ActiveX from Java applications?

Can ActiveX controls be easily embedded in Java applications? Is it worth it In my next project, I should use existing ActiveX in Java applications or have to re implement everything from scratch, so I want to know what will reduce the trouble

Solution

I don't think there is a way to do this without resorting to third-party libraries (or roll yourself, but you do say "easy")

SWT (standard widget Toolkit) contains support for embedded ActiveX controls SWT is an alternative to swing, although there is a certain degree of interoperability between them Here's an example of embedding Windows media player in SWT window

Or Jacob project, although I haven't used it myself

As for "is it worth it?" Well, I can say from experience that SWT makes it relatively simple, but unless your applications can handle them gracefully, without them, relying on COM components, you will lose the ability to run on multiple platforms, which makes Java attractive first