Appendix J -- ActiveX and VBScript Language Reference
Appendix J
ActiveX and VBScript Language Reference
CONTENTS
Microsoft ActiveX Technology
Using ActiveX Controls
ActiveX/VBScript Examples
ActiveX Control Pack
VBScript
Recent advances in browser technology have been pushing the idea
of active content. To this end, here are a couple of products
that HTML authors should be aware of:
ActiveX
VBScript
The recent technology from Microsoft is based around ActiveX controls
(previously known as OLE controls). A new control requirement
specification has meant that OLE controls previously burdened
with code inappropriate for use on the Internet now can be much
more streamlined, making it possible to embed them as <OBJECT>s
into Web pages. This (like Java) allows almost limitless activity
and interactivity within Web pages. To produce ActiveX controls,
though, you must have a good deal of programming skill. Casual
HTML authors, however, will be able to rely on taking advantage
of many freely available controls, as they can with JavaScripts
and Java applets at the moment. (This mechanism is Internet Explorer-specific.)
VBScript is a lightweight yet fully compatible version of Visual
Basic. Designed for use on the Internet, VBScript allows full
automation, customization, and scripting within Web pages. Coming
into its own when used to control ActiveX controls, Visual Basic
is the easiest to learn of the available methods for creating
dynamic content. (This mechanism is Internet Explorer-specific.)
Microsoft
ActiveX Technology
Microsoft's ActiveX technology, recently announced and supported
by Internet Explorer 3.0 only (although Microsoft is co-developing
a plugin module for Netscape that will allow Netscape to employ
ActiveX controls), represents a huge advance in the capabilities
of Internet Explorer. ActiveX has relaxed the OLE control requirements
to practically nothing. Although previous OLE controls (such as
the .OCX files shipped with
Visual Basic) contained a lot of baggage inappropriate to use
on the Internet, new ActiveX controls (conforming to the redesigned
control requirements specification) can be a lot more streamlined,
facilitating the easier production of high-quality dynamic content
for HTML documents. (It's easier to create ActiveX controls than
previous OLE controls, but it still requires a great degree of
programming knowledge. Casual HTML authors, though, will no doubt
be able to take advantage of a multitude of freely available ActiveX
controls in time.)
Internet Explorer 3.0 allows for the use of ActiveX controls,
active scripts (such as VBScript), and active documents. ActiveX
can be used to encapsulate practically any application or applet
for use within HTML documents.
Note
The embedding mechanism, using the <OBJECT> element, has been designed in coalition with the W3C, a technical report of which can be found at http://www.w3.org/pub/www/TR/WD-object.html.
The specific method of construction of ActiveX controls is outside
the scope of this reference, but some (very) simple examples of
the use of a couple of ActiveX controls are presented later in
this appendix.
Microsoft recently made available a number of ActiveX controls
as a brief demonstration of the possibilities of the technology.
For details on how to use these, see the "ActiveX Control
Pack" section and the Microsoft ActiveX gallery at the Internet
Explorer 3.0 Web site. Also see the ActiveVRML and ActiveMovie
Web sites at http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/avr/
and http:// www.microsoft.com/advtech/ActiveMovie/Amstream.htm,
respectively.
Using
ActiveX Controls
This HTML fragment uses the label
and new button ActiveX controls,
using the new button's built-in
graphics image. The screen capture in Figure J.1 was created using
Internet Explorer 3.0 Alpha, which is the only browser that currently
supports the use of ActiveX controls. For more details on ActiveX
controls, see the section "ActiveX Control Pack," later
in this appendix.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Label Control</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=lbl1
width=100
height=220
align=left>
<param name="angle" value="80"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="The
HTML Reference">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="24">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
<BR><BR>
Welcome to the new Reference pages
<OBJECT
classid="{642B65C0-7374-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
id=newb
width=31
height=19>
<PARAM NAME="date" value="6/1/1997">
</OBJECT>
</BODY>
</HTML>
ActiveX/VBScript
Examples
The following examples use both the Timer and the Label ActiveX
controls (both available in the ActiveX Control Pack from the
Microsoft Web site). They are exceedingly simple but serve to
show how easy it is.
Note
These examples require Internet Explorer 3.0 and the ActiveX controls to be installed.
