ActiveX is a technology developed by Microsoft for building interactive applications. The term is pronounced /'æktɪv ɛks/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The first syllable is pronounced with the short ‘a’ sound and the second syllable with the long ‘e’ sound. This word is spelled with a capital ‘A’ followed by ‘ctiveX’, where the ‘X’ stands for extensibility. As one of the most popular technologies used to create web applications, ActiveX has been instrumental in enhancing user experience by delivering multimedia and interactive content.
ActiveX is a software framework developed by Microsoft that is used to create small, reusable programs called controls or components. These controls are designed to be used within other software applications, such as web browsers or productivity tools, to enhance their functionality. They are based on the Component Object Model (COM), a standard for software component interoperability.
ActiveX controls are primarily used in web development to enable rich client-side interactions within web pages. These controls can include multimedia elements like audio and video players, as well as interactive features such as calendars, charts, or games. They can also provide functionality like data manipulation, file upload and download, or authentication.
To use an ActiveX control, the user's computer needs to have the required control installed. The control may be installed automatically when the user visits a web page that requires it, or it may need to be manually installed. However, because of security concerns and vulnerabilities, ActiveX controls have become less popular over the years, with alternative technologies like JavaScript and HTML5 taking their place in web development.
In summary, ActiveX is a software framework that allows developers to create reusable controls or components for enhancing the functionality of other software applications, particularly within web development. It is based on the Component Object Model (COM) and provides rich client-side interactions and multimedia capabilities.
The word "ActiveX" is a combination of two terms: "Active" and "X".
The term "Active" refers to Active Technologies, which were introduced by Microsoft in the 1990s. Active Technologies aimed to enhance interactivity and functionality in software applications by allowing various objects to interact with each other dynamically.
The "X" in ActiveX stands for "Cross-platform". This indicates that the technology was designed to be platform-independent, allowing software components to be used across different operating systems and programming languages.
Together, ActiveX represents a set of technologies and software components that enable interactive and dynamic functionality across different platforms and programming languages. ActiveX controls, in particular, are reusable software components that can be embedded into applications to provide additional functionality.