1. ICONICS
ActiveX ToolWorX V 6.1

2. AGENDA Introduction & Overview Demonstration: GWXGauge
ActiveX Toolkit Architecture
Programming Techniques
Demonstration: Creating a New ActiveX Control with ActiveX ToolWorX

3. Introduction/Overview
Part 1
Introduction/Overview

4. Recommended Knowledge
Visual C++ 6.0
MFC
Microsoft Developer’s Studio
OLE Automation
Win 32
Building ActiveX controls with MFC

5. ActiveX Controls Component/modular software design
Can be embedded into any ActiveX container
Visual Basic Forms
HTML pages for Internet Explorer
ICONICS’ GraphWorX32 HMI Application
Your own custom built container
Methods, Properties, and Events
Usually In-process

6. ActiveX ToolWorX
A development toolkit for easy creation of OPC (OLE for Process Control) enabled ActiveX controls
Featuring
OPC Connectivity
Powerful Animation Capabilities
Built-in UI controls (sliders, buttons, etc.)

7. OPC Connectivity Easy support for connection to OPC servers
Automatically handles OPC data updates (reads and writes); just provide a tag name, the toolkit takes care of the rest.
OPC Tag Browser included for tag name selection user interface

8. Powerful Animation
Includes all the animation capabilities of ICONICS’ GraphWorX32 HMI product
Compose images with rectangles, lines, ellipses, text, bitmaps, and more...
Transform images: Size, Location, Rotation, Color, and more...
Updates are fast and flicker-free

9. Built-in UI Controls Toolkit includes handling of User Input controls
Sliders and dials for writing analog values
Numeric/text entry fields
Buttons for downloading/toggling values
No need to worry about handling mouse clicks, mouse moves, or keystrokes for these input controls; the toolkit takes care of it.

10. Origins of ActiveX ToolWorX
Toolkit was created by ICONICS to assist in development of ICONICS component ActiveXs
Leverages functionality developed by ICONICS for GraphWorX32 HMI Application
Resulting toolkit is “general purpose” (useful to developers other than ICONICS).

11. Advantages of Using ActiveX ToolWorX
Rapid development because there is no need to implement features already supported by the toolkit (OPC connectivity, animation, UI controls, etc.)
Permits focus on component-specific functionality (build desired “intelligence” into your component)
Don’t even need to understand OPC (the toolkit abstracts it)

12. What is Included in the Toolkit?
ICONICS ActiveX ToolWorX Wizard
Automatically generates the framework source code for developing ActiveX controls using ActiveX ToolWorX
ActiveX ToolWorX Developer’s Guide Documentation
Detailed instructions on how to use the toolkit
Explanation of the toolkit’s architecture
GraphWorX32 OLE Automation Reference

13. What is Included in the Toolkit?
GwxExtDll.DLL
Dynamic link library containing HMI functionality (more on this later)
olexpress.DLL
Contains OPC related functionality (this DLL is used by GwxExtDll; you will not need to use this DLL directly)
TagBrowser.DLL
OPC tag browser

14. What is Included in the Toolkit?
Gwx32.TLB
Type library for OLE Automation supported by GwxExtDll
GWXGauge ActiveX
Example ActiveX control created using the toolkit
Source code of GWXGauge
A valuable resource for understanding how to create controls using the toolkit
Other miscellaneous support files

15. GWXGauge
GWXGauge is an OPC enabled ActiveX control developed with ActiveX ToolWorX
Gauge has over 100 properties making it a highly flexible component
Source code for the gauge included in the toolkit demonstrates a wide variety of programming techniques that can be used with the toolkit

16. Part 2
Architecture

17. GwxExtDll.DLL
Significant portions of ICONICS’ GraphWorX32 HMI product have been encapsulated in this DLL
This DLL is an MFC Extension DLL
The extention DLL exports a single class CGwxControl (a COleControl derived class). Your new controls are derived off of CGwxControl (instead of COleControl), thus inheriting all of the functionality in GwxExtDll
GwxExtDLL exposes a rich set of OLE automation properties/methods for manipulating the base control

18. ActiveX Toolkit Architecture
ActiveX Container Application
Instances of your ActiveX Controls
ActiveX “A” Code
ActiveX “B” Code
OLE Automation
OLE Automation
GwxExtDll.DLL Code
GwxExtDll Data
GwxExtDll Data
OPC Data
OPC Data
OPC Data
OPC Server
OLExpress FrameWorX

19. ActiveX ToolWorX Wizard
The released version of the toolkit will include a wizard for automatically generating framework source code for developing ActiveX controls using ActiveX ToolWorX
To help understand the toolkit better, the tasks automated by the wizard are described in the ActiveX ToolWorX documentation

20. Tasks Performed by the Wizard
Create a new Visual C++ project using Microsoft’s MFC ActiveX Control Wizard
In Build-Settings-Link-Release add GwxExtDll.LIB
In Build-Settings-Link-Debug add GwxExtDlld.LIB
When you are building a debug version of your ActiveX, you need to use the debug version of GwxExtDll to ensure that the ActiveX registers properly

21. Tasks Performed by the Wizard
Change your control class to be derived from CGwxControl instead of COleControl
Replace all instance of COleControl in your control class (.cpp and .h file)
Include Control.h in the .cpp files of your control class and application class
Control.h is the class definition file for CGwxControl

