FWD » Core Development » User Interface

For new projects, we often encounter a list of unknown OCX controls. These may or may not be still supported by the original vendor and often we have no documentation for them.

When we only have access to a binary OCX, we could inspect the "Embedded Type Library". Every .ocx file has a compiled TypeLib describing all its CoClasses, interfaces, methods, properties, and events:

• OLE/COM Object Viewer (oleview.exe): Included with the Windows SDK/Visual Studio. Open oleview.exe, select File → View TypeLib..., and point it to ctList.ocx or ctDropMenu.ocx to decompile the complete interface into IDL (Interface Definition Language).
• VB6 / VBA Object Browser: If working in VB6 or Microsoft Access/Excel, register the control, open the VBA/VB6 IDE, go to Tools → References (or Components), add the control, and press F2 to browse every member and parameter signature.
• Modern Tools: Open-source utilities like OleSpy or the .NET tlbimp.exe tool (which generates a interop assembly you can decompile in ILSpy) will display the exact method signatures and DISPIDs.

I suggest that we need to write our own Java-based tool that can be integrated with our conversion tools/analytics/IDE support. This will allow us to build our own source of truth about the API that exists in the control.