The first example uses the Timer control to alter the text color
and alignment angle of the text displayed by the Label controls
at regular intervals. The Label ActiveX control supports the Click
event, and so actions that are carried out when the control is
clicked can be attributed to this label. In this case, it simply
displays an Alert dialog box, with the text "Hello"
in it.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<OBJECT classid="{59CCB4A0-727D-11CF-AC36-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=timer
align=left
width=1
height=1>
<param name="TimeOut" value="100">
<param name="enable" value="1">
</OBJECT>
<TITLE>Label Control</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBS">
<!--
Sub timer_time
lbl1.forecolor= rnd() * 166777216
lbl2.forecolor= rnd() * 166777216
lbl3.forecolor= rnd() * 166777216
lbl1.Angle=(lbl1.Angle+5) mod 360
lbl3.Angle=(lbl3.Angle-10) mod 360
End Sub
Sub lbl1_Click
Alert "Hello"
End Sub
-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR=#c0c0c0>
<CENTER>
<TABLE
WIDTH=50%
BORDER=5
BORDERCOLORLIGHT=green
BORDERCOLORDARK=navy
RULES=none
FRAME=box>
<COLGROUP SPAN=4 ALIGN=center VALIGN=top>
<THEAD></THEAD>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=lbl1
width=90
height=90>
<param name="angle" value="30"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="The
HTML">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=lbl2
width=200
height=20
align=center>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="3"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="Reference
Library is">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="22">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=lbl3
width=90
height=90>
<param name="angle" value="-30"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="Great!">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="24">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
<TFOOT></TFOOT>
</TABLE>
<FONT SIZE=+1>
</CENTER>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The second example is in a similar vein and is a mock version
of the infamous Nervous Text Java applet. Again, it uses the Timer
control to control the random setting of the label alignments
and to rotate them.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<OBJECT classid="{59CCB4A0-727D-11CF-AC36-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=timer1
align=left
width=1
height=1>
<param name="TimeOut" value="100">
<param name="enable" value="1">
</OBJECT>
<TITLE>Label Testing</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBS">
<!--
Sub timer1_time
label1.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label2.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label3.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label4.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label5.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label6.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label7.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label8.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label9.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label10.Alignment= rnd() * 4
label1.Angle= rnd() * 90
label2.Angle= rnd() * 90
label3.Angle= rnd() * 90
label4.Angle= rnd() * 90
label5.Angle= rnd() * 90
label6.Angle= rnd() * 90
label7.Angle= rnd() * 90
label8.Angle= rnd() * 90
label9.Angle= rnd() * 90
label10.Angle= rnd() * 90
End Sub
-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR=#c0c0c0>
<CENTER>
<TABLE
BORDER=5
BORDERCOLORLIGHT=green
BORDERCOLORDARK=navy
RULES=none
FRAME=box>
<THEAD></THEAD>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label1
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="I">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label2
width=30
height=30
align=center>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="3"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="'">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label3
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="m">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label4
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value=" ">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label5
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="S">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label6
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="c">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label7
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="a">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label8
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="r">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label9
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="e">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label10
width=30
height=30>
<param name="angle" value="0"
>
<param name="alignment" value="2"
>
<param name="BackStyle" value="0"
>
<param name="caption" value="d">
<param name="FontName" value="Arial">
<param name="FontSize" value="20">
<param name="FontBold" value="1">
<param name="frcolor" value="8421376">
</OBJECT>
</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
<TFOOT></TFOOT>
</TABLE>
</BODY>
</HTML>
For a list of the CLASSID
attributes of the controls in the ActiveX Control Pack available
from Microsoft, see the next section.
ActiveX
Control Pack
The ActiveX Control Pack, available from the Microsoft Web site,
contains the following controls:
Label
Timer
Animated button
Chart
New button
Pre-loader
Intrinsic controls
Also, separately available are the ActiveMovie and ActiveVRML
controls. Presented here are the unique CLASSID
identification numbers, together with a list of properties. At
the time of this writing, these controls were beta-test versions,
and so, for more up-to-date information about their properties
or for later releases of the controls, you should check the Microsoft
Web site.
Almost any ActiveX control (such as those shipped with Visual
Basic) can be embedded within HTML documents.
Each of the ActiveX controls is described in more detail in the
following subsections.
<OBJECT>
...
</OBJECT>
The <OBJECT> element
provides a way for the ActiveX controls and other media to be
embedded directly into HTML documents. It subsumes the role of
the <IMG> element,
providing an insertion mechanism for media other than static images.
