If you plan to publish (publish: To save a copy of a file in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format to a Web server.) a presentation as a Web page, you can use ActiveX controls to enable users to enter data. When you use ActiveX controls in a Web presentation, you write Web scripts (script: A type of computer code used to perform tasks on Web pages, such as incrementing a "number of visitors" counter each time there is a new visitor. Web scripts can be written in several script languages. Scripts do not need to be compiled to be run.) (rather than macro code) to run the controls. You can write the scripts in Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript): A subset of the Microsoft Visual Basic programming system. Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 or later, along with the other Web browsers, can read VBScript programs that are embedded in HTML pages.) or JavaScript (JavaScript: A scripting language that can be used to add functionality to a Web page or a Web site, or to enhance the look of one. JavaScript scripts can run on any type of client or server computer.).

Each set of new ActiveX controls comes with a Setup program that installs and automatically registers each control so that the controls can be used from within Microsoft PowerPoint.

In addition to the controls in the Control Toolbox, some custom controls are installed by other programs. For example, the ActiveX control that displays ActiveX movies is installed by Microsoft Internet Explorer.

If you copied an ActiveX control (a file with an .ocx or .dll extension) from an installation disk or from a network without using the Setup program, the control might not be registered or appear in the More Controls list. You must register the control before you use it.

Security  Use caution when you are adding ActiveX controls to your Web page. ActiveX controls may be designed in such a way that their use could pose a security risk. We recommend that you use controls from trusted sources only.