My colleague, Chris Alechko, has put together a great list of ActiveX controls and their use in SharePoint.
ActiveX Controls that must be allowed in the browser
- MSCAL.OCX (Calendar control – included with Microsoft Office Professional or installed with Microsoft Access)
- MSCOMCTL.OCX (Common Controls)
- MSCOMCT2.OCX (Common Controls2)
- OWSSUPP.DLL (ExportDatabase – To export a list to a Microsoft Office Access database, OpenDocuments – Launch Office applications to open documents)
- STSLIST.DLL (ListNet – Edit list in Datasheet view)
- NAME.DLL (Display presence information for people, integrate with Outlook and OCS)
- OISCTRL.DLL (OISClientLauncher – Integrate with Office Picture Manager)
- INLAUNCH.DLL (OpenXMLDocuments – Launch InfoPath to open forms)
- MSHTMLED.DLL (RTEDialogHelper – Allows use of rich text editor)
- OWSCLT.DLL (SpreadSheet Launcher – Integration with lists and Excel)
- STSUPLD.DLL (Multiple File Upload – Gives the option for multiple files to be uploaded)
Some organizations, like financial institutions and the US Goverment, explicitly control which ActiveX controls are enabled Internet Explorer Add-ons. If you do not allow these ActiveX controls for use on your SharePoint Collaboration sites, you will lose at a minimum the functionality in parentheses following the name of the control in the list above.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Collaboration Requirements
Chris also suggests the following Minimum Requirements for full functionality in MOSS Collaboration Sites:
- Memory: 1 GB Ram
- Operating System: Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista
- Web Browsers: IE 6.x/7.x/8.x
- Valid E-Mail Address
- JavaScript enabled
- ActiveX enabled
Reference
- Office SharePoint Server Web Browser Support [PDF], Microsoft Office Online
- Plan browser support (Office SharePoint Server), Planning and architecture for Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Technet
- Client-Side API Reference, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK, MSDN
- Microsoft Solutions for Security: Recent Guides, Solution Accelerators Security Blog, Microsoft Technet Blogs
Update 10/08/2009: As Chad pointed out in the browser, Microsoft’s Level 1 browser support is for Internet Explorer 6 and above on Windows platforms. I’ve modified the minimum requirements for full functionality above. A functional but sub-optimal experience is provided in other browsers in the following list:
A great compilation of information.
Should the minimum reqs for ‘full functionality’ include the Level 2 browsers (FF and Safari) since they will not run ActiveX? And what about the OS’s that do not support ActiveX (without additional software and/or hacks)? And poor Chrome did not make the list!
Good points, Chad. I’ll update with Chris’ suggested requirements.
I like your breakdown. I’m part of integration were we check out the apps so that our users desktops will function properly. They have made a test lab and we see that Sharepoint Spreadsheet launcher gets installed from using the files on sharepoint. WHat I’m looking for is an executable or the files that get written so we could script this and have all users having it even before getting to website and doing exel. Any assitance would be gratefull . thanks
Peter,
I’m not sure I understand your question. Are you referring to users clicking on an excel document in a Document Library?
Tom