External Field - ActiveX Control

The external field-ActiveX control edit type is defined to call out from a field to an ActiveX control. Values may be passed to this control from the Agentry Client.

Use of this field requires an ActiveX control exist on the client devices and that control be built using the Agentry ActiveX Control API, including the implementation of all Expected Methods.

Using the Agentry Data and Actions tabs allows an ActiveX control to query Agentry for data and for an ActiveX control to call for Agentry to execute actions. Agentry can also query the ActiveX control for any values listed in the External Values tab.

External Field - Active X Control Attributes

The following attributes are specific to the External Field - ActiveX control field edit type. These are in addition to the common field attributes:
  • ActiveX Class Name (Prog ID): This attribute contains the class name that the Agentry Client will interface with for the ActiveX control.
  • Allow Scanning as Input: This attribute specifies whether or not the field displayed will accept barcode scan values as input. This attribute will only impact fields displayed on detail screens used by a platform that supports scanner behavior and on client devices equipped with a barcode scanner. When value is scanned for the field, the ActiveX control expected method AgentryUpdateScanData to pass the barcode value to the ActiveX control.

  • External Values Tab: The External Values tab is a list of values provided by the ActiveX Control. This will allow the Agentry Client to query the control for data. From the tab, you can add and delete value names from the list. The ActiveX control referenced by the detail screen field must include the proper processing within the AgentryGetSpecificValue method to return the value(s) associated with each of the External Values listed in this tab.

  • Agentry Values Tab: The Agentry Values tab is a List of names and target paths for values within Agentry, made available to the ActiveX Control. From the tab, you can link Agentry data with the external values for the ActiveX Control. Both primitive data types as well as object instances and collection properties can be made available to the ActiveX control. The name associated with the selected data item is the identifier exposed to the ActiveX control, which can call the GetPropertyFromMappings Agentry Client-Side API method, passing the name to retrieve the desired value.

  • Actions: Allows the ActiveX control to call for Agentry to execute actions. The Properties tab gives you a list of Actions and target paths. Within this list actions can be added and deleted. When an action is added it must also specify a target object for the action. The ActiveX control can call the ExecuteAgentryAction Agentry Client-Side API method, passing the name of the action to be executed.

Parent topic: Field Definitions With Edit Type-Specific Attributes