The document provides an overview of Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) with a focus on its integration in Visual Studio 2008, outlining features such as custom task panes, office ribbon designer, and form region enhancements for Outlook 2007. It highlights the evolution of VSTO functionalities, including improved runtime support for various Office apps and capabilities for developing structured documents in Word. Additionally, the document discusses deployment mechanisms like ClickOnce for Office add-ins, emphasizing VSTO as a robust development platform that bridges Office with .NET technologies.

1. Office as a development platform with Visual Studio 2008 Daniel Moth Developer and Platform Group Microsoft http://www.danielmoth.com/Blog

2. AGENDA VSTO Overview Office Ribbon Designer Custom Task Pane Action Pane Outlook Form Region Designer Word Content Controls VBA <-> VSTO interop ClickOnce Deployment

4. Roadmap Custom Document ActionsPane Host Controls on document surface Cached data in the document Server-side data processing Application-level add-ins for Outlook 2007 2003 App-level add-ins for most popular Office apps Runtime support for key Office 2007 UI elements (Custom Taskpane, Ribbon, Outlook form regions) Runtime support enabling Office 2003 doc-level customizations to run in Office 2007 2007 2003 Workflow & Microsoft SharePoint support Office 2007 system-specific features, file format, UI App-level add-ins for more client applications Deeper server-side programming VSTO fully integrated into Visual Studio 2008

5. VSTO Functionality Over Time Doc-level Outlook add-ins, VSTA in InfoPath functional extensions infra investments 11 Office add-ins, infra investments SP Workflow, new designers, functional extensions infra investments

6. Doc-Level Version Resilience v1 solutions use the VSTO v1 runtime v2 solutions use the VSTO v2 runtime v3+ solutions use the VSTO v3+ runtime Reduces the number of runtimes (improves performance, working set) Eliminates type name clashes in DefaultDomain Based on the Managed Add-in Framework Common VSTO/VSTA runtime

7. Set the scene inc document level addins

8. “ Fluent” UI Ribbon, Custom Task Panes, Actions Pane, Form Region

9. Office Ribbon New Look and Feel for Office UI Replaces Command Bars in “the big 5” Office apps Introduces a new extensibility model: RibbonX Enables you to Customize office tabs, Add to built-in tabs Remove tabs, groups and controls Add to Office menu, Override built-in UI Tab Group Control Ribbon

10. XML-based Customisation Support Ribbon XML structure requires a specific hierarchy <customUI xmlns=&quot;http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui&quot; onLoad=&quot;OnLoad&quot;> <ribbon> <tabs> <tab idMso=&quot;TabAddIns&quot;> <group id=&quot;MyGroup&quot; label=&quot;My Group&quot;> <toggleButton id=&quot;toggleButton1&quot; size=&quot;large&quot; label=&quot;My Button&quot; screentip=&quot;My Button Screentip&quot; onAction=&quot;OnToggleButton1&quot; imageMso=&quot;AccessFormModalDialog&quot; /> </group> </tab> </tabs> </ribbon> </customUI> For example:

11. Ribbon Customization Office built-in support for XML-based customization model VSTO 2005 SE support Simplifies hookup from .NET via pre-generated classes and sample XML VSTO v3.0 (Visual Studio 2008) support Adds full-blown visual designer support “ Export to XML” option A more robust programming layer inc. events

12. Ribbon Designer Property Grid Ribbon Control Toolbox Design Surface

13. Custom Task & Actions Panes VSTO simplifies and speeds up task pane UI design process with visual designers and .NET hookup Actions Pane More robust, easier to program alternative to Office’s built-in “Smart Document” technology Custom Task Pane The same general idea as Actions Pane, only on the application add-in level, not individual doc

14. Pane UI Customization

15. Custom Task Panes and Action Panes

16. ActionsPane Architecture Document Actions Task Pane WinForms UserControl (ActionsPane) VSTO Invisible ActiveX Control

17. Outlook Form Region Features New technology in Outlook 2007 for enhancing and replacing Outlook’s built-in forms Code behind form region is implemented as COM add-in New controls provide built-in look & feel and data binding to Outlook data

