By Eric Tall and Mark Ginsburg
The material in this book is intended for Windows and Web developers who want to know what ActiveX is about, and want to begin using it immediately in their applications and/or Web sites.
If you develop commercial Windows applications, you will need to learn about ActiveX if only to stay competitive. Microsoft wants third-party developers to use this new technology to make their applications "Internet aware," so you can expect that your peers will be using the ActiveX tools.
Similarly, if you are a Web developer you'll want to read this book to learn how to incorporate ActiveX technologies into your current and future sites. The Web has become increasingly interactive and multimedia oriented. (1994 and 1995 saw CGI pushed to the limits and ushered in plug-ins as well as other technologies.) A static home page will before long be "old-fashioned." Incorporating even simple ActiveX technologies into a Web site will allow the developer to stay on the cutting edge of Web development.
This book is not meant to be, nor can it be a "comprehensive" document. The industry is moving too fast for that; Microsoft is moving too fast for that. What you will find here is help in getting a firm grasp on the programming principles and techniques needed for using and understanding the ActiveX tools. These principles will hold, even as ActiveX is extended and enhanced by Microsoft or third-party vendors.
We have attempted to produce a book as modular as possible. When you find a need to learn a particular set of tools, you can go directly to the appropriate chapter or section and find the information you want, without having to read preliminary material. For some subjects this was not possible, and in those cases we direct you to whatever additional sources you need to explore.