Tips on creating ActiveX controls

By Kris Golko
I recall the day when I saw Delphi 3 presented for the first
time. I remember it as if it was yesterday. The presenter
was so excited about ActiveX control creation but the
audience didnt seem very interested in this subject. It looked
so far away from the development problems of my
experience. Now I work in a mixed Delphi/C++ environment
and creating ActiveX controls in Delphi and handing them
over to the C++ guys is an ideal solution. I can say now that
it really can be done, but there are some limitations and
some things you should know before you start.

Delphi versions
ActiveX control creation was introduced with Delphi 3. The
Inprise development team did a terrific job here (apparently)
to no avail, as I suspect that only a few people tried it in
those days. Delphi 4 offers vital improvements in this area.
Delphi 5 offers just a few improvements over Delphi 4, but
Ive heard complaints from Delphi 4 users about the stability
of the Type Library Editor, so Ive been using Delphi 5 and I
would recommend it (at least if somebody is interested in
ActiveX stuff).

Hire the wizard

To run the ActiveX Control Wizard, select File|New and
from the ActiveX tab select the ActiveX Control icon. The
wizard will create the Type Library and ActiveX control
implementation unit. If the open project was not an ActiveX
library, it will create a new ActiveX library project as well.
Alternatively, you can run the ActiveX Library Wizard first
to create ActiveX library project, save it and then run ActiveX
Control Wizard (ActiveX control must be part of ActiveX
library). On the wizard screen, select the VCL component
(which, as Ive mentioned before must be registered first),
select threading mode (default Apartment model is suitable
for most situations) and change the other fields if appropriate
and save your project.

Before you start

First, you have to be aware that you need to do some reading:
without an understanding of the basics of the COM
technologies youll get lost. I assume here that you have at
least a basic understanding of issues such as interfaces,
dispatch interfaces, co-classes, etc. In this article, I will try to
complement the Developers Guide rather then repeat it.
The Delphi way of creating ActiveX controls is to run the
ActiveX Control Wizard which will convert a native Delphi
component. Conversion actually is wrapping a VCL
component and exposing its properties and methods as
ActiveX properties and methods. The VCL component still
exists as a private variable of the ActiveX Control. To create
an ActiveX control from scratch is a daunting task; hopefully
the next version of Delphi will make it easy, and Im looking
forward to it.

Lets take a closer look at the Type Library. Type libraries

hold information about data types, interfaces, member
functions, object classes, etc. Typically, type libraries are
used along with COM servers (ActiveX is an example of a
COM server) to identify what types of objects and interfaces
they provide. A Type Library can be stored as a binary file or
inside an executable as a resource. Note that an ActiveX
control is an executable and has an associated type library as
a resource.)

You should address a number of issues before you run the

ActiveX Control Wizard. First, there has to be a registered
component inherited from TWinControl.

Type libraries are independent from a programming language

and a development tool. Any development tool which
supports ActiveX should provide a way to translate them to
a native language. To do this in Delphi, select Project|Import
type library from the main menu. Although a type library
typically accompanies a COM server, you can create a
standalone type library, for example, to share type definitions
between Delphi and C++.

And now a very important note: the Wizard translates only

those properties and events which use the Automation
compatible types. The reason for it is that if the property is
accessed through the dispatch mechanism, parameters are
marshalled and COM marshalling supports only the
Automation compatible types. Refer to the Delphi help for
more information on Automation compatible types.
Before you run the wizard, the interface part of the VCL
component should be in its final state if possible. After the
ActiveX control has been created, to make any changes in
the interface, you have to either rerun the wizard or make the
changes manually. The second isnt easy; you have to take a
close look at the code generated by the wizard to discover
how it has been done and then change the source code. Be
careful, you can easily make a mistake.

The ActiveX Control Wizard creates a binary file containing

type library (CONTROLNAME.TLB), corresponding interface
unit (CONTROLNAME_TLB.PAS) and implementation unit
doing the actual job of wrapping a VCL component.

Before you use your ActiveX control, some manual changes

may be required, because some properties, events or
methods might not have been translated by the wizard. You
use the Type Library Editor to do this: one way to invoke it
is to select View|Type library from the main menu.

How to use it
When you have finally compiled the control successfully,
you need to register it to the system (Windows Registry).
You can do it from the Delphi IDE Run|Register ActiveX
Server, or using TRegSvr.exe utility bundled with Delphi, or
regsvr32.exe bundled with MS Windows.
Once your control is registered, you can test it in a
development tool, like Visual Basic, Visual C++, C++Builder
and, of course, Delphi. To use it with Delphi, you need to
install it on a component palette (you can do it by selecting
Component|Import ActiveX Control). Delphi will place the
control on the ActiveX tab and will translate the controls
type library (stored as a resource in the controls OCX file)
into an Object Pascal unit. This Pascal unit will be placed by
default in the imports directory (something like
\Delphi5\Imports). Note that, although the unit is also called
CONTROLNAME_TLB and also contains the same
information, this is a completely different unit. It is not subject
to change: if the control has changed you need to uninstall it
and reimport it to ensure the changes are reflected.

Changes
One of the biggest disadvantages of ActiveX control creation
in Delphi is making changes. Its easy if you dont have to
change the type library; just change the VCL component
code and recompile everything. If you want to make changes
to the type library, you have to be absolutely sure you know
what youre doing. Change the type library using Type Library

Editor, and you have to change manually the code of the

implementation unit. Take a close look at the implementation
unit to figure out how Delphi does it and try to mimic it. As
Ive mentioned before, you can easily make a mistake.
When you have successfully recompiled the control after
changing its type library, you possibly need to reregister it
and its likely that youll need to import it again into your
development tool. If you use it with Delphi, you have to
remove the control from the component palette and import it
again (ignoring warnings about overridden units). Be aware
that changing even a single line of code may result in repeating
the entire sequence.

Final thoughts
ActiveX controls can really be created by Delphi, although
with a little bit of drudgery
Wizards provide simple solutions for a start, but you have to
find your own way of understanding the complexities of COM
technologies.
Working with COM in Delphi can be a good preparation for
working with CORBA. These two have a lot in common,
especially in Delphi.

Kris Golko is an independent Delphi and JBuilder

consultant. He holds the title of Certified Delphi 4 Client/
Server Suite Consultant. You can reach him on
krzysztofgolko@yahoo.com.