What is the difference between AxInterop and Interop?

.net com interop activex ocx
Yaron Naveh picture Yaron Naveh · Feb 18, 2010 · Viewed 20.8k times · Source

I've added an .ocx to the toolbox in VS. Two .dll's were created: Interop.NNN.dll, AxInterop.NNN.dll.

What is each one? Are they both required?

Answer

Adriaan Stander picture Adriaan Stander · Feb 18, 2010

Interop.xxx.dll and AxInterop.xxx.dll are runtime callable wrappers (RCW) for a referenced COM and an ActiveX dll respectively.

interop.xxx.dll is purely an automation (a COM dll) wrapper, enabling you to manipulate the object within the namespace of your application. AxInterop.xxx.dll is a control wrapper for a ActiveX control, which can be dragged onto the form.

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