How to add ATL control containment support to any window in Visual C++ (192560)



The information in this article applies to:

  • The Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL) 3.0, when used with:
    • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition 6.0
    • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition 6.0
    • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Learning Edition 6.0

This article was previously published under Q192560

SUMMARY

This article explains how to add Active Template Library (ATL) generic control containment capability to any window, so that the window can host ActiveX controls. The control containment support conforms to the OCX 96 specification and supports windowless activation and flicker-free drawing.

MORE INFORMATION

To add control containment, follow these steps:
  1. Add the following header files and pragma directives to your code. If you want to link to the containment code in Atl.dll, add the following code:
         // AtlAxWinInit is implemented in Atl.dll
             #pragma comment(lib, "atl.lib")
             #include <atldef.h>
             #define _ATL_DLL_IMPL
             #include <atliface.h>
    						
    Atl.dll must be shipped when you use ATL containment code, regardless of whether you Min Size build or Min Dependency build. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    244955 ATL projects built for MinDependency need Atl.dll if the projects use ATL control containment code in Visual C++ 6.0

  2. Add the following code to the application initialization code, for example in the beginning of WinMain():
          //Initialize ATL control containment code.
             AtlAxWinInit();
    					
  3. Create the ActiveX controls: use the WIN32 CreateWindow() function, specify "AtlAxWin" as the class name, and then specify either a GUID, a ProgID, or an URL as the title. For example:
          // Create the Calendar control specifying the ProgID.
          // Make sure that the module handle you pass to CreateWindow is the
          // same module handle where AtlAxWinInit() was called from.
          HWND hWnd = ::CreateWindow("AtlAxWin", "MSCAL.Calendar",
             WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE, 10, 10, 500, 300, hParent, NULL,
             ::GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);
    
          // Same as above, except CLSID is specified instead of ProgID.
          // Corresponds to ProgID "MSCAL.Calendar.7"
          HWND hWnd = ::CreateWindow("AtlAxWin",
             "{8E27C92B-1264-101C-8A2F-040224009C02}",
             WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE, 10, 10, 500, 300, hParent, NULL,
             ::GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);
    
          // Creates the Web Browser control and navigates to the 
          // specified web page.
          HWND hWnd = ::CreateWindow("AtlAxWin", "http://www.microsoft.com", 
             WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE, 10, 10, 500, 300, hParent, NULL,
             ::GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);
    
    
          // Creates an instance of an dynamic HTML document.
          HWND hWnd = ::CreateWindow("AtlAxWin", "mshtml:<H1>Hello World</H1>",
             WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE, 10, 10, 500, 300, hParent, NULL,
             ::GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);
    					
  4. If you added _Module.Init(), add the following code in application termination code (for example, in WinMain(), after the message loop):
    _Module.Term()
    					
You can get the IUnknown* of the control via AtlAxGetControl(). To get the IUnknown* of the container, use AtlAxGetHost(). The HWND returned from CreateWindow() for the control is passed as the first parameter in both functions.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/2/2005
Keywords:kbATLWC kbContainer kbCtrl kbFAQ kbhowto KB192560 kbAudDeveloper