcuts include the following:

 

ENTER to go to a link ALT+LEFT ARROW and ALT+RIGHT ARROW to go back and forward BACKSPACE and SHIFT+BACKSPACE to go back and forward

SHIFT+F10 to display a context menu for a link CTRL+R to refresh the current page ESC to stop downloading the page

CTRL+O to go to a new location CTRL+N to generate a new window CTRL+S to save the current page

CTRL+TAB to cycle between frames SHIFT+TAB and SHIFT+CTRL+TAB to go backwards through links and frames F5 to refresh the page

Large Font Option

With the Font button on the toolbar, you have complete control over the size in which fonts are displayed.

Other Accessibility Features

Provides features that let text-only browsers read your page, including tooltips for pictures that tell you the location (URL) of a link and support for the ALT tag that enables you to display alternate text for images.

ActiveX Technology and ActiveX Controls

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 is the cross-platform Internet client that supports the ActiveX standard. ActiveX is a standard that enables software components to interact with one another in a networked environment, regardless of the language they were created in. With ActiveX, web sites come alive using multimedia effects, interactive objects, and sophisticated applications that create a user experience comparable to that of high quality CD-ROM titles. ActiveX provides the glue that ties together a wide assortment of technology building blocks to enable these "active" web sites.

Most Web users will experience the ActiveX standard as controls, documents and scripts (described below), but the ActiveX standard also embraces client, server and tools technologies, including:

· ActiveX Controls are software components that run in Web pages, providing interactive and user-controllable functions. This enables users to view and interact with animation, audio, and video without opening separate programs. Plus, Controls can be reused in applications and written in many popular programming languages, including Java, Visual Basic, and Visual C++.

· ActiveX Control Pad. This updated, HTML format of the ActiveX Control Pad tutorial assist developers and multimedia designers in developing their first ActiveX Web site. The tutorial includes instructions for authoring advanced layout and multimedia features, such as exact object placement, object layering, and transparency effects. To download your copy of the ActiveX Control Pad, visit http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/cpad/tutorial-f.htm.

· Active Scripting supports any popular scripting language, including Visual Basic® Script and Javascript. Scripts can be used to integrate the behavior of several ActiveX Controls and/or Java Applets from the browser or server, extending their functionality.

· ActiveX Documents enable you to open a program, complete with its own toolbars and menus, in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. This means you can open non-HTML documents, such as Microsoft Excel or Word files, through a Web browser.

· Java Virtual Machine is the code that enables any ActiveX-supported browser such as Internet Explorer 3.0 to run Java applets and to integrate Java applets with ActiveX controls.

· ActiveX Server Framework provides a number of web server-based functions such as security, database access, and others.

· Development Tools from Microsoft and third parties which let you use familiar tools and techniques to create controls and Web content. These include Visual Basic, Visual C++, Macromedia Shockwave, Adobe Photoshop, Borland Delphi, tools from Sybase and Borland, Java enable-tools, and other new Internet technologies.

ActiveX Controls

Imagine having the power of today’s applications redesigned for use on the Internet. That's what you get with the new Microsoft Internet ActiveX Controls. In creating ActiveX Controls, Microsoft redesigned OLE by leveraging those features of OLE that meet Internet requirements for small and fast computing while retaining basic COM technology.

With ActiveX Controls, you no longer need to download a separate application to make your pages come alive with movies, animations, audio, and more. They can be downloaded and run from within a Web page that is running on cross platforms, including Macintosh, Windows and Unix. Using popular programming languages, such as Visual C++, Visual Basic or Java, content developers can easily learn to create controls and insert them into Web pages. It’s as simple as inserting a control in Visual Basic or Microsoft Access. Plus, using ActiveX Scripting, developers can link controls together, extending the functionality of Java applets and controls. Here are a few examples how controls can create more dynamic Web pages:

· Dynamically update themselves based on user interactions, author-specified events, or their own internal state. For example, the New Item control displays an image until a certain date, or a Timer control can animate and synchronize other controls, or prompt the user after a period of inactivity.

· Solve bandwidth restrictions by rendering visually rich content from tiny amounts of data. For example, the ActiveX Chart control which can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/ie, displays colorful, data-rich charts. This is a great improvement over use of the IMG tag to add visual content to Web pages. Instead of waiting for large images to download, data can quickly fill a chart.

· Display text at any angle or in an animated sequence along an author-defined path. Vertical or diagonal text can save space or create a graphically more interesting page.

To view these controls, visit the ActiveX Component Gallery at http://www.microsoft.com/activex/gallery

ActiveX Controls Easy Downloading

ActiveX Controls are automatically installed on your system when viewing a site utilizing them. Unlike other plug-in technology, you do not need to run a setup program and restart your browser to enjoy these activated Web sites.

