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What Is the ATL Control-Hosting API?

ATL's control-hosting API is the set of functions that allows any window to act as an ActiveX control container. These functions can be statically or dynamically linked into your project since they are available as source code and exposed by ATL90.dll. The control-hosting functions are listed in the table below.

Function

Description

AtlAxAttachControl

Creates a host object, connects it to the supplied window, then attaches an existing control.

AtlAxCreateControl

Creates a host object, connects it to the supplied window, then loads a control.

AtlAxCreateControlLic

Creates a licensed ActiveX control, initializes it, and hosts it in the specified window, similar to AtlAxCreateControl.

AtlAxCreateControlEx

Creates a host object, connects it to the supplied window, then loads a control (also allows event sinks to be set up).

AtlAxCreateControlLicEx

Creates a licensed ActiveX control, initializes it, and hosts it in the specified window, similar to AtlAxCreateControlLic.

AtlAxCreateDialog

Creates a modeless dialog box from a dialog resource and returns the window handle.

AtlAxDialogBox

Creates a modal dialog box from a dialog resource.

AtlAxGetControl

Returns the IUnknown interface pointer of the control hosted in a window.

AtlAxGetHost

Returns the IUnknown interface pointer of the host object connected to a window.

AtlAxWinInit

Initializes the control-hosting code.

AtlAxWinTerm

Uninitializes the control-hosting code.

The HWND parameters in the first three functions must be an existing window of (almost) any type. If you call any of these three functions explicitly (typically, you won't have to), do not pass a handle to a window that's already acting as a host (if you do, the existing host object won't be freed).

The first seven functions call AtlAxWinInit implicitly.

Note

The control-hosting API forms the foundation of ATL's support for ActiveX control containment. However, there is usually little need to call these functions directly if you take advantage of or make full use of ATL's wrapper classes. For more information, see Which ATL Classes Facilitate ActiveX Control Containment?.

See Also

Concepts

ATL Control Containment FAQ