An ActiveX Control is a COM server exposing predefined, required interfaces. A JavaBean is a Java class that is compliant with a specific programming style. Another benefit of Java/COM integration is ActiveX/Beans integration, by which a JavaBean can be hosted by an ActiveX container, and an ActiveX Control can be hosted by a JavaBean container. The Microsoft virtual machine takes care of the details just as it does in Java/COM integration. This enables you to work in your most familiar environment while exploiting the available components and controls on the platform, no matter what language was used to develop the control or component.
The two main features of ActiveX/JavaBeans integration are as follows.
Hosting a Bean in an ActiveX Container
Hosting an ActiveX Control in Java
Most of the public methods and variables of a Java applet are available to any language that supports the ActiveX scripting protocol. For details, see Controlling an Applet Using Scripting.
Note Returning a long data type from a Java applet to a web page script causes an overflow error. This is due to rounding of the maximum and minimum values of the long integer. Specifically, when placed in a com.ms.com.Variant, a Java long integer becomes a VT_R8, or a Variant.VariantDouble. When the upper and lower limits for a Java long integer are returned to the script with a Variant, the resultant value's last four digits are rounded from 5808 and 5807 to 6000.