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Welcome...
The Microsoft® Internet Client Software Development Kit (SDK), also known as the Internet Explorer 4.0 Author's Toolkit, includes a variety of technologies that Microsoft is introducing to facilitate development of Internet applications and content. You will find a quick overview of what's in the Internet Client SDK below. This is the final release of the Internet Client SDK; it is synched with the final release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. To use the SDK, you will need to install the latest version of Internet Explorer 4.0. For last-minute issues associated with any given release, be sure to visit the Read Me file.
The SDK is structured to meet the needs of two basic audiences: Web authors who are developing Internet content, and Web ISVs who are writing API-level software. If you are one or the other, you probably don't need to download the entire SDK. From the download site, you can pick and choose those technologies and documentation selections that are of most interest to you. You may find that one set of documentation leads into another. If you haven't downloaded that set, the documentation takes you to a "Comp" file, which leads you back to the download site and invites you to download the needed set of documentation. If you choose to do this, the new set of documentation will be downloaded, and the links between the sets will be resolved. The whole SDK is designed so you can incrementally add to it or upgrade it as your interests require.
If you were to download the entire SDK, you would notice by the table of contents in the left-hand frame that the SDK is divided into five "books": Dynamic HTML, Delivering Content to the Web, Component Development, Internet Tools & Technologies, and Component Library. The first two books are aimed at Web authors. Dynamic HTML talks about developing and manipulating your content using the rich features provided by DHTML, Scripting, and Multimedia Interfaces. Delivering Content to the Web talks about getting information from your site to a client by using Active Channels, Subscriptions, and Active Desktop Items.
If you are an ISV developing components for the Web, you will be interested in the Component Development book. This section talks about ActiveX™ component development (sorry, the SDK for Java™ wasn't quite ready to be included in this release). There are a few things to note if you are an ISV. You will need the latest Win32® development files; these can be installed from the Platform SDK, or the needed subset of these files can be installed from the Internet Client SDK download site (or from the CD, if you are getting this release on a CD). This release supports Intel only; Alpha support is not yet available. This release has been tested with Visual C++® 5.0. Be sure to visit the Read Me file for configuration information. Visual Basic® developers utilizing the Microsoft ActiveX Controls in the SDK should use Visual Basic 5.0. A new entry to the Component Development book is Microsoft Scriptlets Technology.
The last two books, Internet Tools & Technology and Component Library, have a little bit of information for both Web authors and ISVs. The Internet Tools & Technology book contains a vast amount of diverse information, such as Microsoft CryptoAPI, HTMLHelp, WebBrowser Control, Information Delivery API, Internet Ratings, Web Publishing Wizard, WinInet and Urlmon API, Microsoft Script Debugger, and so on. The Component Library has information on controls downloaded with Internet Explorer, or other products that share an association with Internet technology, such as ActiveMovie™ Control, Microsoft Agent, Microsoft NetShow™, Microsoft NetMeeting™, Microsoft Remote Data Service, Tabular Data Control (TDC), and others.
For all the latest information on Internet Explorer 4.0, including downloads, demos, product features, and press releases, visit the Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie40/.
Good coding!
Internet Client SDK Program Management
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