Create an ActiveX using a Csharp Usercontrol

Updated / Created
July 20, 2009
July 15, 2009
By Andreas Verhamme
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This article is about creating ActiveX controls using a DotNet Usercontrol in Csharp. You can design all ActiveX features like: properties, methods and events.

Environment: Visual Studio(2005) Csharp

How to Do This

1. Create a Usercontrol using Visual Studio (C#):

(Full Size Image)

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2. Configure the project properties:

(Full Size Image)

3. Modify the usercontrol interface:

Note: Make sur you added the EVENTS class: [ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual), ComSourceInterfaces(typeof(UserControlEvents))]

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
// Add references
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Reflection;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace CsharpWindowsActiveX
{

[ProgId("CsharpWindowsActiveX.ActiveXUserControl")]
[ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual), ComSourceInterfaces(typeof(UserControlEvents))]

public partial class ActiveXUserControl : UserControl
{

                    public ActiveXUserControl()
                    {
                         InitializeComponent();
                    }

.....

4. Add the register/unregister section in the source code

// register COM ActiveX object

[ComRegisterFunction()]
public static void RegisterClass(string key)
{
               StringBuilder skey = new StringBuilder(key);
              skey.Replace(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\", "");
              RegistryKey regKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(skey.ToString(), true);
              RegistryKey ctrl = regKey.CreateSubKey("Control");
             ctrl.Close();
              RegistryKey inprocServer32 = regKey.OpenSubKey("InprocServer32", true);
              inprocServer32.SetValue("CodeBase", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase);
              inprocServer32.Close();
              regKey.Close();
}

[ComUnregisterFunction()]
public static void UnregisterClass(string key)
{
               StringBuilder skey = new StringBuilder(key);
               skey.Replace(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\", "");
               RegistryKey regKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(skey.ToString(), true);
               regKey.DeleteSubKey("Control", false);
               RegistryKey inprocServer32 = regKey.OpenSubKey("InprocServer32", true);
               regKey.DeleteSubKey("CodeBase", false);
               regKey.Close();
}

5. Add an ActiveX property:

// ActiveX properties (Get/Set) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

private int ptextVal;
public int TextVal
{
       get
       {
                  ptextVal = (int)(numericUpDown1.Value);
                  return ptextVal;
        }
        set
       {

            ptextVal = value;
                numericUpDown1.Value = ptextVal;
         }
}

6. Add an ActiveX method:

// ActiveX methods/functions //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

public interface ICOMCallable

{
int GetTextBoxValue();
}

public int GetTextBoxValue()
{
             int i = (int)(numericUpDown1.Value);
             MessageBox.Show("ActiveX method: GetTextBoxValue " + i.ToString());
             return (i);
}

7. Add an ActiveX event:

// Eventhandler interface //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

public delegate void ControlEventHandler(int NumVal);
[Guid("0A415E38-372F-45fb-813B-D9558C787EA0")]
[InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIDispatch)]

public interface UserControlEvents
{
[DispId(0x60020001)]
void OnButtonClick(int NumVal);
}

public event ControlEventHandler OnButtonClick;

private void buttonOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

       int NumVal;
        if (OnButtonClick != null)
        {
                 NumVal = (int)(numericUpDown1.Value);
                 OnButtonClick(NumVal);
         }
}