18. 4 Types of Form Regions Adjoining and Separate Custom and built-in forms Replacement and Replace-all Custom forms only Reading Pane can display all types except Separate

19. Adjoining in Reading Pane

20. Adjoining in Inspector

21. Separate

22. Replacement & Replace-All

23. VS2008 Outlook Form Regions VSTO eases development of Outlook form regions Configure form region with a simple, intuitive wizard Debugging (F5), Intellisense Import Use wizard to import Outlook-created OFS file Controls are referenced & cast to correct name & type Design Designer supports WPF and Windows Form controls Properties window exposes manifest

24. Outlook Form Region

25. Fluent UI

26. Word Content Controls

27. Word Content Controls New experience for developing structured documents in Word 2007 New UI for developers to access Word Content Controls Programmable through Word Object Model Support for XML Mapping

28. Toolbox Support Word content controls available in Toolbox Increases discoverability of content controls Drag-and-drop experience

29. Property Grid Support Easily access the properties and events of the content controls

30. Programming Paradigm Windows Forms style programming model Generate event handlers Support for IntelliSense

31. Word Content Controls

32. Two-Way Simple Data Binding Two methods to data bind Drag and drop support from Data Sources window Set up through the property grid

33. UI Feature Availability VSTO 2005 + VSTO 2005 SE VSTO v3.0 Ribbon (2007 versions of Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint ) Simplified hookup Sample XML Simplified hookup Sample XML Visual designer Richer programming layer Export-to-XML option Actions Pane (document-level projects only) Word 2003 (doc, dot) Excel 2003 (xls, xlt) Word 2003 (doc, dot) Excel 2003 (xls, xlt) Word 2007 (docx/m, dotx/m) Excel 2007 (xlsx/m, xltx/m) Custom Task Pane (2007 versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, InfoPath and PowerPoint) Simplified hookup Visual designer Simplified hookup Visual designer Outlook Form Region (Outlook 2007 only) Visual designer Configuration wizard Import from existing Word Content Controls Drag n drop controls Simple data-binding Lock controls and content

34. Where we’ve been, what’s left VSTO Overview Office Ribbon Designer Custom Task Pane Action Pane Outlook Form Region Designer Word Content Controls VBA <-> VSTO interop ClickOnce Deployment

35. Call VSTO from VBA You enable VBA via COM Interop Interop implemented at design time You can then call VSTO from VBA with IntelliSense after building the project

36. VBA and VSTO Interop

37. ClickOnce for Office Add-ins Low-impact deployment mechanism Self-contained Solutions installed per user Prerequisites are installed if the user is an admin ClickOnce support Full end-to-end solution installation Richer version-independent security model Offline access via the ClickOnce Cache

38. ClickOnce Deployment

39. Summary The rationale for the VSTO architecture Bring together Office and .NET Provide a sophisticated developer experience Provide a solid baseline runtime infrastructure Office is a true development platform

40. MSDN in the UK Visit http://msdn.co.uk Newsletter Events Screencasts Blogs

41. Resources Visit the VSTO Developer Center http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/tool/vsto/default.aspx VSTO Help documentation on MSDN http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/d2tx7z6d(vs.90).aspx VSTO Forum http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=16 VSTO Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/vsto2

42. VSTO Design-Time Stack Visual Studio Project Templates IDE Hosting Item Wizards Workflow Document Solutions Add-ins Ribbons Form Regions SharePoint Excel, Word, Info Path Excel, InfoPath, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio, Word, Project Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word Outlook Separate IDE Info Path

43. VSTO/A Runtime Stack VSTO Runtime Office Client Host Managed/ Unmanaged Host Doc Task Pane Host Item Controls Win Forms Controls Doc-Level Solution App-Level Add-in Custom Ribbon Custom Task Pane Custom Form Region App-Level Add-in VSTA Integration Common VSTO/A Runtime .NET CLR Managed Add-in Framework (MAF) AppDomain Management Deployment and Updating Security Enforcement Doc-Level Solution ClickOnce