activeX

n. applications environment by Microsoft that includes a large number of independent programs (components) that operate and link different applications in a computer or network of computers

ActiveX is Microsoft technology used for developing reusable object oriented software components. ActiveX is an alternate name for OLE automation (OLE - Object Linking and Embedding), not a separate technology. While the term "Automation" refers to the overall technology, "ActiveX" refers to the objects that can be created and manipulated using Automation.
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<programming> A type of COM component that can self-register, also known as an "ActiveX control". All COM objects implement the "IUnknown" interface but an ActiveX control usually also implements some of the standard interfaces for embedding, user interface, methods, properties, events, and persistence.
ActiveX controls were originally called "OLE Controls", and were required to provide all of these interfaces but that requirement was dropped, and the name changed, to make ActiveX controls lean enough to be downloaded as part of a web page.
Because ActiveX components can support the OLE embedding interfaces, they can be included in web pages. Because they are COM objects, they can be used from languages such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Java, VBScript.
["Understanding ActiveX and OLE", David Chappell, MS Press, 1996].
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ActiveX