List of MOSS 2007 ActiveX controls (created searching the visible code) - Jose's Briefings, Diagrams and Annotations - Site Home

I was looking for a list for all ActiveX controls used by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, but it seems like this list is not available at this time. The best references I could find was the SharePoint team blog post on web browser compatibility at http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2006/07/19/671735.aspx, the documentation on browser compatibility at http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/ff6c5b8c-59bd-4079-8f0b-de4f8b4e0a861033.mspx and the Client Side API reference at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms440037.aspx. However, each one of those misses at least a few of the controls.

Web browser compatibility is, by the way, was my main motivation to working on this list. I need to figure out what features would be missing if you're running Firefox or Safari. For this reason, I am also trying to list what happens in those clients that do not support these ActiveX controls and what possible workarounds exist. I also wanted to have a better understanding of how these features are implemented in SharePoint.

To create this list, I started with a search for ActiveX-related keywords like "object" and "classid" in all files under "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12". I cut off some of the unrelated items, group them by the name of the control and edited the results. With that, I looked for specific references to these controls on the web. The last piece was to understand the non-IE behavior and look for any workarounds.

It was interesting to see how a good amount of SharePoint is implemented in scripts that you can actually look at. You also can verify that the team put a lot of effort into browser compatibility... Here are my findings, in alphabetical order by the name of the ActiveX control.

DiagramLauncher
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\BFORM.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\CORE.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\OWS.JS
Client File: DGRMLNCH.DLL
Function: Launch Microsoft Office Visio to open diagrams
Non-IE behavior: The browser will offer to save the file locally instead of launching the application. The option to "Open with Visio" will not show.

DigitalSignatures
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\INC\1033\IntlCoreStrings.js, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\INC\Core.js, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\INC\intlcorestrings.js, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\SignatureDetails.FormServer.aspx
Function: Digital Signature for Microsoft Office clients
Non-IE behavior: You cannot sign documents, but you can view signatures.

ExportDatabase
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\CORE.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\viewtype.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\OWS.JS
Client File: OWSSUPP.DLL
Also Known As: SharePoint Export Database Launcher
Function: Export list to a Microsoft Office Access database
Non-IE behavior: Option to "Open with Access" will not show.

ListNet
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\CORE.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\CORE.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\OWS.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\OWS.JS
Client File: STSLIST.DLL
Also Known As: Microsoft Office List 12.0
Function: Edit list in Datasheet view
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms416795.aspx
Non-IE behavior: The option to "Edit in Datasheet" will not show.

NameCtrl
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\OWS.JS
Client File: NAME.DLL
Also Known As: NameCtrl Class
Function: Display presence information for people, integrating with Outlook (mail, calendar) and Communicator (instant messaging)
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms455335.aspx
Non-IE behavior: Presence information will not show.

OISClientLauncher
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\IMGLIB.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\upload.aspx
Client File: OISCTRL.DLL
Also Known As: OSIClientLauncher Class
Function: Integration with the Office Picture Manager
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms954038.aspx
Non-IE behavior: Integration with Picture Manager will not show.

OpenDocuments
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\HtmlEditor.js, TEMPLATE\XML\DOCICON.XML
Client File: OWSSUPP.DLL
Also Known As: SharePoint OpenDocuments Class
Function: Launch Office applications to open documents
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms454230.aspx
Non-IE behavior: The browser will offer to save the file locally instead of launching the application. The option to "Edit In (Microsoft Office application)" will not show.

OpenXMLDocuments
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\HtmlEditor.js, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\INC\Core.js, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\ctdmsettings.aspx, TEMPLATE\XML\DOCICON.XML
Client File: INLAUNCH.DLL
Also Known As: SharePointOpenXMLDocuments
Function: Launch InfoPath to open forms
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms452435.aspx
Non-IE behavior: The browser will offer to save the file locally instead of launching the application. The option to "Open with InfoPath" will not show.

PersonalSite
Server Files: None?
Client File: PORTAL~1.DLL
Also Known As: PersonalSite Class, PortalConnect.PersonalSite
Function: Adds your my site to a list of SharePoint sites maintained by the Office client
Non-IE behavior: No client-side knowledge of where your mysite is located.

Ppactivex
Server Files: TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\sldlibtemplates.ascx, TEMPLATE\FEATURES\SlideLibrary\SldLib\schema.xml, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\SLDLIB.JS
Function: Integration with PowerPoint for Slide Library Templates
Non-IE behavior: The Slide Library integration with PowerPoint will not work.

RTEDialogHelper
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\BFORM.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\FONTDLG.HTM, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\HtmlEditor.js
Client File: MSHTMLED.DLL
Also Known As: Rich Text Editor, DlgHelper, HtmlDldSafeHelper Class
Function: Rich Text Editor used to edit wikis, rich text web part
References: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms535238.aspx, http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/editing/tutorials/html_editor.asp
Non-IE behavior: A simpler multi-line text editor with no Rich Text capabilities will show. Consider using the Telerik control, which is available for free download at http://www.telerik.com/sharepoint and works with non-IE browsers.

SpreadsheetLauncher
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\BFORM.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\NewTranslationManagement.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\lstsetng.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\new.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\sledit.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\slnew.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JS
Client Files: OWSSUPP.DLL, OWSCLT.DLL
Also Known As: SharePoint SpreadSheet Launcher
Function: Integration with Excel to import and export lists
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms427792.aspx
Non-IE behavior: Options to Export to Excel and Import Spreadsheet will not show. If you register an application to handle the .iqy extension, you might be able to export spreadsheets.

Stssync
Server Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\BFORM.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JS
Client File: OWSSUPP.DLL
Also Known As: SharePoint Stssynch Handler
Function: Connect to Outlook to synchronize lists
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms456225.aspx
Non-IE behavior: Option to "Connect to Outlook" will not show. You should be able register a client application to handle the stssync:// protocol.

UploadCtl
Server Files: TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\DefaultTemplates.ascx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\BFORM.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\copy.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\updatecopies.aspx, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\upload.aspx, TEMPLATE\XML\FLDTYPES.XML,
Client File: STSUPLD.DLL
Also Known As: STSUpld UploadCtl Class
Function: Multiple File Upload
Reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms456628.aspx
Non-IE behavior: Only single file upload is available. Option for "Multiple File Upload" will not show.

Disclaimer: Please note that this list might be incomplete. Also, unless supported by one of the reference links to microsoft.com, these are my conclusions based on the data I could gather. Some of these findings could be specific to my install of MOSS 2007 Enterprise (RTM, complete install, no updates) and Windows Vista client with Office 2007 (RTM, no updates). Your results may vary and your specific configuration might lead to a different set of results.

P.S.: Duray Akar from Microsoft Premier Support just reminded me that there is an umbrella link on Client Side API covering most of those reference links I mentioned and I added that link to the top paragraph on this post. He was kind enough to include a reference back to this blog post in the community section of the page.

P.P.S.: In environments where only pre-installed ActiveX controle are allowed, you might need to package and deploy these ActiveX controls to your clients. However, to my knowledge, there are no downloadable packages that provide these controls in a form they could be pre-installed on a client. However, most of them will be installed if you deploy Office 2007 or Office 2003 on the client.