RE: Local DLL software on client (ActiveX access)

>Hi, all.

Hi there Adam, :)

>
>I have a piece of software that exists as a DLL which will be registered
>with client machines that will use the interactive application I am
>developing.  It requires the following interactions with the HTML page -
>
>1)  A web page is dynamically generated and returned to a client's
>browser (IE 4.0).  (With one row per record returned in a query).
>2)  This web page contains a drop down box form field, one for each line
>returned in the dynamic page.
>3)  I want to read in the values selected for these form fields, package
>them up, and pass them to and invoke a DLL which is registered on the
>client's system.
>4)  The DLL will then do what it needs to do.

What does the DLL do? What are the functions exposed by it?
If you want to develop an ActiveX that uses the DLL as a server component,
you must understand what are the internal functions you must call and what
are their parameters.

>
>Can anyone advise if any ActiveX controls exist that do something
>similar or if you might be interested in developing this.

The best choice will be the developer company of the DLL. I guess you bought
it, no?
If that's the case check with them if they have an ActiveX component to
access the DLL.
If not maybe the DLL has documentation regarding it's use and parameters, so
that one can develop the client component.

>
>Of course, any other suggestions outside of ActiveX would be welcome.
>Finding a way to interact with the DLL software that I have already is
>our main goal (pass it a parameter and invoke it).

Outside the spec of an ActiveX it's a possibility if you want to develop the
client has a standalone application on a Windows environment. But since this
DLL file is to be used on a web environment accessed on the server by a
browser client, ActiveX is indeed the solution.

I will not try to develop the actual ActiveX component, but if you want I
can lend you an hand on the basics of this development process. Nowadays
simple tools like Visual Basic can do this for you with a simple knowledge
of the language and a month of manual reading can make you a "professional"
developer in VB ;)

Regards,
Mario Figueiredo

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