Features of an ActiveX Designer

An ActiveX designer can be as simple as an object that makes itself visible at design time, or as complex as a form that hosts controls.

ActiveX designers and ActiveX controls share the following characteristics:

They can have different behavior at design-time and run-time. An ActiveX designer need not have a visible user interface at run time.
They can be attached to code that is written by an end user.
They can be compiled into an executable application.

By adding code to register itself appropriately, an ActiveX control can become an ActiveX designer. This is possible because ActiveX designers rely on previously defined technology wherever possible.