Create an ActiveX using a Csharp Usercontrol

http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/.net/net_general/comcom/article.php/c16257
Create an ActiveX using a Csharp Usercontrol
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Andreas Verhamme (view profile) July 20, 2009

Environment:  Visual Studio 2005 C#

This article is about creating ActiveX controls using a DotNet Usercontrol in Csharp. You can design all ActiveX features like: properties, methods and events.

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Environment:  Visual Studio(2005) Csharp

How to Do This

1. Create a Usercontrol using Visual Studio (C#):

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2. Configure the project properties:

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3. Modify the usercontrol interface:

Note : Make sur you added the EVENTS class:   [ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual), ComSourceInterfaces(typeof(UserControlEvents))]

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Drawing; using System.Data; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; // Add references using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Reflection; using Microsoft.Win32; namespace CsharpWindowsActiveX {             [ProgId("CsharpWindowsActiveX.ActiveXUserControl")]             [ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual), ComSourceInterfaces(typeof(UserControlEvents))]             public partial class ActiveXUserControl : UserControl             {                     public ActiveXUserControl()                     {                          InitializeComponent();                     }                      .....

 

4. Add the register/unregister section in the source code

// register COM ActiveX object [ComRegisterFunction()] public static void RegisterClass(string key) {                StringBuilder skey = new StringBuilder(key);               skey.Replace(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\", "");               RegistryKey regKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(skey.ToString(), true);               RegistryKey ctrl = regKey.CreateSubKey("Control");              ctrl.Close();               RegistryKey inprocServer32 = regKey.OpenSubKey("InprocServer32", true);               inprocServer32.SetValue("CodeBase", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase);               inprocServer32.Close();               regKey.Close(); } [ComUnregisterFunction()] public static void UnregisterClass(string key) {                StringBuilder skey = new StringBuilder(key);                skey.Replace(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\", "");                RegistryKey regKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(skey.ToString(), true);                regKey.DeleteSubKey("Control", false);                RegistryKey inprocServer32 = regKey.OpenSubKey("InprocServer32", true);                regKey.DeleteSubKey("CodeBase", false);                regKey.Close(); }

 

5. Add an ActiveX property:

// ActiveX properties (Get/Set) ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// private int ptextVal; public int TextVal {        get        {                   ptextVal = (int)(numericUpDown1.Value);                   return ptextVal;         }         set        {             ptextVal = value;                 numericUpDown1.Value = ptextVal;          } }

 

 

6. Add an ActiveX method:

// ActiveX methods/functions ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// public interface ICOMCallable {              int GetTextBoxValue(); } public int GetTextBoxValue() {              int i = (int)(numericUpDown1.Value);              MessageBox.Show("ActiveX method: GetTextBoxValue " + i.ToString());              return (i); }

 

7. Add an ActiveX event:

// Eventhandler interface //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////   public delegate void ControlEventHandler(int NumVal); [Guid("0A415E38-372F-45fb-813B-D9558C787EA0")] [InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIDispatch)]   public interface UserControlEvents {                [DispId(0x60020001)]                void OnButtonClick(int NumVal); }   public event ControlEventHandler OnButtonClick;   private void buttonOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {         int NumVal;         if (OnButtonClick != null)         {                  NumVal = (int)(numericUpDown1.Value);                  OnButtonClick(NumVal);          } }

 

 

8. Register the ActiveX on your PC:

Register the new ActiveX on your computer using the command:  RegAsm.exe CsharpWindowsActiveX.dll

9. Test your ActiveX:

Use the TSTCon32.exe tool from Visul Studio to test the ActiveX:

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Downloads

CsharpWindowsActiveX_demo.zip - demo project CsharpWindowsActiveX_src.zip - source code