Chapter 1 -- 2
Programmer’s Guide
What is an ActiveX object?
An ActiveX object is an instance of a class that exposes
properties, methods, and events to ActiveX clients. ActiveX
objects support the COM (Component Object Model) - Microsoft
technology. An ActiveX component is an application or library
that is able to create one or more ActiveX objects. In this case,
your labeling software exposes many objects that you can use to
create new applications and p rog ramming tools. Within your
labeling software, objects are organized hierarchically, with an
object named Application at the top of the hierarchy (see
Chapter 2 - 15: the hierarchy diagram).
Each ActiveX object has its own memb er function definition.
When the member functions are exposed, it makes the object
programmable by an ActiveX client. Three types of members can
be exposed for an object:
S Methods are actions that an object can p erform. For exam-
ple, the Document object in your labeling software provides
a Close method that closes the current document.
S Properties are functions that access information about the
state of an object. The Application object’s Visible property
determines whether the labeling software is visible or not.
S Events are actions recognized by an object, such as clicking
the mouse or pressing a key. Y ou can write code to respond
to such actions. In Automation, an event is a method that is
called, rather than implemented, by an object (see also
Chapter 1 - 11).
Your labeling software often works with several instances of an
object which together make up a Collection object.For
example, since your labeling software is a multiple-document
interface (MDI), it might have multiple documents. To provide an
easy way to access and program the documents, your labeling
software exposes an object named Documents, which refers to
all of the already opened document objects. Documents is a
collection object.
A Collection object lets you work as a group with the objects it
manage (see Chapter 1 - 9).
All the methods, properties and eve nts are defined in
Chapter 2 - 17: Reference Guide.
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