OCX won't display on web

[Kavius]

I have an application that needed to do some calculations for a company. The one weird requirement is that they wanted the same piece to work on the web, in a current VB App, and as a stand alone.

Normally, I would build some logic, package that as a DLL and then build a seperate front-end for the web and the application. In this case I decided to just use an OCX and distribute it to the web.

This appears to work well, if the ocx is already registered on the user's computer. Currently, if a user accesses the website you get a box pop-up asking if you want to install the package, you say, yes and then nothing happens. The control just isn't loading remotely.

Any ideas what I might be missing?

Just to test I created the simplest project I could (an ocx with nothing on it) and built a cab for distrobution. It won't display either.

 

[williamu]

Have you checked the server logs for any events raised by the failure?



William
Software Engineer
ICQ No. 56047340

 

[Kavius]

I have just double checked the server and client logs. There are no messages that correspond to the time of the download.

This does not appear to be an error on the server. A download does occur (previous to the prompt asking if it is OK to install the ocx). This would indicate to me that the cab is making it to the client.

 

[williamu]

Ok, then check your IE's settings for the appropriate permissions for ActiveX controls. If you haven't signed your control then chances are it's a permissions issue.



William
Software Engineer
ICQ No. 56047340

 

[Kavius]

It actually won't give you the dialog box prompt if you don't change the password.

This is the way I have my explorer set to handle OCX. This is all found under the security menu (tools -> options -> security)
[tt]
ActiveX controls and plug-ins
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
enable - Download signed ActiveX controls
prompt - Download unsigned ActiveX controls
prompt - Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe
enable - Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins
enable - Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting[/tt]
Am I missing something?

 

[williamu]

So it has to be asked if you got prompted when you downloaded the control. Assuming it wasn't signed, and of course the OCX does have a UI?



William
Software Engineer
ICQ No. 56047340

 

[Kavius]

The ocx is a ui, it is not signed, and I do get a "dialog box prompt" asking if I want to "install and run" the cab file (which warns me that it is not signed).

 

[williamu]

Mmmm, weird. The only other thing I can think of is the existance of the VB runtimes that will be required for the Control. Are they present on these machines?

If not then they'll need to be included in the depolyed package.



William
Software Engineer
ICQ No. 56047340

 

[Kavius]

They are also included and deployed in the package. I used the package & deploy wizard to build the initial cab file. I also looked to see which dlls and stuff are included in the cab and they look correct.

My manager is breathing down my neck on this one. Are you sure I am not missing something horribly obvious?

The weirdest thing is that if you install the application version (which is the ocx placed on a form) it installs and then you can use the ocx off of a webpage. This says to me that the ocx is not being installed properly by IE.

 

[williamu]

Yeah, it's certianly looking that way. How is the OCX registered does it do it automagically? Try an experiment. Search your registry for the CLSID of the control, then enter this in to the registry of a new (virgin) machine. Once you've done that then try the download process again.

Of course you can always check the test machnines registry to see if it has the same data in it, or more to the point if it's missing!

If it works you'll need to investigate the deployment of the package. If it doesn't then ???



William
Software Engineer
ICQ No. 56047340

 

[Kavius]

I am moving this to a different forum. I just noticed that there is an ActiveX forum. Should that maybe be where I posted a question about ActiveX controls?

Anyway I am reposting on thread194-866760 and hoping for some more input.