From Agentpedia, the Microsoft Agent encyclopedia
Frontier Actor |
 |
| Name | Frontier Actor |
|---|
| Developer(s) | Konnor88 |
|---|
| Latest version | 1.0.0.323 |
|---|
| Latest version release date | January 31st, 2026 (9 days ago) |
|---|
| Written in | VB.NET |
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| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
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Frontier Actor is a modern re-implementation and alternative to the original Microsoft Actor application programming interface developed by Konnor88. It is designed to replicate the behavior and programming model of the 16-bit Microsoft Actor Control while extending compatibility to modern 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.
Unlike the original Microsoft Actor API, which was limited to 16-bit Windows environments, Frontier Actor is built on the modern .NET framework and can be used in development environments such as Visual Studio and supports both VB.NET and C#, allowing developers to work with classic Microsoft Actor characters on modern systems without requiring legacy operating systems or emulation.
Usage
The Frontier Actor Control can be added to the Visual Studio Toolbox from the "Choose items..." menu and selecting the "FrontierUtopia.dll" file as a Toolbox item, which will then cause all Frontier Custom Controls to be automatically added to the toolbox. From there, the developer can drag any toolbox items to a form in designer mode and utilize the controls.
Controls
| Control name
|
Original Utopia/Actor equivlaent
|
Functionality
|
| Frontier Actor Control
|
Actor Control
|
Displays a Microsoft Actor character or a Utopia animation file.
|
| Frontier Actor Cursor Control
|
N/A
|
Turns the mouse cursor into the Microsoft Actor-utilized one.
|
| Frontier Big Office Button Control
|
Bob Button Control
|
Displays a big office button, similar to the one from Office 97/2000/XP/2003.
|
| Frontier Circle Button Control
|
Bob Button Control
|
Displays a "squishy" button with custom sound effects.
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| Frontier Edit Control
|
Utopia Edit Control
|
Displays a textbox where the user can enter aliased text.
|
| Frontier Label Control
|
Static Text Control
|
A label that displays aliased text.
|
| Frontier Office Button Control
|
Bob Button Control
|
Displays a small office button, similar to the one from Office 97/2000/XP/2003.
|
| Frontier Podium Control
|
Podium Control
|
Displays a podium with an "EXIT" button.
|
| Frontier Rgnwnd Control
|
Rgnwnd Control
|
Displays a heavily customizable word balloon that can nest controls.
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| Frontier Rgnwnd Button Control
|
Bob Button Control
|
Displays an office button without a blue dot, similar to the one from Office 97/2000/XP/2003.
|
Comparison
| Supports...
|
Microsoft Actor 1.0
|
Microsoft Actor 2.0
|
Frontier Actor
|
| Microsoft Actor 1.0 files
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Microsoft Actor 2.0 files
|
No
|
Yes
|
Partial (non-BMP characters)
|
| User-made characters
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Utopia .ANI files
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Actors that use .BMP assets
|
Partial
|
Yes
|
Partial (usermade only)
|
| Actors that use .WMF assets
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Actors with Exit Branching
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Native user dragging
|
No (host-implemented, .ANI only)
|
No (host-implemented)
|
Yes
|
| BMP transparency color
|
No
|
Partial (application-defined, one per a program)
|
Partial (actor-defined, multiple per program)
|
| Native speak method support
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Supported programming language(s)
|
Visual Basic 3.0, Visual Basic 4.0 (partial)
|
Visual C++ 4.0, Visual C++ 5.0
|
VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI, F#
|
| Architecture(s)
|
16-bit
|
32-bit
|
32-bit, 64-bit, ARM64
|
| Embedding model
|
.VBX (16-bit Visual Basic extension)
|
.DLL (Win32 SDK/COM-style)
|
.DLL (.NET WinForms compatible)
|
| Minimum OS version
|
Windows 3.1
|
Windows NT 3.51 SP5, Mac OS 7.5
|
Windows 98
|
Gallery
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Frontier Actor Control being previewed with the Rover Actor file.
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Icon for Frontier Actor.
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Toolbox icon for the Frontier Actor Control.
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The Frontier Actor API being used in a test program in Visual Studio 2017.
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Rover being loaded with the Frontier Rgnwnd Control and Frontier Podium Control.
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A custom Microsoft Actor made in the
Utopia Animation Editor being utilized.
Trivia
- Frontier Actor supports the majority of Microsoft Actor 1.0 and 2.0 characters, including both Rover and Clippit, as well as other actors that utilize WMF files.
- Frontier Actor currently does not support Microsoft Actor 2.0 characters that use Bitmaps as they are compressed in a special format that can only be read by Microsoft Actor 2.0 applications, unlike Microsoft Actor 1.0 characters where the Bitmap can be interpreted normally.
- Functionality-wise, it is the Microsoft Actor equivalent of the Double Agent Control for Microsoft Agent, and emulates Microsoft Actor behavior in a similar way Double Agent emulates Microsoft Agent behavior.
- Currently, a beta version of Frontier Actor is being used XP Search Assistant Rewritten for the Microsoft Actor feature.
Frontier Actor Control being previewed with the Rover Actor file.
Toolbox icon for the Frontier Actor Control.
The Frontier Actor API being used in a test program in Visual Studio 2017.
Rover being loaded with the Frontier Rgnwnd Control and Frontier Podium Control.
A custom Microsoft Actor made in the Utopia Animation Editor being utilized.
