Through Visual Basic menus, an end user can add a previously defined ActiveX designer to the development environment, and then incorporate it into an executable Visual Basic program.
The table below lists the steps involved in creating a simple application that uses an ActiveX designer. For each user step, Visual Basic takes one or more actions. The sections that follow describe these actions in detail.
| User action | Visual Basic action |
| Installs an ActiveX designer. | None. |
| Adds an ActiveX designer to the environment. | Obtains the list of ActiveX designers. |
| Adds an instance of an ActiveX designer to the project. | Creates and initializes a visual designer.
Displays the designer's user interface in a frame. |
| Browses and edits properties. | Uses property browser. Manages the user's selections. Tracks changes to type information. |
| Writes code attached to an ActiveX designer. | Displays the code window. |
| Builds or runs the project. | Notifies the designer to persist its run-time state, then creates a run-time object. |
| Clicks End to stop execution. | Ceases execution and destroys the run-time designer instance. |