When to use an OCX over a native JADE control

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by Craig Shearer >> Wed, 21 Apr 1999 4:22:35 GMT

Hello All

It's interesting the two parts to this thread, with some people advocating the use of an OCX, whereas others advocating the use of a custom JADE control.

I know that from my work that I have done using OCXs that they are often a source of trouble - you can get your JADE system installed easily enough, but if you use one or more OCXs, you have to organise getting them installed, registered, checking you have the right versions, and any other associated DLLs that they require also.

Perhaps it's just my aversion to anything from Microsoft (comes from using JADE for too long!) but it seems like using an OCX is sometimes more trouble than it's worth.

So, I'd like some opinions on when people consider using OCXs over native JADE controls - when does this work well, and when doesn't it. What have other people's experiences been?

Regards
Craig.

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by Mike Hoorens >> Thu, 22 Apr 1999 9:49:02 GMT

Gidday Craig.

I have heard about and experienced problems myself with some OCXes.

From my point of view, OCXes are often:
- written by joe bloes who did not 'finish' their implementation but wanted to make a quick buck, and hence the OCX is not entirely
portable to Jade without some additional work in Jade or a DLL.

- add complexity to software updates and maintenance by having to keep tabs on the third party patches, compatibility isues etc.

So, I prefer to stay away from them as a rule, and write it all in
Jade or C++ or whatever we have control over.

The only exceptions are:
- when you are desperate for time, and the OCX fills the gap nicely.
- when the OCX does something quite involved or tricky that the
customer can't afford to have developed by us.

In most cases these two exceptions are a temporary thing, as soon as
time or money becomes available they should be rewritten... in an
ideal world

Mike.

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by Roger Parkinson >> Sat, 15 May 1999 22:48:40 GMT

In the Jade environment there is a catch in using OCX in that if you want to deploy over the web they are not supported. You could use Java applets instead but then if you DON'T want to deploy over the web they are not supported.

Native Jade is supported in both environments (of course!!)
This is the thing that is influencing me most at the moment.

Roger

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by Hayden McInnes >> Thu, 26 Aug 1999 22:09:32 GMT

Another advantage a native JADE control might have on an OCX is JADE's ability to use the OCX.
I've been looking at a Grid control (similar to table, but with a
added features), and JADE seems to have trouble making use of indexed properties - eg: cellBackColour(5,2) = Black;
This sort of thing gets left out when the OCX is used by JADE - does anyone know a way around it? Or if it is a "feature" of JADE vs OCX ?

If there's no way around it, then it certainly means a JADE control
has an advantage. What about speed (loading/using) - has anyone experiened problems here? (I'm just looking at the options of using
an OCX over creating my own JADE control)

Thanks

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Hayden McInnes
UK Consultant
Greentree International
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