Why is ActiveX? technology important to my data acquisition applications?

Why is ActiveX? technology important to my data acquisition applications?

The software industry has been shifting rapidly toward component-based architectures. ActiveX is a set of rules governing how different applications or software components should interact and share information in the Windows environment.

ActiveX control (formerly known as OLE or OCX control) is a user interface element created using the standards for information exchange and functional modularity among Microsoft Windows-based applications. ActiveX controls are based on Component Object Model (COM) technology, a software architecture that enables applications to be built from software components. Component Object Modeling provides many benefits, including easy integration, scalability, reusability, language independence, cross-platform compatibility, and context-sensitive help.

The practical benefit of ActiveX lies in its use of a single, simple object model that enables programmers to create software components that can be interchanged without having to rewrite entire applications. This interchangeability can reduce development cost and extend the life of applications. For example, an application originally written for a 16-channel, 100kHz analog I/O board could be used with a 64-channel, 300kHz analog I/O board by simply replacing an ActiveX control that describes the characteristics and functionality of the data acquisition device.

ActiveX protects your software investment by making applications more portable and hardware upgrades smoother. Data acquisition manufacturers and third parties have developed thousands of ActiveX controls, which strongly support the concept and benefit of open architecture software systems.