Author: samlogic

In a previous blog post we showed how to add an ActiveX control to a Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 project. In this blog post we will show how to add an ActiveX control to a Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 project. We will also show how to create a variable that can be used to access properties and methods in the ActiveX control.

In this step-by-step tip we will use the Twitter control that is included in our SamLogic Social Media Components component library. This control can be used to send tweets to Twitter, and we will show how to add this control to a Visual C++ project. Although this tip will cover Microsoft Visual C++ 2010, the steps in other versions of Visual C++ are very similar.

How to add an ActiveX component to a Visual C++ 2010 project

1. Start Visual Studio 2010 and choose New project in the File menu.

2. Select the MFC Application option in the Visual C++ node in the New project dialog box.

3. In the MFC Application Wizard window that is shown, choose Dialog based in the Application Type step. We will create a dialog based Windows application.

4. In the Advanced Features step in the MFC Application Wizard, make sure that the ActiveX controls option is selected.

5. In the last step of the MFC Application Wizard, click on the Finish button.

We have now created a basic Visual C++ / MFC project that uses a dialog based window. Next will show how to add the Twitter ActiveX control to the project:

6. Right-click over the Toolbox window.

7. Select the Choose items menu item in the local menu that is shown.

8. The Choose Toolbox Items dialog box is now shown. In this dialog box, open the COM Components tab.

9. If you have installed the Twitter component and want to use it, select the SLTwitCtrl control in the list. Otherwise, select the ActiveX component that you want to use.

10. Click OK to close the dialog box.

11. The selected component should be visible in the Toolbox window; probably in the bottom of the window.

12. Now drag and drop the component on the dialog box.

We have now included an ActiveX component into a Visual C++ 2010 project and put it in a dialog box. We will now show how to create a variable that can be used to access properties and methods in the ActiveX control.

13. Right-click on the ActiveX control in the dialog box window.

14. Click on the Add Variable menu item in the local menu that is shown.

15. Enter a variable name in the dialog box that is shown, for example: SLTwitterCtrl.

15. Click Finish to close the dialog box and create the variable

16. We have now created a variable that can be used to access properties and methods in the ActiveX control. The example below shows how to access the AppName property in SamLogic’s Twitter Control (it sets the ActiveX property to “Twitter Test Application”):

Related Blog Posts
> How to add an ActiveX component to a Visual Basic 2010 project
> How to add an ActiveX component to an Excel 2010 sheet

As you may already know, and as we described in an article on our website, Microsoft removed the Start button in Windows 8. This raised much criticism among Windows users and Microsoft have partly listened to them and re-introduced the Start button in the upcoming Windows 8.1 that will be released later this year. However, there is no traditional Start menu as in earlier versions of Windows. Instead, the Start screen is shown if you click on the Start button (see image to the right). The new Start button is placed at the bottom left of the screen, just like in older Windows versions.

Windows 8.1 – Right-click menu
It is also possible to right-click on the Start button and display a shortcut menu for Control Panel and Windows Explorer among other options. You can also turn off or restart Windows from this menu (see image to the right).

Displays traditional desktop at start
Another new feature in Windows 8.1 is that the computer can be started with the traditional desktop right away instead of clicking around with your mouse or using the keyboard to bring up the traditional desktop as you had to do in the previous version of Windows 8. This is welcome news for many, especially for companies that are still using traditional Windows programs (Windows desktop applications).

Other news
Some other news in Windows 8.1 are:
– Improved support for SkyDrive
– Internet Explorer 11 included
– Improved support for security
– Extended support for VPN
– Improved and more flexible Home screen
– Support for 3D printers

The following YouTube video from Microsoft presents news on Windows 8.1:

More information
More information about the new features in Windows 8.1 can be found on these pages:
> Microsoft: What’s New in Windows 8.1
> Guardian: Windows 8.1 review: Microsoft’s fresh Start?

Download Windows 8.1 Preview
Right now it is possible to download a preview version of Windows 8.1:
> Download English version of Windows 8.1
> Download Swedish version of Windows 8.1

Related information about Windows 8
> Article: New Keyboard Shortcuts (Hot Keys) in Windows 8
> Article: Why Were the Start Button & Start Menu Removed in Windows 8?

Applications (programs) are usually installed to the Program Files folder in Windows. The exact folder path may differ between different versions of Windows. The folder path is for example different between a 32 bit and 64 bit Windows, and for example a Spanish Windows uses a different folder path than an English Windows.

This will make it difficult to hard code the folder path to the Program Files folder. If you use Visual Installer for your setup projects you can use an environment variable to handle the Program Files folder. The name of the variable is %PROGRAMFILES and the variable will be replaced with the current folder path to the Program Files folder during the installation. By using this variable you don’t need to worry about the bitness of the Windows or which country / language version of Windows that is run.

More information
We have published more information about the %PROGRAMFILES variable in the following two Visual Installer related blog posts:

> How to install files in the correct folder using Visual Installer
> How Visual Installer handles 64 bit folders in Windows

In a previous blog thread we published a list of websites that provide free icons (small pictures) that can be used for your newsletter, homepage, blog or program. In this blog thread we bring up a new article that you can find on our homepage which contains links to websites where you can download free images (for example photos) of high quality. Even those pictures will fit well your newsletters, blogs, homepages and programs etc.

There are many websites on the Internet that offer professional images such as photos or computer generated pictures. In an article we have put together a list of links to such websites with high level of standard. Many of these images can be used for free for both private and commercial purposes while others can be bought cheaply. The available image formats usually are JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF and BMP. The article brings also up some search engines – specialized for images – that you can use for finding free images or images you are willing to pay for. You can find the article here:

> Free pictures for newsletters and your blog