OLE and Active X controls

An OLE control is an independent object that can be inserted into a Sculptor program, where it behaves in a very similar fashion to other types of control. An OLE control can be very simple - such as a status bar - or extremely complex. For example, Microsoft Word can be embedded into a Sculptor program as an OLE control.

An OLE control is manipulated using its properties and verbs, and the events that it generates. Sculptor can retrieve and amend any property of the control, and can call any method, use any verb and receive any event supported by it (subject to any limitations imposed by the control).

Many OLE controls are third-party products. In order to use these effectively, full documentation of the control is required.

Some programs, such as Microsoft Word, can be dynamically created as independent objects, using the create_object() function. These objects are applications, rather than controls, but they are nevertheless manipulated by means of the OLE control interface.

Sculptor supports both OLE and Active X controls; all references to OLE controls in these help files apply equally to Active X controls.

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OLE and Active X topics

• Defining an OLE control
• OLE control functions
• OLE control property clauses
• OLE controls - modifying/retrieving at run time
• OLE control events and functions
• OLE control methods
• OLE control menu styles
• Specifying a function to be called if an OLE error occurs
• OLE - assignment to text fields from alphanumeric arrays
• OLE example programs