Background:
I have come up with an idea that will make things easier for the company I work for. They even seem excited about the idea. The idea is to make an addin for Outlook to help with a task. So after doing a bit of research (obviously, not enough). I downloaded a trial copy of VS2010 pro and created a VSTO addin.
After creating the addin, it was time to package it for a small test deployment. That's when I found out that this is a much more difficult thing to do. It seems MS does not ship Office 2010 with the runtime needed to run VSTO, so i'd have to package that as well. In a company environment, this is not something simple to do.
So, I might have to go back to the drawing board.
Meat of the question:
I've never created an addin for office before, I really want more of a "drop in" solution. I'm not sure if VBA is the right solution. It seems more of a "document" level application (or macro?). Does any one know what would be the best type of solution for this?
Outlook API is not native .NET framework. To interact it with, .NET relies on marshaling and interrop assembly thus making it much more prone to errors and unstable.
From what I've seen so far with my outlook API experience, I would stick with VBA and you should consider retrieving a third party library that exposes outlook extended MAPI if you run in to much of trouble.
NetOffice is pretty good - it is a set of managed .NET libraries that handles the COM API with Office and only needs XCopy installation.
The best part is it tracks all runtime callable wrappers ('RCWs') you create when accessing objects through COM and automatically releases them when you dispose the top-level object (the Application in most cases), so you won't get the issue of an orphaned COM 'handle' preventing you from closing Office.
Alternatively, the Office Primary Interop Assemblies should be on any computer that has the relevant version of Office installed (at least for >= Office 2007). But there are cases when it won't so you will have to cover that possibility. VSTO redistributable should already be installed on any computer with Office 2010 or 2013. For Office 2007 you will need to install it. But again, better safe than sorry so you should include it in your installer in both cases.
For details on deployment options look at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386179.aspx
As for VBA, I don't have experience for Outlook addins so I leave that to others to explain. Other VBA Office app addins (Excel/Word/Visio/PPT at least - not sure about the others as I haven't used them) can be installed either using registry keys or through XCopying the addin to a trusted location and then telling the user to open Options/Manage addins and tick the tick box.
I highly recommend Add-in Express. They have tools that go beyond what Microsoft provides via Visual Studio.
Their features for Outlook development greatly reduce the amount of effort required to build Outlook add-ins
Related
I have created a working Powerpoint add-in (.ppam) that offers several time saving features, and added a custom UI ribbon tab to improve accessibility.
As I look to distribute this add-in to users, I'm looking to improve code security by compiling it into a COM add-in (.dll) via VS Express.
I have looked all over the web for documentation on this, and have found some promising source, such as:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/creatingcomaddin.aspx
Unfortunately, nearly everything I find appear to be quite outdated and based on Office XP or 2003, when I'm looking at Office 2010. I'm probably doing something wrong here, but I'm having trouble replicating their instructions on my end, running into errors like being unable to add a reference library or the code they suggest is not recognized. I actually am even unsure how to open for example the sample VB project that the Pearson site provides from the link above to imitate. I think all this may be because of the different versions of Office and Visual Studio, but could certainly be wrong.
Could anyone point me in the right direction? My understanding is that it's actually quite simple to convert the code from VBA to VB (just involves adding "Powerpoint.Application." in front of things like "activewindow"). So I just need to figure out how to convert a very simple VBA add-in into a COM add-in in VS Exp 2012 for Office 2010, and then can leverage the process to convert the full add-in.
Apologies if I'm using any of the terms incorrectly.
I work in an academic lab, and have been working on VSTO Add-In to Excel (primary to handle complex data analysis and generate reports, what I think is bread and butter for VSTO). At the lab we have Office 2010 almost exclusively (universities are like that). We are partnering with a drug company that is using Office 365.
They want to use the same Add-In I've been developing so we're all on the same page. I've let our Tech Transfer office know in case there are any licensing issues, as I don't think that's my problem to figure out.
On the tech side of things, I've been trying to figure out if the Add-In will work with 365. I built it in VS-2012 (academic version of professional) and it works well in Excel 2010 (though I keep adding to it).
I have read:
https://blogs.msdn.com/b/donovanf/archive/2011/06/29/office-365-developer-guidance-and-resources.aspx?Redirected=true
Which didn't make it sound hopeful, until I realized that if they get the premium edition it still includes a local install:
https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/office-online-microsoft-office-365-for-small-businesses-FX103037625.aspx
So my question is if someone is using the 365 Premium Edition with a local instal, then will a VSTO built for 2010 still work? I may be able to answer this in a few days when I actual meet them in person (and thus try it out), but I'd like to know the answer ahead of time if possible.
If not, would the best solution be to back track into VBA (that seems backwards) or try to work with SharePoint (for the first time in my life).
Thanks.
Well hopefully, someone can save some worry by knowing that infact it will work with Premium addition of 365. I was able to deploy the add-in without issue to their 365 local installs. I don't think it will work with the lower versions, but I haven't had a chance to test that yet.
I'm about to work on some Outlook add-ins. It's been years since I did this; and probably several object model revisions!
Can anyone recommend some references to help get me started: blogs, sites, books??
Thanks
If your budget can afford it (ie. the product is making money), I would highly recommend Add-in Express. Lots of samples, documentation, and support -- but requires using their tooling. (It makes Outlook ever so slightly-less of a PITA to deal with.)
However, if you prefer to stick with a (free with VS) Microsoft solution -- it works fairly well, but is missing some "niceties" -- then check out the VSTO on MSDN page as a first stop an follow the links out. There are also some good sample projects, templates, and VSTO tools on codeplex.
Happy coding.
