Equivalent of an Activex EXE in VB.Net

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nikkita
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Nikkita

Software such as Excel or Word exposes a COM object model which allows
them to be automated by any language that can call COM objects.

As I understand it, I can do the same in VB6 by writing an Activex EXE.
Such a program can have a GUI which will be accessed by users in the
normal way as well as exposing a COM object model.

How can I do the .Net equivalent in VB.Net? According to VB.Net help, the
VB.Net equivalent of an Activex EXE is a Class Library. But a Class
Library project doesn't appear to allow me to choose a starting point -
it's only intended to export objects to be called from elsewhere. This is
all very well but how do I write a program in VB.Net with a GUI which can
also export its object model to allow it to be automated/consumed by other
programs?
 
Software such as Excel or Word exposes a COM object model which allows
them to be automated by any language that can call COM objects.

As I understand it, I can do the same in VB6 by writing an Activex EXE.
Such a program can have a GUI which will be accessed by users in the
normal way as well as exposing a COM object model.

How can I do the .Net equivalent in VB.Net? According to VB.Net help, the
VB.Net equivalent of an Activex EXE is a Class Library. But a Class
Library project doesn't appear to allow me to choose a starting point -
it's only intended to export objects to be called from elsewhere. This is
all very well but how do I write a program in VB.Net with a GUI which can
also export its object model to allow it to be automated/consumed by other
programs?
Click to expand...

The closest equivalent would be .NET remoting... Your application can
host objects that other processes can get hold of and send commands.
 
You would have to create a Class Library that exposes your object
model. It can also contain GUI elements like forms and dialog boxes.
You would then have to create a Windows Forms Application to allow the
app to run stand alone.

As was pointed out by Oenone, VS2005 will allow the referencing of
..exe's
 
Just FYI, the VS.NET 2003 IDE does not allow you to reference *.exe files.
However, if you compile your project through the command line, it will allow
you to reference *.exe files. Try it out, it works :)
 
Software such as Excel or Word exposes a COM object model which
allows them to be automated by any language that can call COM objects.

As I understand it, I can do the same in VB6 by writing an Activex
EXE. Such a program can have a GUI which will be accessed by users in
the normal way as well as exposing a COM object model.

How can I do the .Net equivalent in VB.Net? According to VB.Net help,
the VB.Net equivalent of an Activex EXE is a Class Library. But a
Class Library project doesn't appear to allow me to choose a starting
point - it's only intended to export objects to be called from
elsewhere. This is all very well but how do I write a program in
VB.Net with a GUI which can also export its object model to allow it
to be automated/consumed by other programs?
Click to expand...

The closest equivalent would be .NET remoting... Your application can
host objects that other processes can get hold of and send commands.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, I'll look into that.
 
You would have to create a Class Library that exposes your object
model. It can also contain GUI elements like forms and dialog boxes.
You would then have to create a Windows Forms Application to allow the
app to run stand alone.

As was pointed out by Oenone, VS2005 will allow the referencing of
.exe's
Click to expand...

I see, thanks for your help. Things are becoming clearer now.
 
Just FYI, the VS.NET 2003 IDE does not allow you to reference *.exe
files. However, if you compile your project through the command line,
it will allow you to reference *.exe files. Try it out, it works :)
Click to expand...

That's very interesting, thanks. I'll take a look at that.
 
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