method Items.InsertControlItem (Parent as HITEM, ControlID as String, [License as Variant])

Inserts a new item of ActiveX type, and returns a handle to the newly created item.

TypeDescription
Parent as HITEM A long expression that indicates the handle of the parent item where the ActiveX will be inserted. If the argument is missing then the InsertControlItem property inserts the ActiveX control as a root item. If the Parent property is referring a locked item ( ItemLocked property ), the InsertControlItem property doesn't insert a new child ActiveX, instead insert the ActiveX control to the locked item that's specified by the Parent property.
ControlID as String A string expression that can be formatted as follows: a prog ID, a CLSID, a URL, a reference to an Active document , a fragment of HTML.
License as Variant A string expression that indicates the runtime license key for the component being inserted, if required. Only, the vendor of the component you are going to use is able to give you such of runtime license, so please contact the control's vendor for such of key. Your development license key is not compatible with the runtime license key, so it can't be used here.
ReturnDescription
HITEMA long expression that indicates the item's handle that indicates the newly created item.

The control supports ActiveX hosting, so you can insert any ActiveX component as a child item of the control. If you are using the /NET assembly you can use the InsertObjectItem property to insert a /NET control as a child item of the control. The InsertControlItem property creates the specified ActiveX control and hosts to a new child item of the control, while the InsertObjectItem property hosts the already created object to a new child item of the control. An inner control sends notifications/events to parent control through the ItemOleEvent event.

The ControlID must be formatted in one of the following ways:

In case the control you want to insert fails, you can add the "A2X:" prefix to the ControlID such as:

The InsertControlItem property creates an ActiveX control that's hosted by the exGrid control. The look and feel of the inner ActiveX control depends on the identifier you are using, and the version of the library that implements the ActiveX control, so you need to consult the documentation of the inner ActiveX control you are inserting inside the exGrid control.

Use the ItemHeight property to specify the height of the item when it contains an ActiveX control. Use the ItemWidth property to specify the width of the ActiveX control, or the position in the item where the ActiveX is displayed. Once that an item of ActiveX type has been added you can get the OLE control created using the ItemObject property. To check if an item contains an ActiveX control you can use ItemControlID property. Use the ItemAllowSizing property to let user resizes the item at runtime, and so the object being hosted. To change the height of an ActiveX item you have to use ItemHeight property. When the control contains at least an item of ActiveX type, it is recommended to set ScrollBySingleLine property of control to true.  Events from contained components are fired through to your program using the exact same model used in VB6 for components added at run time ( See ItemOleEvent event, OleEvent and OleEventParam ). For instance, when an ActiveX control fires an event, the control forwards that event to your container using ItemOleEvent event of the exTree control. Use the BeginUpdate and EndUpdate methods to update the control's content when adding ActiveX controls on the fly. Use the ItemControlID property to retrieve the control's identifier. 

You can use one of the following methods to find out information about the inner ActiveX control:

Once an item of ActiveX type has been added you can get the OLE control that was created using the ItemObject property. Use the ItemControlID property to check if an item contains an ActiveX control. Use the ItemHeight property to change the item's height ( the item's height manages the control's height ). When the control contains an item of ActiveX type, it is recommend that you set the ScrollBySingleLine property of the control to true. Events from contained components are fired through to your program using the exact same model used in VB6 for components added at run time ( See ItemOleEvent event, OleEvent and OleEventParam ). For instance, when an ActiveX control fires an event, the control forwards that event to your container using ItemOleEvent event of the ExGrid control. The InsertControlItem method is not available if the control is running in the virtual mode.

