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The SocketTools ActiveX Edition can be used with a wide variety of
legacy programming languages and software development tools for Windows. To
determine if your development language is capable of using the ActiveX
Edition, it should support all of the following features:
- It needs to support the Component Object Model (COM)
specification, and support the ability to create instances of a COM
object. This is typically done in one of three ways: a function call
to create an instance of the object, adding the object to a project
and referencing it, or placing the object on a visual form or
dialog.
- The language must provide support for variant data types. A
variant is a special data type which can be used to represent
multiple types of data, including integer, string, date and currency
values. All of the SocketTools methods and events use variant types
and the developer is responsible for converting those variants into
the required data type. For example, in Visual C++, this can be
accomplished using the CComVariant class.
- The language must support passing method parameters by value and
by reference. When a variable is "passed by value", a copy
of its value is passed to the method and the original value remains
unchanged. However, when a variable is "passed by
reference", the memory address of the variable (typically called
a pointer) is passed to the method, enabling the method to modify its
value. In most cases, this is handled transparently by the language.
Note that some languages may require that you explicitly specify that
a variable will be passed by reference using a specific
keyword.
- The language must support event handlers which have variants
passed by value as event parameters. If the language incorrectly
assumes that all event parameters are passed by reference, this will
prevent event notifications from working correctly. In general this
is not an issue with any current languages, but may present a problem
in older versions of a language. If you experience a problem with
event handling in your language, contact the company to make sure
that they are capable of correctly handling event notifications from
an ActiveX component that passes parameters by value.
Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual FoxPro and VBScript are all examples
of languages which can use the SocketTools ActiveX Edition. If your
programming language is capable of using ActiveX controls or indicates
that it supports OLE Automation, then you should be able to use
SocketTools. Consult your language technical reference for additional
information about how to create an instance of an ActiveX/COM object
and reference its properties, methods and events.
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