By Paul Lomax and Rogers Cadenhead
The ActiveX Control Pad and HTML Layout control that come together as a complete package are freely available for download from Microsoft's Site Builder Workshop Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/ (see Figure 1.1). Simply follow the links to the ActiveX Control Pad download area. At the time of writing, Microsoft requires you to complete a very straightforward registration form prior to downloading the ActiveX Control Pad.
To install and use the ActiveX Control Pad, you must first have Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 installed on your machine. Additionally, your system must have the following minimum specification:
pc 80486 or above
Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0
12MB RAM
10MB free hard disk space
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0
The ActiveX Control Pad and HTML Layout Control are very easy to install. The single file containing them both is a self-extracting, self-installing archive. To set up the Control Pad, all you have to do is locate the file you downloaded (setuppad.exe) and double-click it to extract the contents and commence the installation procedure, as shown in Figure 1.2.
The installation creates a program group called Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad that you can access from the Windows 95 Start button. As with all software you install, the first thing you should do is read the readme, but you always do that anyway-don't you?
The ActiveX Control Pad is an HTML authoring tool with a difference. It enables you to add active controls and active scripting to your HTML pages. When I say active controls, I don't mean only ActiveX controls; you can embed Java applets, too. Active scripting doesn't mean only VBScript; JavaScript and Microsoft's implementation of JavaScript, known as JScript, are also supported. You can add controls quickly and easily using the familiar Windows point and click method.
ActiveX controls can be as simple as the buttons or drop-down lists you regularly find in Windows programs, or they can be complete stand-alone programs, somewhat like a Java applet.
You'll learn more about the theory of ActiveX controls in Chapter 21. But for now, create a simple active-content HTML page using one of the preloaded ActiveX controls.