ActiveX Test Container

I just noticed that the ActiveX Test Container (tstcon32.exe) was missing from Visual Studio 2008, and it's not in the latest Windows SDK. Is this an oversight, or does Microsoft just think that no one is building ActiveX controls anymore?

It's not a big deal, since I have a copy of it with Visual Studio 2005, but it is handy for testing them in the debugger, particularly when using scripts.

Is the source code for TSTCON still included in the Windows SDK that comes with Visual Studio 2008?

TSTCON Sample: ActiveX Control Test Container

I did a search for both tstcon and tstcon32 in both the VS2008 and SDK folders and found nothing. It looks like they've completely removed it from the distribution. 

mstefan said:

I did a search for both tstcon and tstcon32 in both the VS2008 and SDK folders and found nothing. It looks like they've completely removed it from the distribution. 

The ActiveX test component is available in VS 9.0 inside the AllVCLanguageSamples.zip inside the samples\1033 folder BUT you need to open the 'tstcon' solution including the projects and build it yourself. It also contains a readme which explains how to do that.

joelSomething said:

mstefan said:

*snip*

The ActiveX test component is available in VS 9.0 inside the AllVCLanguageSamples.zip inside the samples\1033 folder BUT you need to open the 'tstcon' solution including the projects and build it yourself. It also contains a readme which explains how to do that.

joelSomething's right.  It's in that ZIP file in the C++\MFC\ole\TstCon folder.  You can download the samples from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=01AE159F-08CD-495B-8BF4-A48CC395AD7B&displaylang=en.

joechung said:

joelSomething said:

*snip*

joelSomething's right.  It's in that ZIP file in the C++\MFC\ole\TstCon folder.  You can download the samples from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=01AE159F-08CD-495B-8BF4-A48CC395AD7B&displaylang=en.

Guys,

It kindof doesnt run on x64 platform... sure it compiles correct but refuses to run..  always lists side by side configuration as incorrect.. can anyone tell me where i can find x64 compatible build for TSTCON..

thanks in advance..

cheers,
Jay

jaykishankrk said:

joechung said:

*snip*

Guys,

It kindof doesnt run on x64 platform... sure it compiles correct but refuses to run..  always lists side by side configuration as incorrect.. can anyone tell me where i can find x64 compatible build for TSTCON..

thanks in advance..

cheers,
Jay

Check here for how to get tstcon32 running correctly on x64: it's a linker setting.

 

Hope this helps,

Richard

RichardAlbury said:

jaykishankrk said:

*snip*

Check here for how to get tstcon32 running correctly on x64: it's a linker setting.

 

Hope this helps,

Richard

I just tried this on Windows 7 and ran into additonal side-by-side run time errors.  I upgraded to SP1 of VS2008 and installed the SP1 samples, but the TstCon sample would no longer even compile.

 

Might I suggest that the ATL tutorial and all other documentation that refers to the ActiveX Control Test Container be removed from MSDN and other documentation if Microsoft is not going to support it. Additionally, it is not useful to have sample code if those samples are not being tested to verify that they compile and run properly.

niknotyet said:

RichardAlbury said:

*snip*

I just tried this on Windows 7 and ran into additonal side-by-side run time errors.  I upgraded to SP1 of VS2008 and installed the SP1 samples, but the TstCon sample would no longer even compile.

 

Might I suggest that the ATL tutorial and all other documentation that refers to the ActiveX Control Test Container be removed from MSDN and other documentation if Microsoft is not going to support it. Additionally, it is not useful to have sample code if those samples are not being tested to verify that they compile and run properly.

Hi all,

 

I've just posted an article on the VC++ blog about this tool.  It is still available as a sample in Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010.

See the article here: http://blogs.msdn.com/vcblog/archive/2010/03/18/activex-test-container-application-is-still-available.aspx

 

Pat Brenner

Visual C++ Libraries Development

Pat Brenner said:

niknotyet said:

*snip*

Hi all,

 

I've just posted an article on the VC++ blog about this tool.  It is still available as a sample in Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010.

See the article here: http://blogs.msdn.com/vcblog/archive/2010/03/18/activex-test-container-application-is-still-available.aspx

 

Pat Brenner

Visual C++ Libraries Development

I just saw this followup to the post I made many moons ago, and wanted to say thanks for continuing to make it available. There's still a lot of legacy ActiveX controls out there and the Test Container really is a handy tool for testing and debugging. I know that we still have a bunch of customers who absolutely depend on us continuing to support ActiveX because they continue to use VB6.