As far as the Internet Explorer is concerned, the <OBJECT>
element can be used for the inclusion of ActiveX OLE controls
and Java applets.
Note
The <OBJECT> element is currently supported only by Internet Explorer. The object- insertion mechanism is the subject of a W3C working draft available at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-object.html. For this and other W3C working drafts, you should visit the W3C site at http://www.w3.org/pub/World Wide Web/TR/.
An example of the syntax follows. This example inserts a Label
ActiveX control into the page:
<OBJECT CLASSID="clsid:{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
ID=lbl1
WIDTH=90
HEIGHT=90>
<PARAM NAME="angle" VALUE="30"
>
<PARAM NAME="alignment" VALUE="2"
>
<PARAM NAME="BackStyle" VALUE="0"
>
<PARAM NAME="caption" VALUE="Hello
there">
<PARAM NAME="FontName" VALUE="Arial">
<PARAM NAME="FontSize" VALUE="20">
<PARAM NAME="FontBold" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="frcolor" VALUE="8421376">
</OBJECT>
The object being inserted into the HTML document in this case
is referred to by its CLASSID.
This is a unique identifier for the Label control, according to
the Component Object Model "class ID" URL scheme. (CLASSIDs
can be found by searching in the Registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
under the file type name (in this case, SprLbl.SprLblCtl)
or by searching through the CLSID
section of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.
Searching for the file type is easier. The ID
attribute identifies the specific label with a unique name, allowing
interaction with and dynamic updating of the object's properties
via active OLE scripting (for example, VBScript). Some objects
will require certain code to implement them. This should be referenced
by using the CODE attribute.
Also, the DATA attribute
can be used to point to a persistent data stream to initialize
the object's state. The use of these attributes is control-dependent,
so exhaustive examples cannot be given.
In keeping with the role of the <OBJECT>
element as a media insertion element (using <IMG>),
various standard formatting attributes, such as HEIGHT,
WIDTH, ALIGN,
BORDER, HSPACE,
VSPACE, and so on can also
be used to define the positioning of the object on the page.
The PARAM element allows
a list of named property values (used to initialize an OLE control,
plugin module, or Java applet) to be represented as a sequence
of PARAM elements. Note that
PARAM is an empty element
and should appear without an end tag. The NAME
attribute defines the property to be defined, and the VALUE
attribute defines the property value. For instance, in the preceding
example, the line
<PARAM NAME="caption" VALUE="Hello
there">
sets the value of the property caption
to be "Hello there".
(In this case, this property represents the text that will be
displayed for the label.) Object properties are entirely control-dependent,
so you should read the reference documentation for any control
to find out what properties can be set using the PARAM
element.
The Label Control-IELABEL.OCX
The Label ActiveX control allows the setting of labels within
HTML documents. Labels are text strings that can be aligned
at any angle, in any color, and in any font. The Label control
has the following properties:
Caption
Specifies text to be displayed.
Angle
Specifies, in degrees, counter-clockwise, how far the text is to be rotated.
Alignment
Specifies how to align text in the control. Possible values are
0
Align to left.
1
Align to right.
2
Centered.
3
Align to top.
4
Align to bottom.
BackStyle
Controls background. Possible values are
0
Transparent.
1
Opaque.
FontName
Name of TrueType font for the label text.
FontSize
Size of the font for the label text.
FontItalic
Flag for italic text.
FontBold
Flag for bold text.
FontUnderline
Flag for underline text.
FontStrikeout
Flag for strikeout text.
frcolor
Specifies the color of the text to be used. This accepts a single value that can be calculated by working out the RRGGBB triplet for the color you desire and then converting the whole triplet to a decimal value. (Instead of
treating it as a triplet of two figures for each color component, treat it as a six-figure hexadecimal number.)
For all flag values, anything that isn't 0
is treated as a 1. Using
a value of 1 specifies the
flag to be true.
The Label control accepts the Click
event (for the purposes of scripting added functionality to the
control).
The CLASSID of the Label
control follows:
classid="{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
Something like the following could typically be used in HTML for
the Label control:
<OBJECT
classid="{99B42120-6EC7-11CF-A6C7-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=label
width=150
height=500
vspace=0
align=left>
<PARAM NAME="angle" VALUE="45">
<PARAM NAME="alignment" VALUE="2">
<PARAM NAME="BackStyle" VALUE="0">
<PARAM NAME="caption" VALUE="Stephen">
<PARAM NAME="FontName" VALUE="Times
New Roman">
<PARAM NAME="FontSize" VALUE="20">
</OBJECT>
The Timer Control-IETIMER.OCX
The Timer control can be used to trigger events periodically.