In addition, ActiveX Control licensing ensures the software you install is safe by letting you know the publisher and underwriter. If a control does not already exist on the user’s computer, Microsoft Explorer 3.0 checks to see if it has been digitally signed by a software publisher. For more information about code signing (Authenticode technology), see the "Security" section later in this White Paper.

Licensing also protects the publisher by only installing the software after the user accepts the terms and conditions. Palette management has also been updated, so content developers can have a finer degree of control over the appearance of their software components.

ActiveX Controls Available Now

A variety of controls, tools and information is available today from Microsoft.

ActiveX Component Gallery

Check out our new ActiveX Gallery on http://www.microsoft.com/activex/gallery/. The gallery contains ActiveX controls and samples--a gallery of components and resources offered by our partners for your Web authoring and development tasks. This gallery will continue to grow as we add more controls, samples, and information. We hope that you will visit this area frequently for the most up-to-date listing of ActiveX components available. To see another example of a cool control, check out http://www.carpoint.msn.com.

ActiveMovie Control

With ActiveMovie, you can embed all popular video and audio formats into your HTML pages, including AVI and QuickTime video formats, and MPEG video and audio, and audio formats including WAV, AU, AIFF, and MIDI. This unprecedented level of support in an Internet browser means that you have the freedom to embed the content that you want in your page - all is readily available for playback by users of Internet Explorer 3.0.

The extensible architecture of ActiveMovie enables other media formats and functionality to be supported and enhanced by Microsoft and third-parties ensuring a rich media solution for today and the future.

You can download the ActiveMovie Control from the download area at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/ for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. For more information about ActiveMovie, see the multimedia section later in this White Paper and visit http://www.microsoft.com/imedia/activemovie/activem.htm

PowerPoint Animation Player

The new Microsoft PowerPoint® Animation Player for ActiveX is the easiest and fastest way to animate a static HTML page without having to learn a complex programming language or buying expensive, complex multimedia software. Millions of PowerPoint users can now take advantage of the enhanced animation, hyperlinks, sound and special effects they are familiar with in PowerPoint for Windows 95 to create animated banners, advertisements, image maps and more. The all-new PowerPoint Animation Publisher, a free add-in to PowerPoint 95, allows you to compress PowerPoint animations prior to posting, making downloading and viewing effects on the web faster than ever.

For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/mspowerpoint/internet/player/default.htm.

VRML Add-in

Supports Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) by providing an ActiveX control add-in for fast viewing of 3-D objects and 3-D virtual worlds on the Internet. This add-on supports VRML 1.0 plus extensions, and lets you download background textures and inline content, embed VRML worlds in a Web page, and display 3-D objects with texture mapping (GIF, JPEG and BMP formats). After the VRML content is downloaded, users can click the graphic and choose how to explore it—by walking, spinning, sliding, or tilting. Navigation of 3-D spaces and manipulation of 3-D objects can be performed with a mouse, keyboard, or joystick. Support for VRML 2.0 will be provided in a future release.

You can download the ActiveMovie Control from the download area http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/ieadd.htm for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.

HTML Layout Control

The HTML Layout Control enables you to create more compelling Web pages by providing exact, coordinate control over object layout, layering and transparency. Objects can be specifically placed within a fixed region with respect to the top and the left of the region, and also given specific height, width, and z-order attributes. The HTML Layout Control provides a preview implementation for incorporating these 2D regions within HTML documents for display in the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. The HTML Layout Control creates a 2D layout format that hosts other ActiveX Controls. This Control can also take advantage of the ActiveX Control specification for transparent and windowless controls. For example, consider the following Web page as displayed in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0:

Figure 2 HTML Layout Control

The illustration shows a Web page created with HTML Layout Control. The HTML Layout Control pictured above hosts a number of other controls to make up the complete page. In particular, the page includes:

· Exact 2D placement: Controls are placed exactly where the author intended them to be placed within the 2D region. On a typical HTML page, the client Web browser determines the placement of each element; using 2D authoring and the HTML Layout Control, the author maintains this control, ensuring consistency of the user interface.

· Overlapping regions: The author can also specify the exact Z-order of each control on the page. In the example above, the box containing the "Breaking Grounds" text overlaps part of the larger box containing the "Good Vibrations" image. Both of these regions are overlapped by the "Volcano Coffee" logo image.

· Transparency: The text label "Good Vibrations" is overlapping both the background and the large shaded box in the middle of the page. The text control which implements this label is transparent, so that users can see through the text to objects underneath. Also, the cup (a Windows® metafile) is overlapped by the text label, and is itself a transparent control overlapping both the background and large shaded box. Any ActiveX Control implementing the ActiveX Control '96 specification (published on the Microsoft Web site) for windowless controls can be transparent and used in this manner within the HTML Layout Control.