Edit: I guess I must be bored :-) Here are some selected links that I found helpful. some of these are very specific/advanced, and some are more general. The arrangement is in no particular order.
MSDN Outlook 2010 Top-Level. Links to documentation (MAPI, PIAs) etc.
SGriffin's MAPI Internals. Lots of details wrt MAPI. Generally on low-level access but also a good source to find out about changes, new documentation or tools, etc. He could probably rewrite MAPI from memory.
MFCMAPI Program & Source Invaluable tool for inspecting MAPI folders, properties, and whatnot. Is Microsofts "reference example" for most "How do I do x in MAPI?".
OutlookSpy Program. This isn't free, but there is a trial. It may or may not work better than MFCMAPI for particular needs. This was written by the author of Redemption, a supplement/replacement for the PIA OOM access. Dimastr has also answered a number of (advanced) Outlook/MAPI forum posts online -- always a good person to look out for.
Outlook 2010 Messaging API (MAPI) Code Samples - Covers basic (wrapper) implementations of the providers (address/store/transport). All native C++.
OutlookCode.com Site promotes some Outlook books by Sue Mosher. I can't vouch for the books, but the site is a mixed-blessing with some good links, some useful advice, and some downright ugly code :-) Also has a forum.
Visual Studio Tools for Office in VS2010 has come a long way. I used to make (and sell) an Outlook add-in for Tablet PC's and it was very complicated back then. A properly designed add-in in .NET would need to set up a separate AppDomain to avoid stomping on other add-ins and implement all kinds of workarounds to avoid leaving orphaned Outlook processes when the main window closed.
VSTO does all this "out of the box" now.
Outlook Solutions in Visual Studio
Don't forget this MSDN forum as a great resource:
Outlook for Developers Forum:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/outlookdev/threads
BTW, #pst: you can still use late-binding to work with the newer Object Models within a version neutral ADX project.
#Josh: VSTO already loads each add-in into it's own AppDomain
#everyone: I work for ADX, feel free to ping me for any questions.
Assume all traces of Office 2003 will be removed from the computer.
UPDATE:
I understand that I will still be able to use .xls files. I'm asking about automating Excel through the COM interop from outside Excel. When I add a reference to Excel to a VB project, it gives me a different version of the dll for different versions of Excel. If a program was compiled with a reference to Office 2003's dll, will it need to be recompiled for Office 2007? Will the code need to be updated to use the new dll?
You should have no problem with your code breaking. In my past experiences, even though I referenced old versions of the Interop Assemblies, the newer version of Excel has been able to handle the calls.
Now the same can't be said for trying to use a newer version of the Interop Assemblies with an older version of Excel...
It would be very surprising if there were many breaking changes between the versions. As I understand it, Microsoft has a number of customers using Office, and they wouldn't like a large number of breaking changes.
In my opinion, the above is actually a valid way of analyzing many questions of this type: "Could x possibly happen" is aproximately equivalent to "what would happen to Microsoft if they did x". If the answer is "something really bad would happen", then chances are that Microsoft figured that out ahead of time.
Of course, this doesn't work 100%. "Could Microsoft ever remove Web Application Projects from Visual Studio 2005" is a counterexample.
An application currently in development has the requirements for using MS Word to perform spell check on certain textareas within the application.
I currently have Office 2007 (which is the Office 12 com objects).
My question is, if I add in the Office 12 objects what will happen on boxes which have Office 2003? This is in regards to both other development boxes as well as the end users.
Am I correct in believing that the end result will be that the spell capabilities will not be available for those users? And if I used an Office 11 object would that mean that the users would be unable to perform the spellchecks if they have Office 07 installed?
We gave up on trying to use a dependency on Word, as both have differing versions installed or no Office installation at all! Instead opting for NetSpell.
I am guessing here, but if it is as you can't use the 2007 PIA (Primary Interop Assembly) with a 2003 installation, you could try accessing the PIA via reflection as I would guess the calls you want won't change between the two, and then it won't matter - you'll use whichever is installed. If you are installing the PIA as well, you can then either get the user to tell you which they have, or be a little more clever and just try 2007 and if it fails, try 2003.
Like I said, I'm guessing here but it might be worth a try.
EDIT: I found this link about Office PIA's. This refers to Excel but actually covers Office in general. I don't envy the task you have. Looks like you'll need to detect the PIA (which may or may not be installed) and act accordingly. Sounds like a job for reflection to me.
Newer versions of Office will maintain most if not all compatibility with older versions of COM objects. Meaning if you want to program against Office 2003 and 2007 you will need to use Office 11 COM objects as a dependency as they were the newest available when 2003 was released. As long as you verify that the methods you need exist both versions of COM objects you should have no problems as long as you use the older COM objects.
Unfortunately, although I have used this solution for my own work, I have not tested it with Spell Check. In the end make sure that you test your code with all version of Office that you wish to integrate with.
My gut reaction to this question, is to simply suggest you go another route. Try using a 3rd party spell-check control. They are relatively inexpensive (and you may find some free controls). At least that way you can control the version of the control included with your app and be able to rely on it's functionality. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this library isn't built into Windows already. Sure it's complicated with all of the languages Windows supports, but these days it's similar to copy/paste in terms of user expectations.
You can actually package both the office11 and office12 interops needed to work in BOTH versions. It takes some minor work but I managed to do it. I do a check in the registry to see which interop to call and then executes the spell checking with the correct version. It even goes so far as to check if you have Word installed and throws an error alert that you can't spell check without having Word. We're tied to using Word due to the medical dictionary that's tied into Office we're required to use.
Do a search on interop or Com wrappers and I think you'll find you can use both fairly easily.