ActivePatch is distributed as both an ActiveX component and as a standard Windows dynamic link library (DLL). For those developers who are using a visual programming language such as Visual Basic or Visual FoxPro, it is recommended that the ActiveX control be used. In general, the ActivePatch ActiveX control provides a simpler interface to create, manage, and apply patches. However, the ActiveX control is slightly larger than its DLL counterpart and may be more complicated than using the library directly in languages such as C++. The ActivePatch DLL can be used with any Windows programming language that supports calling functions in external libraries. Both the ActiveX control and the library have minimal dependencies and do not require additional support libraries such as the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) or Microsoft Visual C Runtime.