The following VB sample adds dynamically an ExGrid ActiveX Control and a Microsoft Calendar Control:

' Inserts a new ActiveX control of Exontrol.Grid type
Dim hGrid As HITEM
hGrid = Grid1.Items.InsertControlItem(Grid1.Items(0), "Exontrol.Grid", runtimelicensekey)
' Sets the ActiveX control height
Grid1.Items.ItemHeight(hGrid) = 212
' Gets the ExGrid control created. Since the ProgID used to create the item is "Exontrol.Grid"
' the object will be of EXGRIDLibCtl.Grid type
Dim objGrid As Object
Set objGrid = Grid1.Items.ItemObject(hGrid)
objGrid.Columns.Add "Column"
objGrid.Items.AddItem "One"
objGrid.Items.AddItem "Two"
objGrid.Items.AddItem "Three"

' Inserts a new ActiveX control of MSCAL.Calendar type
Dim hCalc As HITEM
hCalc = objGrid.Items.InsertControlItem(, "MSCal.Calendar")
Set objCalc = Grid1.Items.ItemObject(hCalc)
objCalc.ShowTitle = False
objCalc.ShowDateSelectors = False

where the runtimelicensekey is the exGrid's runtime license key. Please contact us to get the exGrid's runtime license key. Your order number, or your registered e-mail address is required, when requesting the control's runtime license key. Only, the vendor of the component you are going to use is able to give you such of runtime license, so please contact the control's vendor for such of key. Your development license key is not compatible with the runtime license key, so it can't be used here. Please notice that your development license key is not equivalent with the generated runtime license key. If you are using the DEMO version for testing purpose, you don't need a runtime license key.

The following VB sample shows how to handle any event that a contained ActiveX fires:

Private Sub Grid1_ItemOleEvent(ByVal Item As EXGRIDLibCtl.HITEM, ByVal Ev As EXGRIDLibCtl.IOleEvent)
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim i As Long
    Debug.Print "The " & Ev.Name & " was fired. "
    If Not (Ev.CountParam = 0) Then
        Debug.Print "The event has the following parameters: "
        For i = 0 To Ev.CountParam - 1
            Debug.Print " - " & Ev(i).Name & " = " & Ev(i).Value
        Next
    End If
End Sub

Some of ActiveX controls requires additional window styles to be added to the container window. For instance, the Web Brower added by the Grid1.Items.InsertControlItem(, "https://www.exontrol.com") won't add scroll bars, so you have to do the following:

First thing is to declare the WS_HSCROLL and WS_VSCROLL constants at the top of your module:

Private Const WS_VSCROLL = &H200000
Private Const WS_HSCROLL = &H100000

Then you need to to insert a Web control use the following lines:

Dim hWeb As HITEM
hWeb = Grid1.Items.InsertControlItem(, "https://www.exontrol.com")
Grid1.Items.ItemHeight(hWeb) = 196

Next step is adding the AddItem event handler:

Private Sub Grid1_AddItem(ByVal Item As EXGRIDLibCtl.HITEM)
    If (Grid1.Items.ItemControlID(Item) = "https://www.exontrol.com") Then
        ' Some of controls like the WEB control, requires some additional window styles ( like WS_HSCROLL and WS_VSCROLL window styles )
        ' for the window that host that WEB control, to allow scrolling the web page
        Grid1.Items.ItemWindowHostCreateStyle(Item) = Grid1.Items.ItemWindowHostCreateStyle(Item) + WS_HSCROLL + WS_VSCROLL
    End If
End Sub

The following VB sample adds the Exontrol's ExCalendar Component:

With Grid1
    .BeginUpdate
    .ScrollBySingleLine = True
    With Grid1.Items
        Dim h As HITEM
        h = .InsertControlItem(, "Exontrol.Calendar")
        .ItemHeight(h) = 182
        With .ItemObject(h)
            .Appearance = 0
            .BackColor = vbWhite
            .ForeColor = vbBlack
            .ShowTodayButton = False
        End With
    End With
    .EndUpdate
End With

The following VB sample binds the master control to a table, and displays related tables when the user expands an item/record. The sample uses the DataSource property to bind a record set to the control. The InsertControlItem method inserts an ActiveX inside the item.

