If instead the XYZ.OCX component is already installed, the counter 1 will be incremented by 1.

When the user installs a program that uses a component called XYZ.OCX, if that is not present in the system is added to the register, and the counter is set to 1.

Windows keeps track of the number of applications using a specific component, as long as these is not installed through an installer program (which is identified by Windows). Sorry, but what you write is completely wrong. And also, it didn't really matter whether the DLL or OCX file was registered through an installer or manually. In this way, programs (during installation) could update DLLs and OCXs without (hopefully) disrupting other programs that also used them.

Rather, the way I've always understood things is that, any application that needs a particular DLL or OCX, simply looks in the registry for it, checks that its version is equal to or greater than the one it needs, and then uses it (based on the registry information). I wasn't under the impression that a DLL or OCX kept track of how many applications used it. I'll post it immediately after this post.Īlright, I'm confused. I had also written a response to meopilite but was having connection problems. This is very specifically known as DLL hell. If any of that is wrong, I'd be delighted to learn how.Īlso, basically, the only (and LARGE) downside to this 'version checking' approach is when a newer version of a DLL or OCX changes the way some call works such that it fouls up programs that expect it to work in an older way. because tec Windows 'counter' (that register the numer of applications used by the component) will not updated.

Where are ocx files stored windows 7