Text Message Control

Send text messages to a mobile communications device using a gateway service.

Reference

Control Information

Object Name TextMessageCtl.TextMessage

File Name CSTXTX12.OCX

Version 12.0.3024.1286

ProgID SocketTools.TextMessage.12

ClassID 54893006-FB57-4324-8262-1E5758499C6F

Threading Model Apartment

Help File CST12CTL.CHM

Dependencies None

Overview

Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service used by mobile communication devices to exchange brief text messages. Most service providers also provide gateway servers that can be used to send messages to a wireless device on their network using standard email protocols. This ActiveX control provides methods that can be used to determine the provider associated with a specific telephone number and send a text message to the device using the provider's mail gateway.

The control has been designed to assist developers in sending text message notifications as part of their application. For example, it can be used to enable your software to automatically send notifications when a specific event occurs, such as an error condition. It is not designed to be used with software that will send out a large number of text messages to many users, and there are limitations on the number of messages that may be sent to different phone numbers over a short period of time. Because some recipients must pay a fee for each text message they receive, text messages should only be sent to those who explicitly request them.

Applications should use an alternate method for sending text messages. Most mobile carriers have shut down their email-to-SMS gateways, making this method of sending text messages unreliable or unavailable. It is recommended that you transition to dedicated SMS service providers, which deliver messages over HTTPS-based APIs instead of email.

Requirements

The SocketTools ActiveX Edition components are self-registering controls that are compatible with any programming language that supports the Component Object Model (COM) and the ActiveX control specification. If you are using Visual Basic 6.0, Service Pack 6 (SP6) is required. We recommend installing all available updates for your development tools. Although the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime is supported on Windows 11, the IDE itself is no longer officially supported by Microsoft. Legacy IDEs and compilers may also require elevated (administrator) privileges to run properly.

The ActiveX controls are supported on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and later versions of both desktop and server editions of Windows. For Windows 7, Service Pack 1 (SP1) is the minimum requirement. For Windows 8 systems, the 8.1 update must be installed. On ARM-based platforms, the minimum supported version is Windows 10 build 1709.

SocketTools includes components for both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) Windows platforms. All modern versions of Windows are 64-bit, but we continue to include 32-bit components for compatibility with legacy development tools such as Visual Basic 6.0. We also provide native ARM64 ActiveX controls for systems running Windows on ARM. Note that 32-bit applications on ARM run using x86 emulation, and Microsoft no longer supports native ARM32 applications.

If you are using VBScript, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), or another scripting environment on an ARM-based system, be aware that 64-bit hosts will require ARM64 components, while 32-bit hosts will use x86 components under emulation. This includes applications created with Visual Basic 6.0. To reduce deployment complexity and avoid confusion, SocketTools does not include ARM32 ActiveX controls in its standard redistribution packages but they are available on request for legacy or specialized scenarios.

Distribution

When you distribute an application that uses this control, you can either install the file in the same folder as your application executable or as a shared component in the appropriate system folder. If you install the control in the system folder, it is important that you distribute the correct version for the target platform and it must be registered. If you install the control in the same folder as your executable, it is recommended that you use registration-free activation or COM redirection to ensure that the correct version of the control is loaded by the application.