Option Explicit

Public Function getRS(ByVal q As String) As Object
    Dim rs As Object, strDatabase
    strDatabase = App.Path + "\ExontrolDemo.mdb"
    Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
    rs.Open q, "Provider = Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Data Source =" & strDatabase, 3, 3, 0
    Set getRS = rs
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()
With Grid1
    .BeginUpdate
    .LinesAtRoot = exLinesAtRoot
    .MarkSearchColumn = False
    .ScrollBySingleLine = True
    .HideSelection = True
    Set .DataSource = getRS("Transactions")
    .EndUpdate
End With
End Sub

Private Sub Grid1_AddItem(ByVal Item As EXGRIDLibCtl.HITEM)
    With Grid1.Items
        .ItemHasChildren(Item) = .ItemParent(Item) = 0
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub Grid1_BeforeExpandItem(ByVal Item As EXGRIDLibCtl.HITEM, Cancel As Variant)
    With Grid1.Items
        If .ItemHasChildren(Item) Then
            With .ItemObject(.InsertControlItem(Item, "Exontrol.Grid"))
                .BeginUpdate
                    .MarkSearchColumn = False
                    .HideSelection = True
                    Set .DataSource = getRS("Select * from TransactionDetails where TrnDet_ID = " & Grid1.Items.CellValue(Item, "Trn_ID"))
                    .Columns(0).Visible = False
                .EndUpdate
            End With
            .ItemHasChildren(Item) = False
        End If
    End With
    Grid1.Refresh
End Sub

The following C++ sample adds the Exontrol's ExOrgChart Component:

#include "Items.h"

#pragma warning( disable : 4146 )
#import <ExOrgChart.dll> 

CItems items = m_grid.GetItems();
m_grid.BeginUpdate();
m_grid.SetScrollBySingleLine( TRUE );
COleVariant vtMissing; V_VT( &vtMissing ) = VT_ERROR;
long h = items.InsertControlItem( 0, "Exontrol.ChartView", vtMissing );
items.SetItemHeight( h, 182 );
EXORGCHARTLib::IChartViewPtr spChart( items.GetItemObject(h) );
if ( spChart != NULL )
{
	spChart->BeginUpdate();
	spChart->BackColor = RGB(255,255,255);
	spChart->ForeColor = RGB(0,0,0);
	EXORGCHARTLib::INodesPtr spNodes = spChart->Nodes;
	spNodes->Add( "Child 1", "Root", "1", vtMissing, vtMissing );
	spNodes->Add( "SubChild 1", "1", vtMissing, vtMissing, vtMissing );
	spNodes->Add( "SubChild 2", "1", vtMissing, vtMissing, vtMissing );
	spNodes->Add( "Child 2", "Root", vtMissing, vtMissing, vtMissing );
	spChart->EndUpdate();
}
m_grid.EndUpdate();

The sample uses the #import statement to include the ExOrgChart's Type Library. In this sample, the ItemObject property retrieves an IChartView object. The path to the library should be provided in case it is not located in your system folder.  

The following C# sample adds the Exontrol's ExGrid Component:

axGrid1.BeginUpdate();
EXGRIDLib.Items items = axGrid1.Items;
axGrid1.ScrollBySingleLine = true;
int h = items.InsertControlItem(0, "Exontrol.Grid", "");
items.set_ItemHeight(h, 182);
object gridInside = items.get_ItemObject(h);
if (gridInside != null)
{
	EXGRIDLib.Grid grid = gridInside as EXGRIDLib.Grid;
	if (grid != null)
	{
		grid.BeginUpdate();
		grid.LinesAtRoot = EXGRIDLib.LinesAtRootEnum.exLinesAtRoot;
		grid.Columns.Add("Column 1");
		grid.Columns.Add("Column 2");
		grid.Columns.Add("Column 3");
		EXGRIDLib.Items itemsInside = grid.Items;
		int hInside = itemsInside.AddItem("Item 1");
		itemsInside.set_CellValue(hInside, 1, "SubItem 1");
		itemsInside.set_CellValue(hInside, 2, "SubItem 2");
		hInside = itemsInside.InsertItem(hInside, null, "Item 2");
		itemsInside.set_CellValue(hInside, 1, "SubItem 1");
		itemsInside.set_CellValue(hInside, 2, "SubItem 2");
		grid.EndUpdate();
	}
}
axGrid1.EndUpdate();