· Scripting: The HTML Layout Control also fully supports scripting, including both Visual Basic Script and JavaScript. Thus, any object contained in a 2D region can script other objects in that region. In this example page, clicking on various label controls will cause the images within the region to change. Clicking on other objects on the page causes navigation switching the browser to a different page. In this example, this is handled with VB Script.

You can download the HTML Layout Control from the download area http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/ieadd.htm for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.

RealAudio ActiveX Control.

Enables you to embed a RealAudio player right in your Web page.

Marquee ActiveX Control.

Enables you to scroll through the contents of an HTML document that you have inserted into a frame on a Web page. In addition, the Marquee control enables you to set the frame parameters and scrolling speed.

Other Cool Controls

You can download a set of controls that help you easily activate your Web pages from ActiveX Gallery http://www.microsoft.com/activex/gallery/.

· Label. This control displays text any angle, or renders it along an author-defined path. This is a familiar capability to desktop publishers, but to HTML authors, it is exciting and new. Vertical text or diagonal can be used to save space on the page or simply create a graphically more interesting page; or you can place text along a wavy path that jumps out, calling attention to important information. You can then use a scripting language to control the label object: animate it, make it grow or shrink, even have it change colors as often as you like.

· Preloader. The preloader control eliminates long download times. By initiating downloads before they are actually needed, the perceived time to load a page can be greatly reduced. Authors can also use the preloader as a gateway, preventing access to a certain page until all the material has been downloaded.

· Timer. Combined with simple scripts, the timer control brings Web pages to life. The timer control makes a Web page perform certain actions at certain times, including being used to animate other controls, prompt the user after periods of inactivity, initiate validation code, periodically update a floating frame and more.

· ViewTracker. Updates Web pages dynamically as the user scrolls through them, creating a more active Web page.

· StockTicker. Changes data continuously, enabling you to display stock information or other types of information that are continually updated.

· Popup Menu. Displays a Windows popup menu through ActiveX Scripting, enabling you create lists of choices for visitors to your site.

· Chart. Creates charts that display graphically and statistically complex information. The Chart control can display multiple series of data in many different chart styles. It works with inline data or can point to text files.

· Animated Button. Displays frames of an AVI to create cool button behavior.

For more information about implementing ActiveX Controls, see the section describing the HTML Layout Control, or visit http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/cpad/.

ActiveX Scripting

With its support for Visual Basic® Script or Javascript, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 provides the fastest, most comprehensive, language-independent, script handling capability on the Internet today. With scripting, you can build pages that ask questions, respond to queries, check user data, calculate expressions, link to other programs, and connect to other controls, applets, and 3-D animations.

You can also add scripting language to your HTML code to develop Web-based applications. Unlike other browsers that support scripting, you can create interactive pages that connect and control ActiveX Controls, including Java applets, other software components, and the different components of Internet Explorer, for example, the HTML document, the frame, or the toolbar.

This means you can create a rich Internet application controlled by many kinds of scripting languages, including VB Script and Javascript in your Web pages. Plus, you can easily plug in other scripting languages by adding a DLL.

Visual Basic Scripting Edition

VB Script, which is a subset of the Visual Basic language, is a high-performance scripting language designed to help create active content on Web. With it, you can link and automate a wide variety of objects in Web pages, including Java applets and other ActiveX Controls. Plus, it is fully compatible with Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications. Microsoft will make the VBScript source code available under license free of cost to any browser vendors and application vendors who want to support VBScript in their applications.

With VBScript, developers can trap events from ActiveX Controls, invoke methods, and modify properties of ActiveX Controls.

Because VBScript code is simple to write and is always maintained in source code in the Web page, it is easy to modify. Plus, developers can enable their VBScript code to run across platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and all major UNIX systems.

Java Scripting

Javascript, which provides the same functionality as VBScript, also enables you to create active content on Web. Microsoft's implementation of Javascript enables you to link and automate a wide variety of objects, link together ActiveX controls and Java applets, and build pages that respond to queries and calculate expressions.

ActiveX Documents

ActiveX Documents enables you to open an application with its own toolbars and menus in the Internet Explorer window. This means you can open richly formatted documents, such as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, without having to open another application. You can do your work and then go back to the Web page you were last viewing.

