Flex talking to a ActiveX (using ExternalInterface)

I keep seeing/getting request to know how Flex can communicate with a ActiveX control/DLL. So thought will post this sample in which calls were being exchanged between a Flex app and a ActiveX C++ DLL. You can find the source code here.

The sample has two portions a flex app called CalledApp and a C++ DLL called CallingDLL. Load the CalledApp project in FlexBuilder and CallingDLL project is Visual Studio 2003 or later. Build the DLL and the Flex app. Run the Flex app and click on the button. When flex app calls the DLL function the DLL calls back the flex app.

The key is to make the ActiveX DLL scriptable in IE. I went through the trouble long back. The C++ code shows how to traverse the browser DOM to get access to the correct player and how to invoke functions exposed by the SWF.

The Flex app uses ExternalInterface to create a instance of the ActiveX and make calls to it.

However the sample doesn't show passing arrays to the ActiveX which requires conversion of JavaScript Arrays to COM arrays. I am sure smart developers out there can figure out this :).

If you are looking for a sample where in the SWF is loaded in the Flash player ActiveX control embedded in a Desktop application it can be found here.