This build of IE has passed BVTs.. This ActiveX SDK build is synched to Internet Explorer Build beta2.rc8 VB Script Build Drop00Drop0007.10, and OLE Automation Build 070996.4045, and Windows NT build v4.1365. ============================================================================ Release notes for the Microsoft ActiveX Development Kit: Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1996 ============================================================================ Note: If you did not access this document from \INetSDK\Help\Default.htm, that is probably a better place to begin reading documentation. This readme.txt is the second URL in that document's right hand frame. ----------------------------------------------------- WELCOME TO THE ACTIVEX SDK: ----------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Microsoft ActiveX Development Kit. These are the release notes of the July '96 release of the ActiveX SDK. It is intended to be installed with the Beta II release of Internet Explorer 3.0, and the May '96 release of the Win32 SDK. The operating system for this release of the SDK is intended to be Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 SUR beta. Here's a brief description of the contents of this folder, followed by release notes. BIN SDK Tools, redistributables DLLs and self extracting .exe's HELP Help files for various SDK components INCLUDE Include files for Win32 Internet Services and OLE Interfaces LIB Libraries for the Internet SDK SAMPLES Internet SDK Samples SPECS Internet SDK Documentation and Specifications ----------------------------------------------------- PREREQUISITE OF THIS RELEASE OF THE ACTIVEX SDK: ----------------------------------------------------- Notes on which VC++, MFC, IE 3.0, and Win32 SDK are required. This release of the ActiveX SDK require that you have downloaded and installed: * Beta II of the Internet Explorer 3.0. (http://www.microsoft.com/ie/iedl.htm) * The latest release of the Win32 SDK (dated May '96, available on MSDN Level II). * Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 SUR Beta * A compiler (Microsoft Visual C++ 4.1 is the most tested) You will experience problems building code if you do not have the latest Win32 SDK. Before installing the latest ActiveX SDK, you should go to the root of any past installation of the ActiveX SDK, and delete the entire \INetSDK and it's sub-directories. If you have Visual C++ 4.1 and the May '96 release of the Win32 SDK, you should set your environment variables by executing the following commands on your command line (note, make exceptions to make sure you go the the correct directories) cd \msdev\bin vcvars32 x86 cd c:\mstools setenv c:\mstools cd c:\inetsdk setenv c:\inetsdk Not having the May '96 release of the Win32 SDK is not a supported setup. If you do not have a release of the Win32 SDK, or if you have not upgraded from the Aug.'95 release of the Win32 SDK, you will have trouble building samples and using the current header files. Some people have had success by changing the order of their include files i.e. making sure that the \msdev collection of include files come before those of the \inetsdk set of include files. I stress however that this is not a supported setup, and you will likely continue to have problems. There are some known problems with MFC 4.2 support. If you are using MFC 4.2 and ActiveX technology, you will experience problems (as can be seen when trying to compile the UrlPad sample). MFC 4.2 support for ActiveX technology is still in beta form. This support will be updated after the ActiveX SDK is final. If you wish to do development for an MFC based application, you should use VC++ 4.1 and MFC 4.1; or you can use VC++ 4.2 with MFC 4.1 (their will be a tech note in your VC++ installation on how to setup this configuration: \msdev\win32s.wri). Some people have had success using VC++ 4.2 and MFC 4.2 and changing their include paths to pick up the MFC include files first. This will allow you to compile, but the MFC 4.2 files are not sync'd correctly with the newer ActiveX SDK libs and dlls; so you will likely continue to have problems. Using MFC 4.2 is not supported with this release of the ActiveX SDK. The ActiveX SDK nolonger installs DLLs (although it makes some available for you to install yourself i.e. ULServer.dll). It is assumed that you have all of the DLLs needed for your ActiveX development through your Windows NT system or Internet Explorer installation. If this assumption is not correct, please let us know. ----------------------------------------------------- DigSig.dll Patch: ----------------------------------------------------- In the \bin directory you will find a copy of DigSig.dll. This is a patch to the DigSig.dll that shipped with the Internet Explorer beta II. To install it, simply copy it into you \System or \System32 directory. The system will let you do this assuming you do not have a dialog box for a certificate currently active on your screen. You do not need to reboot the system for this installation. ----------------------------------------------------- SOME NEW DOCUMENTATION: ----------------------------------------------------- One of the changes that you will find in this SDK is a great new look with the HTML documentation. It now uses frames and is better indexed so that you can