Like all ActiveX technologies, ActiveX Documents is an open, published specification available to all parties. Support for ActiveX Documents enables you Internet Explorer becomes the frame in which users can browse and view these non-HTML documents and applications. To the users, it seems as if they are running the stand-alone application complete with toolbars, menus, and all other user interface elements, while network administrators can use existing documents and applications on their intranet site without having to convert them all to HTML format.

The Internet Explorer frame is not only an ActiveX Document host, but also packages the HTML viewer as an ActiveX Document. This means that other vendors can use Internet Explorer as a document viewer for files in other formats.

ActiveX Documents are a set of extensions to OLE Documents, the compound document technology of OLE. The extensions are in the form of additional interfaces that allow what looks like an embeddable in-place object to represent an entire document instead of a single piece of embedded content. As with OLE Documents, ActiveX Documents involve a container that provides the display space for ActiveX Documents and servers that provide the user interface and manipulation capabilities for DocObjects themselves

Component Architecture

The Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 is the cross-platform client that delivers ActiveX technologies. Embracing both Java and Microsoft’s industry-standard COM technology, ActiveX preserves your investments in applications, tools, and source code while letting you create innovative Internet applications. The Internet Explorer client is built with standard Microsoft components that have been revised to communicate to and from the Internet. These components make writing Internet applications as easy as writing applications for the operating system. Plus, you can reuse these components in your current networking and stand-alone applications, making them Internet-ready.

This open component architecture enables content developers to create dynamic Internet content and applications because of its:

· Open Component Model. Using proven COM technology, scripts, software components--including Java applets-- and stand-alone applications can interact with each other, creating unlimited, possibilities for enriching the Internet experience. This true component architecture enables you to run applications and software components in Internet Explorer, and run Internet Explorer as a software component in other applications and components. For example, a database access applet can interact with a script that displays a Shockwave multimedia graphic of the data in Internet Explorer.

Figure 1 ActiveX Architecture:

The preceding figure illustrates how the Internet Explorer provides services, such as navigation (URL resolution) and downloading for other software components (controls), and also functions as a host for software components. This enables other components to be small and fast, making it easy to link them together, creating more dynamic Web pages.

As a software component, Internet Explorer can be inserted into other standalone, network, or custom intranet application, extending Internet capability to them. For custom applications, you can decide which features of Internet Explorer you would like to expose to your users.

Internet Explorer can also host applications (ActiveX Documents), such as spreadsheets, complete with their own toolbars and menus, in the browser window. It can also host ActiveX Scripting engines, such as VB Scripting and Java Scripting, which can then be reused in other applications.

· Application Independent Programming Model. Because ActiveX controls and scripts are built on top of COM, they can be embedded in any application or tool. Plus, you can write ActiveX components in any programming language using any tool, including Visual Basic, Visual C++, Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, Macromedia Shockwave, Adobe Photoshop, Borland Delphi, tools from Sybase and Borland, and Java-enabled tools. This is in contrast to Netscape’s proprietary Plug-ins architecture.

· Extensive, Independent Scripting Support. Microsoft Internet Explorer provides the fastest, most comprehensive, language-independent scripting capability of any browser. Through ActiveX scripting interfaces, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 supports scripts written in any language and has built-in support for Visual Basic Scripting and JavaScript.

· Open Set of Services. No longer a limited, monolithic entity, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 offers a complete set of services with open interfaces. Applications can use components of the Internet Explorer client platform to retrieve data, post data, parse incoming Internet data, render HTML, render other data types, cache data, execute scripts, and more. With ActiveX technologies, Internet capabilities are no longer restricted to the browser—your custom applications can mix internet and desktop application functionality.

Cross Platform

Because ActiveX technology is language independent and platform neutral, you can create content and applications, using tools and programming languages, such as Java, that run on cross platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX.

Plus, the Microsoft Internet Explorer is a family of products that unlocks the potential of the Internet for people at home or at work because it supports a broad range of platforms and is produced in the most languages. By providing cross-platform and international language support, Microsoft provides the best Internet browser for individuals and organizations.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 for Windows 95 is currently available in 23 different languages, including Russian, Chinese, and Hungarian, helping bring people together from all over the world. The new Internet Explorer 3.0 for Windows 95 continues to set the standard for international support by providing the ability to view Web pages created in many countries from within the local browser. Within 90 days of final release, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 will be available in 23 languages. Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows 3.1 will be available in 20 languages and Microsoft Internet Explorer for the Macintosh will be available in nine languages.

Microsoft offers Internet Explorer for the Macintosh, Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and Windows NT platforms. Its built to take advantage of the strengths of all major platforms and provides a common look and feel across each. This means that end users can take advantage of key operating system features, such as shortcuts on Windows 95 and aliases on Macintosh, while easily changing platforms based on UI consistency. For support desks, the UI consistency also helps in problem solving.