Visual C++® 6 Unleashed

Chapter 25. Active Documents

by Mark R. Wrenn and Mickey Williams

In This Chapter

• Just What Is an Active Document?

• Some Details About Active Documents

• The COM Interfaces

• The Active Template Library

• The ACTIVEDOC Program

Active documents are Component Object Model (COM) software components that present data and information to the user. Active documents enable users to view data in a variety of ways—perhaps as a graph, a spreadsheet, or text, depending on the purpose of the application. An Active document cannot work alone; it always requires an environment in which to work. The environment is called an Active container. Together, through an agreed-upon set of rules, the Active container and Active document work as one and give users the appearance of ...