CaptiveX 2.0 Control

Add some fun to your Web pages the easy way

Every once in a while, you have to break from the day-to-day routine and have some funwith your Web pages. NCompass Labs has a set of ActiveX controls, CaptiveX 2.0, that let you havefun with your Web pages without a lot of effort. CaptiveX comes with six controls (Cube,PowerLabels, MessageMorph, LightBoard, BillBoard, and PowerPanels) that let you create specialeffects on your Web site. But before I jump in and explain what CaptiveX can do for you, you need toknow that these controls aren't for everyone. If your Web pages must be the same for every availableWeb browser, these tools probably aren't for you. However, if you're designing pages for a companyintranet where you can dictate which Web browser is on your users' desktops, you'll want to take acloser look at the CaptiveX 2.0 controls. To make Web page design with these controls fun and easy,I used Internet Explorer (IE) 3.x because it's the only browser that supports ActiveX controls rightout of the box.

CaptiveX Controls
In CaptiveX 2.0, NCompass Labs providesthe base set of instructions (i.e., the controls); you determine what variables the CaptiveXcontrols use and how they use them. To install the controls, run setup.exe and tell the installationprogram where you want to install the files. NCompass Labs requires a Company Key and Key Code forthe installation to work and for your controls to work on your Web page. To make your life easy,install the CaptiveX controls on the machine where you design your Web pages. CaptiveX willautomatically generate the Company Key and Key Code on that machine and add them to any ActiveXcontrols you create. (You can make the CaptiveX controls work from other machines, but remember thatwe're making Web page design easy this month.)

The CaptiveX controls installer places several .cab files in a newly created redist directoryon your workstation. These files let users who are browsing your Web site install the controls thatyou create. You need to move these .cab files to a directory on your Web server that you can pointto when a user attempts to install your controls. For example, I created a controls directory,moved the .cab files into this directory, and created a virtual map to this directory on my Webserver so that the user's browser knows where to find the files.

All you need to have to use the CaptiveX controls is Microsoft's ActiveX Control Pad(http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/cpad), which you see in Screen 1, or any other HTML authoring tool that supports ActiveXcontrols, such as SoftQuad's HoTMetaL Pro 3.0 (http://www.softquad.com). Control Pad was the easiestauthoring tool to use while I was making my pages. You simply open Control Pad, right-click yourcursor between the HTML tags, and select Insert ActiveX Control. ControlPad then displays a list of ActiveX controls. Scroll down until you see the NCompass Labs items andselect one. When the Edit ActiveX Control and Properties windows open, right-click in the EditActiveX Control window and select Properties. You'll see an easy-to-use GUI to edit thecontrol.

Cube
I tried the Cube control first. This control createsa 3D spinning cube that lets you populate the six sides with images. You can spin the cube byleft-clicking and dragging the mouse, and you can zoom in and out by right-clicking the cube,depending on the individual browser settings. I was able to quickly create this control usingControl Pad. To test this control, I created a family photo cube using pictures from my son's Webpage (would you expect any less from parents who are both Web masters?). You can view the cube Icreated at http://www.winntmag.com/issues/jun97/controlx/photocube.html. I provided the names of thesix images I wanted to display and specified how fast I wanted the cube to spin. All the CaptiveXcontrols that use images support three image file formats: JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Although the filesizes of the family photos are big and the image dimensions vary, CaptiveX easily and automaticallypieced the images together into a cube.

PowerLabels
Next, I tried PowerLabels. This control makestext spin and rush toward the viewer from different directions (see my example athttp://www.winntmag.com/issues/jun97/controlx/powerlabels.html). You can put an image in thebackground and put a texture image on the text. To populate the different text fields you want inthe control, you run a script on the HTML page. Control Pad defaults to using Visual Basic (VB)Script. As you see in Screen 1, the variables arestraightforward. You can select the font type, the direction the text travels, and how many timesthe text rotates.

MessageMorph
The MessageMorph control is wild. As itsname implies, MessageMorph lets you morph from one message to another. This control has room forlots of variables. You can select where and how your text will appear. After each text message, youcan display a line pattern or scattered dot pattern, and the control uses these patterns to createyour next text message. Trust me when I say that you have to see this control to understand it. Youcan view my sample MessageMorph control athttp://www.winntmag.com/issues/jun97/controlx/messagemorph.html.

LightBoard
The LightBoard control lets you put text on aboard of lights much like what you see in Times Square. Of all the CaptiveX controls, this one doesthe least for me. It's easy to set up and to create different effects, but the effects don't standout and the lettering that this control displays can be difficult to read. But if you need a lightboard on your Web site, you won't find an easier way to achieve this effect. You can check out mysample LightBoard control at http://www.winntmag.com/issues/jun97/controlx/lightboard.html.

BillBoard
I had a lot of fun with the BillBoard control.This control lets you cycle through images and apply different effects to make the transition fromone image to the next. For example, you can have an image dissolve into another image and thenreplace that image piece by piece with a third image. In addition to numerous other applications,you can easily use this control with rotating ad banners. I can't use the CaptiveX BillBoard controlon our Web site because I need to record when a user views an image. However, Web designers who sellspots on one page and record impressions with a page counter might find this control useful. Again,this control has a lot of neat functionality, and it was easy to set up. You can view my sampleBillBoard control at http://www.winntmag.com/issues/jun97/controlx/billboard.html.

PowerPanels
By far the coolest CaptiveX control is thePowerPanels. Like the other controls, it lets you incorporate several images and select variouseffects to transition from one image to another. The transition effects are really slick. Thefeature that sets this control apart from the others is the ability to make each image clickable toanother URL. Screen 2 shows the transition from one imageto another. You can view my sample PowerPanels control athttp://www.winntmag.com/issues/jun97/controlx/powerpanel.html.

The User's Perspective
After you create an ActiveXcontrol, you'll want to make sure your users can install it properly. If users have never installedyour control, the Web browser will present the users with a VeriSign authentication certificate forthe control, as you see in Screen 3, and ask whether theywant to install and run the control. When the users click Yes, the Web server downloads the controlto the users' systems so that they can see your ActiveX page.

If you want to add some ActiveX controls to your Web pages, internally or externally, take alook at NCompass Labs' CaptiveX 2.0 controls. Remember that if your users operate a variety of Webbrowsers, you might be creating an unwanted headache. However, if you can control your users'browsers, you'll have some fun. I did.