The following C# sample casts the ItemObject to IGrid interface:

int hX = axGrid1.Items.InsertControlItem(0, "Exontrol.Grid", "");
EXGRIDLib.IGrid spGrid = axGrid1.Items.get_ItemObject(hX) as EXGRIDLib.IGrid;
spGrid.Columns.Add("Inner Column");

The following VB.NET sample adds the Exontrol's ExOrgChart Component:

With AxGrid1
    .BeginUpdate()
    .ScrollBySingleLine = True
    With .Items
        Dim hItem As Integer
        hItem = .InsertControlItem(, "Exontrol.ChartView")
        .ItemHeight(hItem) = 182
        With .ItemObject(hItem)
            .BackColor = ToUInt32(Color.White)
            .ForeColor = ToUInt32(Color.Black)
            With .Nodes
                .Add("Child 1", , "1")
                .Add("SubChild 1", "1")
                .Add("SubChild 2", "1")
                .Add("Child 2")
            End With
        End With
    End With
    .EndUpdate()
End With

The following VB.NET sample casts the ItemObject to IGrid interface:

Dim hX As Long = .InsertControlItem(0, "Exontrol.Grid", "")
Dim spGrid As EXGRIDLib.IGrid = .ItemObject(hX)
spGrid.Columns.Add("Inner Column")

The following VFP sample adds the Exontrol's ExGrid Component:

with thisform.Grid1
	.BeginUpdate()
	.ScrollBySingleLine = .t.
	with .Items
		.DefaultItem = .InsertControlItem(0, "Exontrol.Grid")
		.ItemHeight( 0 ) = 182
		with .ItemObject( 0 )
			.BeginUpdate()
			with .Columns
				with .Add("Column 1").Editor()
					.EditType = 1 && EditType editor
				endwith
			endwith
			with .Items
				.AddItem("Text 1")
				.AddItem("Text 2")
				.AddItem("Text 3")
			endwith
			.EndUpdate()
		endwith
	endwith
	.EndUpdate()
endwith
The following VB6 sample shows you how to handle an event from a outer-inner-inner control. In other words, you have a master control (outer), which insert another control (inner), which insert another control (inner). 
Private Sub expandItem(ByVal grid As Object, ByVal item As Long, ByVal level As Long)
    Debug.Print "Expand item in " & level & " control"
End Sub

' BeforeExpandItem event - Fired before an item is about to be expanded (collapsed).
Private Sub Grid1_BeforeExpandItem(ByVal item As EXGRIDLibCtl.HITEM, Cancel As Variant)
    expandItem Grid1.Object, item, 0
End Sub

' ItemOleEvent event - Fired when an ActiveX control hosted by an item has fired an event.
Private Sub Grid1_ItemOleEvent(ByVal item As EXGRIDLibCtl.HITEM, ByVal Ev As EXGRIDLibCtl.IOleEvent)
    With Grid1
        'Debug.Print Ev.ToString()
        If (Ev.ID = 12) Then   ' BeforeExpandItem
            expandItem Grid1.Items.ItemObject(item), Ev.Param(0).Value, 1
        Else
            If (Ev.ID = 14) Then   ' ItemOLEEvent
                'Debug.Print Ev.Param(1).Value.ToString()
                If (Ev.Param(1).Value.ID = 12) Then    ' BeforeExpandItem
                    'Debug.Print "Expand item in inner-inner control"
                    expandItem Grid1.Items.ItemObject(item).Items.ItemObject(Ev.Param(0).Value), Ev.Param(1).Value.Param(0).Value, 2
                End If
            End If
        End If
    End With
End Sub