find things easier. You will need to be sure to have the Beta II release of Internet Explorer 3.0 to view these documents however. Most of the HTML documentation will be found in the \INetSDK\Help sub-directory, and can be accessed from \INetSDK\Help\Default.htm. You will find the HTML documentation more generally up to date. There is a second set of documentation in the \INetSDK\Specs sub-directory. This is essentially a collection of old specifications of technology still in transition or information that has not been converted into HTML yet. You will find it a bit dated; but it may still be helpful to your development efforts. As always, with any documentation, you should consider the header files the most recent and the last word. Due to many ISV requests, we have also placed the ActiveX.MVB file back into the ActiveX SDK. We had initially thought ISVs would not want to download this file due to size reasons, but feedback has indicated that it is well worth the download time to be able to use .mvb files and a search engine. You will find it in the \INetSDK\Help sub-directory. Note, if you are having trouble finding an old .doc or .txt file, chances are it has been folded into the new .htm or .mvb files. If you're not finding things where you think they should be located, please give us feedback. If we get enough feedback to indicate a change is needed to the documentation structure, we will make it. Some notable additions to the documentation are information on Steps on making a control, Licensing, and Pallete issues. There is another new file called RegSet.txt found in \INetSDK\Bin. It is meant to demostrate the registry settings for URLMon.dll, WinInet.dll, and other files. It is in the form of an .inf file (it is actually extracted from the Internet Explorer and redistributable's .inf files.) ----------------------------------------------------- SOME NEW TOOLS: ----------------------------------------------------- There are a couple of new tools that you will find useful in your development. * LPK_Tool: is a Licensing Package Authoring Tool, that allows you to create a license package (LPK file) for the controls of a given web page. To learn more, look for the lpk_tool.* files in your \inetsdk\bin directory. * ActiveX Control Pad: is a much easier way to add controls to your pages. The ActiveX Control Pad is not a part of the ActiveX SDK download available from the internet; however, if you don't have it already, you can access it from a URL found on the \inetsdk\help\Overview.htm (that jump is back one jump from here), or find it from in your browser as http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/cpad/cpad.htm. * There are two new .reg files (and a readme: reg.txt) used to turn registry settings on and off allowing the use of fake certificates for signed code. When Internet Explorer is released to manufacture, this registry setting will be turned off, so that end-users will not see the popup fake certificate that developers are currently using to test signed code. By executing these registry files, a developer can turn the registry settings on so that their machine can test for signed code when using a fake certificate. Files added to \INetSDK\Bin are: Reg.txt, wvtstoff.reg, wvtston.reg. * ShowKeys.exe is a new tool in the use of code signing. ShowKeys will provide you with a list of your own signing keys in your certification store (for both code signing and client authentication) ----------------------------------------------------- SOME NEW SAMPLES: ----------------------------------------------------- There a couple of new samples available for WinInet developers. They are HTTPAuth and HeadDump. You will find them both in the \InetSDK\Samples\WinInet sub-directory. The ActiveX Conferencing samples (\INetSDK\Samples\MSConf) have been refreshed from the latest Conferencing SDK, and you will find new information on ULS in that samples subdirectories. The WebPost samples have also been refreshed. ----------------------------------------------------- SOME CODING TIPS: ----------------------------------------------------- Under the category of "Ghee, if I had only known...", the following is some helpful coding tips of things that have changed or things others have discovered in their development cycles and want others to know about. * A Change with OnData methods between Beta I and Beta II. If you've written your controls based off of the WebImage sample you will need to change your OnData method implementation and recompile. Please look at the current WebImage sample for details. The old sample was written to use a Push model implementation of UrlMon.dll. The current ActiveX framework has been changed to use the Pull model (more efficient). * Passing Hexidecimal Values into Controls. If you are having trouble with passing hexidecimal values into controls, it may be because you are not using the VB syntax for specifying the hex numbers, example: * New Syntax for Floating Frames There is a new syntax for floating frames. This means existing floating frame pages will not work and need to be updated immediately. The tag is no longer used to create a floating frame, for each floating frame. Any html in the If compatibility with beta 1 and beta 2 is needed, change it to: Note that this last example works because beta 1 ignores the