It does not appear rendered on the screen. It accepts the following
properties:
Enable
To enable/disable the Timer. Possible values are
1
Enabled state.
0Disabled state.
TimeOut
Interval (in milliseconds) triggers the Time event.
When set to a negative or 0
value, Timer will behave as in a disabled state.
The Timer supports just one event:
Time
When the timer is enabled and has a positive TimeOut value, this event is invoked at every interval (when the timer reaches its TimeOut value).
The CLASSID of the Timer
control follows:
classid="{59CCB4A0-727D-11CF-AC36-00AA00A47DD2}"
Something like the following would typically be used in HTML for
the Timer control:
<OBJECT
classid="{59CCB4A0-727D-11CF-AC36-00AA00A47DD2}"
id=timer
align=middle>
<PARAM NAME="TimeOut" VALUE="100">
<PARAM NAME="enable" VALUE="1">
</OBJECT>
This would cause whatever events are scripted in the sub timer_time
event routine to occur every 0.1 seconds.
The Animated Button-IEANBTN.OCX
The Animated button control displays various frame sequences of
an AVI movie depending on the button state, which can be in any
of four states:
Default
When the mouse cursor and focus are both not on the control
Down
When the control receives LButton click
Focus
When the control gets focus
Mouseover
When the mouse cursor moves over the control
The Animated button accepts the following properties:
DefaultFrEnd
The end frame for Default state
DefaultFrStart
The start frame for Default state
DownFrEnd
The end frame for Down state
DownFrStart
The start frame for Down state
FocusFrEnd
The end frame for Focus state
FocusFrStart
The start frame for Focus state
MouseoverFrEnd
The end frame for Mouseover state
MouseoverFrStart
The start frame for Mouseover state
URL
The URL location of the AVI file to be used
The Animated button, by nature of its very use, supports the following
events:
ButtonEvent_Click
ButtonEvent_DblClick
ButtonEvent_Focus
The CLASSID of the Animated
button control follows:
classid="{0482B100-739C-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
Something like the following would typically be used in HTML for
the Animated button
control:
<OBJECT
classid="{0482B100-739C-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
id=anbtn
width=320
height=240
align=center
hspace=0
vspace=0>
<PARAM NAME="defaultfrstart" VALUE="0">
<PARAM NAME="defaultfrend" VALUE="7">
<PARAM NAME="mouseoverfrstart" VALUE="8">
<PARAM NAME="mouseoverfrend" VALUE="15">
<PARAM NAME="focusfrstart" VALUE="16">
<PARAM NAME="focusfrend" VALUE="23">
<PARAM NAME="downfrstart" VALUE="24">
<PARAM NAME="downfrend" VALUE="34">
<PARAM NAME="URL" VALUE="welcome3.avi">
</OBJECT>
The Chart Control-IECHART.OCX
The Chart control allows the embedding of graphical charts in
an HTML document. It supports the following chart types:
Area chart
Bar chart
Column chart
Line chart
Pie chart
Point chart
Stocks chart
Each chart type has three different styles that can be employed:
Chart TypeStyles
Area chartSimple chart
Stacked chart
100%
Bar chartSimple chart
Stacked chart
100%
Column chartSimple chart
Stacked chart
100%
Line chartSimple chart
Stacked chart
100%
Pie chartSimple chart
One wedge of the chart is offset by some distance from the center
Point chartSimple chart
Stacked chart
100%
Stocks chartWith Open, High, Low, and Close values
Simple chart
Connected chart
The IECHART control supports
the following properties:
Rows
Specifies number of rows in the data series.
Columns
Specifies number of columns in the data series.
HorizontalGrid
Specifies horizontal grids.
VerticalGrid
Specifies vertical grids.
ChartType
Specifies the type of chart you want. This property can take the following values:
Pie chart 0
Point chart 1
Line chart 2
Area chart 3
Column chart 4
Bar chart 5
Stocks chart6 (for High, Low, Close values)
Stocks chart7 (for Open, High, Low, Close values)
ChartStyle
This property can assume one of the following values:
Simple 0
Stacked 1
100% 2
RowIndex
Specifies the row index, used along with the DataItem property.
