Understanding ActiveX controls

As you use PRPC, Internet Explorer automatically prompts you to download Microsoft ActiveX controls (also known as OCX files) to support special functions.

If preferred, you can download the ActiveX controls all at once using an installer BAT file. This file is named OCXInstaller.zip, available on the Resource Kit in the PRPC distribution media. Once downloaded, ActiveX controls reside in the Downloaded Program Files directory. See PDN article How to download all ActiveX controls at once.

Browser settings

Review your Internet Explorer security settings on the Tools > Internet Options > Security panel. Depending on which settings you have selected, you may see a Security Warning dialog or Windows 7 User Account Control dialog. Click Yes or Install.

All these controls are signed by Pegasystems.

Some controls depend on hidden, downloaded files, not visible in Windows Explorer listings. To see these dependencies, right-click the file name and choose Properties from the menu, and then click the Dependency tab.

NOTE: Do not try to delete the files shown on the Dependency tab, as they support ActiveX operations. When you delete any visible file in the Downloaded Program Files directory, Windows also automatically deletes any dependent files no longer needed and cleans up registry entries.

Shipped ActiveX controls

The following features require ActiveX controls. You are prompted to download an ActiveX control when you attempt to use the associated feature.  For example, the prompt to download prOpenAuthoring appears when you try to edit a Java step in an activity externally.

ActiveX controls are specific to supported browser versions of Internet Explorer. When using supported browsers other than Internet Explorer, you may find that these features are disabled or display a warning.

Avoiding ActiveX controls

There may be cases where a system does not allow downloads of ActiveX controls from vendors other than Microsoft. To ensure your application does not rely on any Pegasystems Inc. ActiveX controls, you can:

1. Copy the standard portal rules WorkManager and WorkUser into an application ruleset(choosing new names to avoid affecting other applications).
2. Open each copied portal rule. On the Options tab, clear the Download user OCX on load of portal? box. Save the updated portal rules.
3. In the access groups for workers and managers, reference the new portal rules.
4. In your application design and implementation, exclude capabilities that require any of the ActiveX controls listed above. For example, some reports available from the User portal include the Export to Excel button, which depends on prImportManagerOCX. You can copy and override the standard report definition, turning off this option.

Notes

• Local Zone security settings must be enabled to allow successful ActiveX control downloads. See How to set up Internet Explorer for more details.
• ActiveX controls are stored as Binary File rules with CAB (cabinet) as the file type.
• Developers can access a PRPC application as a service through an ActiveX control that they create as part of a Service COM interface.
• When a user accesses different versions of PRPC from one workstation, conflicts can occur between ActiveX control versions. These conflicts appear as directories named CONFLICT.ZZZZ, where ZZZZ is a number. To address this, log off, delete all the PRPC ActiveX controls, and then delete all CONFLICT directories. (In some cases, you may need to use a Windows CMD session to see and delete the CONFLICT directories.)
• Before 2001, Microsoft ActiveX controls were called OLE controls.
• In many cases, ActiveX controls require storing temporary files on your local machine.

	ActiveX, open authoring
	About Binary File rules How to set up Internet Explorer

Concepts