Creating an ActiveX Parameter Resource Policy
When the system rewrites a Web page, it does not rewrite the ActiveX controls that are embedded in the Web page. However, you can create resource policies specifying that the system should rewrite the URL and hostname parameters that are passed by the Web page to the Active X controls. To configure these resource policies, you must obtain the following information:
- Class ID - Web pages generally use a class ID to embed an ActiveX control. A class ID is a unique, constant string that uniquely identifies an ActiveX control.
You can determine what an ActiveX object's class ID is using Internet Explorer 6: Select Tools > Internet Options, click Settings, and then click View Objects. Select the ActiveX object, right-click, and select S. The ActiveX object's ID is highlighted.
- Language - Web pages can use either static or dynamic HTML (that is, by using JavaScript) to embed an Active X control. When a Web page uses static HTML, the system can rewrite the specified ActiveX parameters on the system itself while it intermediates traffic, since all of the required information passes between the user's browser and the application's Web server. When a Web page uses dynamic HTML to embed an ActiveX control, however, the page frequently pulls information from the client and then generates HTML to embed the ActiveX control. Therefore, the system needs to run script in the user's browser in order to obtain the information it needs to rewrite the specified ActiveX parameters.
- Parameter type - When configuring the system to rewrite a parameter, you must determine whether the parameter is a URL or hostname. The system does not support any other parameter types.
- Parameter name - You must specify the name of the parameter that you want to rewrite. You can find the parameters by searching for the param tag within an object tag. For example, you might find a flash movie embedded in a page using the following code:
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" > <param name="movie" value="mymovie.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
</object>
When configuring the corresponding resource policy, you should enter movie in the Parameter name field because movie refers to the URL requires rewriting. Frequently, pages contain multiple param tags, but not all of them require rewriting. In this example, the quality parameter does not require rewriting.
To write an ActiveX parameter rewriting resource policy:
- In the admin console, choose Users > Resource Policies > Web.
- If your administrator view is not already configured to show rewriting policies, make the following modifications:
- Click the Customize button in the upper right corner of the page.
- Select the Rewriting check box.
- Select the ActiveX Parameter Rewriting check box below the Rewriting check box.
- Click OK.
- Select the Rewriting > ActiveX Parameter Rewriting tab.
- On the ActiveX Parameter Rewriting Policies page, click New Policy.
- Enter class ID of the ActiveX control that you want to control with the policy (required) and description of the policy (optional).
- In the Parameters section, specify the ActiveX parameters that you want to control with the policy and the corresponding actions. Possible actions include:
- Rewrite URL and response (Static HTML only) - Rewrite the specified URL parameter on the system. The system also rewrites any response from the Web server requesting the URL. Note that you should select this option if the Web page embeds the ActiveX control using only static HTML.
- Rewrite URL and response (Static and dynamic HTML) - Rewrite the specified URL on the client in addition to rewriting on the system. The system also rewrites any response from the Web server requesting the URL. Note that you should select this option if the Web page embeds the ActiveX control using dynamic HTML.
- Rewrite URL (Static HTML only) - Rewrite the specified URL parameter on the system. Note that you should select this option if the Web page embeds the ActiveX control using only static HTML.
- Rewrite URL (Static and dynamic HTML) - Rewrite the specified URL on the client in addition to rewriting on the system. Note that you should select this option if the Web page embeds the ActiveX control using dynamic HTML.
- Rewrite hostname (Static HTML only) - Rewrite the specified hostname parameter on the system. Note that you should select this option if the Web page embeds the ActiveX control using only static HTML.
- Rewrite hostname (Static and dynamic HTML) - Rewrite the specified hostname on the client in addition to rewriting on the system. Note that you should select this option if the Web page embeds the ActiveX control using dynamic HTML.
- Do not rewrite - Do not rewrite any of the ActiveX component's parameters.
- Click Save Changes.