22. Tasks Performed by the Wizard
Replace the default drawing code in OnDraw() to:
CGwxControl::OnDraw(pdc, rcBounds, rcInvalid)
This allows the base class, CGwxControl, to do all the drawing
In InitInstance(), just before returning, add the following code:
InitialGraphWorXExtensionDll();
This function insures the MFC properly handles the current module state

23. Tasks Performed by the Wizard
Inherit desired properties and methods of the base class by modifying the ODL file of your project
Copy the properties/methods you want from GWXview32.ODL (file provided in the toolkit)
Modify the ID numbers such that the first bit of the hi-word is set

24. Tasks Performed by the Wizard
Using Class Wizard, add a new class by importing the GwxDisplay object type from Gwx32.TLB
This provides easy access to exposed methods/properties of GwxExtDll
To use the new class (IGwx32) add a new member variable to your control class. Initialize the variable as follows:
LPDISPATCH lpDispatch = GetDisplay();
m_lpDispatch = new IGwx32(lpDispatch);
Delete this member in the destructor of your control class

25. Tasks Performed by the Wizard
Optionally override default settings of the base control’s properties in the constructor of your control class
The following example would turn on the scrollbars by default in your derived control:
m_verticalScrollbar = TRUE;
m_horizontalScrollbar = TRUE;

26. Programming Techniques
Part 3
Programming Techniques

27. Programming Tasks Create GraphWorX32 objects which make up the control
Create lines, rectangles, dynamic transformations, etc. that define the look and behavior of your ActiveX
Manipulate existing GraphWorX32 objects in the control
Associate properties of your ActiveX control with properties of the lines, rectangles, dynamic transformations, etc. that comprise your control.

28. Creating Objects
There are two primary techniques you can use to create GraphWorX32 objects with the toolkit
Dynamic programmatic creation of objects via OLE automation
Loading a pre-created set of objects created visually using GraphWorX32 HMI application

29. Programmatic Creation
Use OLE automation methods defined in Gwx32.TLB to create the GraphWorX32 objects, based on the current values of your ActiveX’s properties
Use methods such as CreateRectangle() and CreateSizeDynamic() to build up the visual appearance and behavior of your ActiveX

30. Visual Creation
Create the objects for your ActiveX visually using GraphWorX32
Bind the resulting display file directly into your ActiveX resources
Load the display from the resource area via FileOpen() method

31. Programmatic vs. Visual Creation
Programmatic Creation is highly flexible but more difficult to program
Layout of objects is unrestricted, but logic for intelligent layout can be tricky
This is the technique used by GWXGauge
Visual Creation is very easy to program, but tends to be less flexible
Layout of objects is done visually, but this layout is generally fixed
Can include bitmaps in the layout
This technique is good for controls which are visually complex, but tend not to vary much in their appearance

32. Example: Programmatic Creation
To create a resizing bar
m_lpDispatch->CreateRectangle(l,t,w,h,filled,fillColor,lineColor,
lineWidth,lineStyle,shadow,shadowColor,edgeStyle,hidden,
”bar1”,rounded)->Release();
LPDISPATCH lpDisp = m_lpDispatch->CreateSizeDynamic(“bar1”,”size1”,
sizeType,clip,startSize,endSize);
IGwxDynamic sizeDispDrv(lpDisp);
sizeDispDrv.SetDataSource(dataSource);
sizeDispDrv.SetRangeOverride(rangeOverride);
if (rangeOverride) {
sizeDispDrv.SetLowRange(lowRange);
sizeDispDrv.SetHighRange(highRange); }
Don’t forget to release dispatch pointers

33. Example: Creation by FileOpen()
First, visually create the control’s display using GraphWorX32
Import the display into your project via Insert/Resource/Custom
Specify the resource type as “GWX32_DISPLAY”
Store the resource id of the display as a string name (for instance, “GWX32_MYCONTROL1”)
Load the display from the resource area using FileOpen() method, passing the file name in the special format:
“LoadDisplayFromResource:string representation of module handle:resource name string”

34. Example: Creation by FileOpen()
Sample Code:
HINSTANCE hModule = AfxGetResourceHandle();
CString strModuleHandle;
strModuleHandle.Format(_T("%ld"),(long)hModule);
CString strDisplayName(_T("LoadDisplayFromResource:"));
strDisplayName += strModuleHandle;
strDisplayName += _T(":GWX32_MYCONTROL1");
m_lpDispatch->FileOpen(strDisplayName);
Note: you can bind more than one display file into your ActiveX, loading any one of those displays based on property value

35. Handling Property Changes
When a property of your ActiveX changes, you need to update the object(s) affected by that property
Get the dispatch pointer of the appropriate object, given the object’s name (the name of an object is specified when the object is first created).
Example: changing the data source
LPDISPATCH lpDisp =
m_lpDispatch->GetDynamicObjectFromName(objName);
if (lpDisp != NULL) {
IGwxDynamic lpDispDrv(lpDisp);
lpDispDrv.SetDataSource(newDataSource); }

36. Creating a new ActiveX Control with ActiveX ToolWorX
Demonstration
Creating a new ActiveX Control with ActiveX ToolWorX

37. Summary
ICONICS’ ActiveX ToolWorX allows you to rapidly develop OPC enabled ActiveX controls with fast, flicker-free animation, and user input capabilities
Components made with ActiveX ToolWorX can be embedded into any ActiveX container