Amazon.com Review
ActiveX Sourcebook is best thought of as a technical orientation manual. It covers a lot of territory, but in enough depth that programmers and Web developers will get a clear idea of the programming challenges they'll face in each area discussed. After starting out with a basic overview of ActiveX's purpose and advantages on the Web, the authors go on to survey the Internet Explorer browser object model and Internet-related functions in the Win32 API.
Web developers with less programming experience will be more at home in the next few chapters, which discuss how to develop Web sites using Microsoft FrontPage and how to manipulate HTML objects and forms using VBScript. The book then covers how to use the ActiveX Control Pad to put ActiveX controls into your pages and manage them programmatically. You'll also be introduced to some of the most popular ActiveX controls, including RealAudio, ActiveMovie, and Shockwave, as well as the programmatic interface to Microsoft NetMeeting. A dense chapter on dbWeb gives a detailed look at this gateway tool for connecting an ODBC data source to an ISAPI Web. The book rounds out with a technical overview of the NetManage Internet Control Pack (formerly available from Microsoft), a suite of free ActiveX controls for creating FTP, HTTP, HTML, POP, SMTP, NNTP, and Winsock applications. If you want to get a broad technical overview of what ActiveX is all about, ActiveX Sourcebook is a strong pick. However, you'll probably want to supplement this book with more detailed guides to particular ActiveX subject areas.
From the Publisher
Destined to give Java a run for its money, ActiveX is Microsoft's major new technology for the booming Website development market. The ActiveX Sourcebook shows both Web development neophytes and programmers how to create Web applications using Microsoft's ActiveX development tools and technologies. The book reveals the underpinnings of these new technologies and products, including the Internet Explorer 3.0 Web browser, HTML extensions technologies and tools to construct interactive multimedia Web sites with reusable ActiveX components. ActiveX is Microsoft's answer to Java. ActiveX controls are reusable components that are the foundation of Microsoft's new family of Web development products. Microsoft is creating a major set of tools that will enable Webmasters to create and manipulate ActiveX controls and ultimately add dynamic interactivity to a Web or intranet site.