ColumnIndex
Specifies the column index, used along with the DataItem property.
DataItem
Specifies a data value-entry is identified by RowIndex and ColumnIndex properties. For example, to specify a data value of 3 for row 2, column 4, you would set the RowIndex property to 2,
ColumnIndex property to 4, and the DataItem property value to 3.
ColorScheme
Specifies which predefined set of colors you would like to use. These colors will be used to fill regions. The possible values this property can be 0, 1, or 2.
The CLASSID of the Chart
control follows:
classid="{FC25B780-75BE-11CF-8B01-444553540000}"
Something like the following would typically be used in HTML for
the Chart control:
<OBJECT
classid="{FC25B780-75BE-11CF-8B01-444553540000}"
id=chart1
width=300
height=150
align=center
hspace=0
vspace=0>
<PARAM NAME="ChartStyle" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="ChartType" VALUE="0">
<PARAM NAME="hgridStyle" VALUE="0">
<PARAM NAME="vgridStyle" VALUE="0">
<PARAM NAME="colorscheme" VALUE="0">
<PARAM NAME="backstyle" VALUE="2">
<PARAM NAME="rows" VALUE="4">
<PARAM NAME="columns" VALUE="4">
<PARAM NAME="data[0][0]" VALUE="40">
<PARAM NAME="data[0][1]" VALUE="50">
<PARAM NAME="data[0][2]" VALUE="30">
<PARAM NAME="data[0][3]" VALUE="60">
</OBJECT>
This particular example will render a pie chart with one slice
pulled out from the center, using the color scheme of red, green,
blue, and yellow.
The New Button Control-IENEWB.OCX
The New Button control can be used to display a new button alongside
some text. It has a fairly typical new graphic built in.
It has just two properties:
Date
The date until which this image needs to be displayed
Image
The URL specifying the image (if the default image is unsatisfactory)
The CLASSID for the New button
follows:
classid="{642B65C0-7374-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
The HTML to include the default New Button graphic, until the
author's next birthday,
follows:
<OBJECT
classid="{642B65C0-7374-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
id=ienewb
width=31
height=19>
<PARAM NAME="date" VALUE="6/1/1997">
</OBJECT>
Note
Care should be taken when specifying the date. Readers' systems may use a different date format. The above uses a format of day/month/year-a standard British format.
The Pre-loader Control-IEPRELD.OCX
The Pre-loader control downloads a single URL and then fires an
event. It can be used to preload large data files (such as images)
so that by the time the user actually gets to a page, much of
the data is already in the cache. It is not displayed on the reader's
screen.
The Pre-loader accepts two properties:
URL
The URL to be downloaded
enable
Enable (1) the pre-loader or disable (0) it
It allows for the following scriptable events:
Complete
Downloading is completed.
Error
Error was encountered.
The CLASSID of the Pre-loader
follows:
classid="{16E349E0-702C-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
If the following HTML were in a page, the next page of which contained
the movie welcome3.avi, while
the user was reading the initial page, the video clip would be
in the process of loading. A message would also pop up when the
video had finished pre-loading.
<OBJECT
id=movie
classid="{16E349E0-702C-11CF-A3A9-00A0C9034920}"
width=1
height=1>
<PARAM NAME="_extentX" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="_extentY" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="URL" VALUE="welcome3.avi">
<PARAM NAME="enable" VALUE="1">
</OBJECT>
<script language="VBS">
sub movie_complete
MsgBox "Movie ready, proceed when ready"
end sub
</script>
The Intrinsic Controls-HTMLCTL.OCX
(Registered During Internet Explorer 3.0 Setup)
The following control names can be used on any form within an
HTML document. They accept the properties typical of the normal
form element's attributes.
ControlElement
ButtonCtl
INPUT TYPE=BUTTON
CheckboxCtl
INPUT TYPE=CHECKBOX
ComboCtl
SELECT MULTIPLE
ListCtl
SELECT
PasswordCtl
INPUT TYPE=PASSWORD
RadioCtl
INPUT TYPE=RADIO
TextAreaCtl
TEXTAREA
TextCtl
INPUT NAME
The ActiveMovie Control-AMOVIE.OCX
Together with ActiveVRML, this represents the most advanced ActiveX
control. ActiveMovies use the ActiveMovie Streaming format, which
essentially is a single data stream that contains time-stamped
media. That is, the ASF format is an architectural wrapper, defining
a file format that contains the various media elements (which
can include video, sound, and URLs), all being time-stamped so
that they display synchronized as authored. The major advantage
of this format is that it is a streaming format; the data contained
in the .ASF file is transmitted
and played across networks in real time, instead of the Web browser
having to download the entire file before playing can begin.
