Registering an OLE Control

This article has two sections: See the readme.

Why register OLE controls?

The registry is a system database that holds configuration information. The registry provides necessary bindings between identifiers for COM components and the implementation for that component. COM components need to be in the registry to be created. Since OLE controls are COM components, they must be registered before you can use them.

Typically, a vendor registers an OLE control as part of the installation process. For this sample, there is no installation program, therefore, you must register the OLE control yourself.

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Registering an OLE control

REGSVR32.EXE is a tool that registers server DLL files. The DLL must include self-registration information. All OLE controls and many other COM components (in-process servers) are self-registering.

To register an OLE control:

  1. Create a command window.
    From the Start menu, select Programs.
    Select MS-DOS Prompt or Command Prompt, depending on the version of the operating system.
  2. Navigate to the directory containing the OCX (controlname.ocx)
  3. Copy OCX file to the Windows® system directory.
    • In Windows® 95, this is the SYSTEM subdirectory of the Windows installation directory. In a command window type: 
         copy controlname.ocx %windir%\system
    • In Windows® NT®, this is the SYSTEM32 subdirectory of the Windows installation directory. In a command window type: 
         copy controlname.ocx %windir%\system32
  4. Navigate to the Windows system directory.
  5. Run RegSvr32 to register the outline control.
    In the command window type: 
       regsvr32 controlname.ocx
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