Programming Microsoft Visual C++

When Microsoft developers released Internet Explorer 4 (IE4), they included a new and improved version of the COMCTL32.DLL, which houses Microsoft Windows Common Controls. Since this update to the common controls was not part of an operating system release, Microsoft calls the update Internet Explorer 4 Common Controls. IE4 Common Controls updates all of the existing controls and adds a variety of advanced new controls. Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 and Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) 6.0 have added a great deal of support for these new controls. In this chapter, we'll look at the new controls and show examples of how to use each one. If you haven't worked with Windows controls or Windows Common Controls, be sure you read Chapter 6 before proceeding with IE4 Common Controls.

While Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 do not include the new COMCTL32.DLL, future versions of Windows will. To be safe, you will need to redistribute the COMCTL32.DLL for these existing operating systems as part of your installation. Currently you must ship a "developer's edition" of Internet Explorer to be able to redistribute these controls. However, this might change once a version of Windows ships with the updated controls. Be sure you check www.microsoft.com/msdn for the latest news on this subject.