Determining if ActiveX Controls are Disabled

[DartmanX]

Is there a simple way to determine if someone using Internet Explorer
has completely disabled ActiveX controls?

Jason

[DartmanX]

It's a given with this particular application (not the world at large,
but this application) that it won't run with javascript disabled. The
users are aware of this fact.

[Randy Webb]

The Magpie said the following on 10/14/2005 10:54 AM:

Richard Cornford wrote:

DartmanX wrote:

Is there a simple way to determine if someone using Internet
Explorer has completely disabled ActiveX controls?

Ask them?

Even if it is enabled, Javascript is a silly way to try and find out.
What if Javascript is disabled?

Who said anything, in that reply, about Javascript?

--
Randy
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly

[Randy Webb]

DartmanX said the following on 10/14/2005 6:25 PM:

It's a given with this particular application (not the world at large,
but this application) that it won't run with javascript disabled. The
users are aware of this fact.

Then make your users aware of the fact that it requires ActiveX as well.
Then you have no problem trying to determine if it is disabled or not.

Please quote what you are replying to.

If you want to post a followup via groups.google.c om, don't use the
"Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on "show options" at
the top of the article, then click on the "Reply" at the bottom of the
article headers.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly
Answer:It destroys the order of the conversation
Question: Why?
Answer: Top-Posting.
Question: Whats the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[The Magpie]

Randy Webb wrote:

The Magpie said the following on 10/14/2005 10:54 AM:

Richard Cornford wrote:

DartmanX wrote:

Is there a simple way to determine if someone using Internet
Explorer has completely disabled ActiveX controls?

Ask them?

Even if it is enabled, Javascript is a silly way to try and find out.
What if Javascript is disabled?

Who said anything, in that reply, about Javascript?

Given this is a Javascript newsgroup, that should be taken as read.

[Randy Webb]

The Magpie said the following on 10/15/2005 8:52 AM:

Randy Webb wrote:

The Magpie said the following on 10/14/2005 10:54 AM:

Richard Cornford wrote:

DartmanX wrote:

> Is there a simple way to determine if someone using Internet
> Explorer has completely disabled ActiveX controls?
Ask them?

Even if it is enabled, Javascript is a silly way to try and find out.
What if Javascript is disabled?

Who said anything, in that reply, about Javascript?

Given this is a Javascript newsgroup, that should be taken as read.

So everything you read in this newsgroup you assume is a Javascript
question? Thats a flawed line of reasoning.

The answer to my question is: Nobody.

But, JS is the *only* mechanism that can *reliably* determine if it is
/enabled/. Nothing can determine, reliably, if it is /disabled/.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly

[Richard Cornford]

The Magpie wrote:

Randy Webb wrote:

The Magpie said the following on 10/14/2005 10:54 AM:

Richard Cornford wrote:
DartmanX wrote:
> Is there a simple way to determine if someone using
> Internet Explorer has completely disabled ActiveX controls?

Ask them?

Even if it is enabled, Javascript is a silly way to try
and find out. What if Javascript is disabled?

Who said anything, in that reply, about Javascript?

Given this is a Javascript newsgroup, that should be taken
as read.

Oh no it shouldn't. Understanding a technology is as much about knowing
when it should or should not be used as knowing how it can be used and
where it could and could not be used. The best possible advice a
javascript group can give to many questions about the possibility of
using javascript for some tasks is that it is an inappropriate
technology for the task and so should not be used. In such circumstances
anyone presenting a javascript hack that might be effective in 80% of
circumstances is manifestly doing the questioner a disservice, and
giving _bad_ advice, and certainly whenever an alternative technology
could give 100% reliability.

There is certainly no inherent dependency on javascript in asking the
user a question:-

<form action="someSer verScritp" method="POST">
<div>
Have you completely disabled ActiveX controls in this browser?
<input type="submit" value="Yes" name="Response" >
<input type="submit" value="No" name="Response" >
</div>
</form>

If you combine 'all answers must be exclusively javascript approaches'
and "what if javascript is disabled?", then all answers must become "No
you cannot do this" (because all exclusively javascript approaches must
fail utterly whenever javascript is not executed). In practice
javascript should be designed to be integrated with the technologies
that represent the rest of the system, and informed design decisions are
capable of identifying the best approach to be taken, which may not
involve javascript at all, or may involve javascript in a non-critical
way.

Richard.

[cwdjrxyz]

cw******@yahoo. com wrote:

For the record, there are, or were, very complicated scripts for
detecting if a WMP, for example, is installed, what version it is, and
if there is AX support for it. This is/was somewhere on the vast
Microsoft sites. The best I remember, it used 2 javascripts(or perhap
Microsoft Jscripts?) and 1 vb script. Because of the vb script, this
method would not work on many other non-Microsoft browsers.

I did find a script that at one time was available at Netscape. The
link I had is gone, and I do not know if they deleted the script or
moved it. However I find that I made a copy of the script without the
discussion and still have it. It detects if the WMP is installed, if
ActiveX is supported, etc. I could have made a minor change in the
code, but the script is mainly that of Netscape. It likely is rather
out of date now, and I believe I remember that some of the tests may
now fail on some recent browsers. Thus I do not think you should use it
without testing on many browsers and bringing the code up to date. I
have found that I usually can get around testing for AX by providing an
alternative path in the AX object as described in previous posts. Thus
I had all but forgotten about this script. Since this is not my script,
the complaint department is at Netscape :-).

See the source code at http://www.cwdjr.net/wmp/NN_IE_WMP_Sniff.html .

[Dr John Stockton]

JRS: In article <di************ *******@news.de mon.co.uk>, dated Thu, 13
Oct 2005 02:15:02, seen in news:comp.lang. javascript, Richard Cornford
<Ri*****@litote s.demon.co.uk> posted :

DartmanX wrote:

Is there a simple way to determine if someone using Internet
Explorer has completely disabled ActiveX controls?

Ask them?

They may not know who to ask.

The word "has", in that context, can refer either to a past action of
the IE user (which they may or may not remember) or just to a present
state of the IE (whoever caused it).

The following can discriminate between working and not working
*javascript*; it should not be placed in script.htm or noscript.htm :

<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="1; URL=noscript.ht m">

<script>
window.location .href="script.h tm"
</script>
Javascript is not working

You may or may not be able to do something similar in ActiveX.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ?@merlyn.demon. co.uk Turnpike v4.00 IE 4 ©
<URL:http://www.jibbering.c om/faq/> JL/RC: FAQ of news:comp.lang. javascript
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/js-index.htm> jscr maths, dates, sources.
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/> TP/BP/Delphi/jscr/&c, FAQ items, links.

[The Magpie]

Richard Cornford wrote:

The Magpie wrote:

Randy Webb wrote:

The Magpie said the following on 10/14/2005 10:54 AM:

Richard Cornford wrote:

>DartmanX wrote:
>
>>Is there a simple way to determine if someone using
>>Interne t Explorer has completely disabled ActiveX controls?

>Ask them?
>
Even if it is enabled, Javascript is a silly way to try
and find out. What if Javascript is disabled?

Who said anything, in that reply, about Javascript?
Given this is a Javascript newsgroup, that should be taken
as read.

Oh no it shouldn't.

I disagree, but that is almost totally irrelevant.
[snip]The best possible advice a
javascript group can give to many questions about the possibility of
using javascript for some tasks is that it is an inappropriate
technology for the task and so should not be used.

Which is what I actually did.