As would be expected, the ActiveMovie control supports a vast
array of properties: 37 in total (only considering those unique
to itself), three methods, and four events. It's recommended that
you obtain the ActiveMovie SDK/add-on sample files from Microsoft
if you want to pursue use of this data format. See http://www.microsoft.com/advtech/ActiveMovie/Amstream.htm
for more information.
The CLASSID of the ActiveMovie
control follows:
CLASSID="{05589FA1-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}"
As an example, the following would include a file called STEVE.ASF
within an HTML document. The ActiveMovie data stream will start
automatically and return to the start of the file when playing
has finished. The playing controls are also shown within the page.
<OBJECT CLASSID="{05589FA1-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}"
HEIGHT=400
WIDTH=340
ID=ActiveMovie
align=left>
<PARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="steve.asf">
<PARAM NAME="AutoStart" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="ShowControls" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="ShowDisplay" VALUE="1">
<PARAM NAME="AutoRewind" VALUE="1">
</OBJECT>
If the user has the ActiveMovie player installed, ActiveMovie
stream format files can also be forced to play by using standard
client-pull techniques.
The ActiveVRML Control-AVVIEW.DLL
The ActiveVRML control allows the embedding of Active VRML animation
scripts within HTML documents. ActiveVRML is Microsoft's attempt
to further the VRML specification by adding even scripting capabilities
to VRML. It allows for animated VRML objects. For more information,
visit the ActiveVRML Web site in the following note.
Note
The ActiveVRML control requires Internet Explorer 3.0 and the DirectX support files to be installed. A "lite" version of the DirectX SDK is available from the ActiveVRML Web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/avr/
The ActiveVRML control accepts the following properties:
DataPat
This points to the .AVR ActiveVRML animation script.
Expression
An expression written into the ActiveVRML, which provides control information.
Border
This can be true or false, and it determines the appearance, or non-appearance, of a border around the scene.
The CLASSID for the ActiveVRML
control follows:
classid="{389C2960-3640-11CF-9294-00AA00B8A733}"
The HTML including an ActiveVRML scene, entitled steve.avr,
follows:
<OBJECT
CLASSID="{389C2960-3640-11CF-9294-00AA00B8A733}"
ID="AVView"
WIDTH=300
HEIGHT=250>
<PARAM NAME="DataPath" VALUE="steve.avr">
<PARAM NAME="Expression" VALUE="model">
<PARAM NAME="Border" VALUE=FALSE>
</OBJECT>
VBScript
VBScript represents a step further toward active Web pages. Like
JavaScript, VBScript provides scripting, automation, and customization
capabilities for Web browsers. It is a subset of the Visual Basic
programming language that is fully compatible with Visual Basic
and Visual Basic for Applications.
To use VBScript within an HTML document, the code needs to be
wrapped in <SCRIPT> ... </SCRIPT>
elements, just like in JavaScript. As with JavaScript, the LANGUAGE
attribute is required; in this case, needing the value "VBS".
VBScript comes into its own when used with ActiveX OLE controls,
which allow for full automation with any OLE-compliant application
and can be used for almost any purpose on a page, allowing for
truly interactive Web sites to be created relatively easily.
The following code assumes that a button named btnHello
has been created somewhere on the HTML document:
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBS">
<!-- These comment delimiters ensure the code is hidden from
those browsers
that do not support Visual Basic Script
Sub btnHello_OnClick
MsgBox "Hello, it's a fine day"
End Sub
-->
</SCRIPT>
The btnHello button responds
to being clicked by displaying a message box with the text Hello,
it's a fine day. For information on how to embed ActiveX
controls, see the <OBJECT>
element. (The button in this example can be embedded into an HTML
document using a standard <INPUT TYPE=BUTTON>
element.)
As with JavaScript, a complete description of VBScript is well
outside the scope of this reference; you are encouraged to visit
http://www.microsoft.com/vbscript/
for more information and a complete copy of the language documentation.
Wyszukiwarka