Angel Yuan [MSFT] (Moderator):
Hello India MVPs, I am Angel Yuan, the MVPAA Manager for Asia Pacific and Greater China Region, MVP and Technical Communities. Nice to meet you all here.

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Hi Angel and Hi everyone

Angel Yuan [MSFT] (Moderator):
I will be the moderator for the Chat today, please feel free to message me if you encounter any problems. Chat Topic for today: Visual Studio Tool for Office 2005 and the Expert is Naresh Nichani, let's welcome him and get started! Fire away with your questions for Naresh.

Angel Yuan [MSFT] (Moderator):
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Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Would you guys like to do mainly Q&A or would you like me to first give a breif talk on VSTO?

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Ok lets get started

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
VSTO in 2005 is greatly improved from 2003 and we can do Office dev a whole lot better now

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
VST0 2005 supports Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003 and InfoPath2003

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Earlier we just had Word 2003 and Excel 2003

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
However users must have the Office System 2003 (earlier versions of Office are not supported for VSTO)

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
To learn more on VSTO I suggest you look here

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/vsto/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/odc_vsto2005_ta/html/officewhatsnewinvsto2005.asp 

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This gives a good overall idea of VSTO in simple terminology

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
No not even Office XP

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The advantage of VSTO is we can use the .Net Framework 2.0 with the power of Office

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The .Net Framework 2.0 is very powerful and when combined with Office you can build some great solutions for your customers

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
You can create VSTO projects in VS 2005 with the New Project Option - here along with "Windows", "Smart Office" there is a new "Office" option

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The Office option has some project templates for Word, Excel and Outlook projects

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
let us say for example you create a Excel workbook project

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This can be created based on a existing workbook or a new workbook

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
In an Excel VSTO solution each worksheet can have a code behind page and behaves like a "Windows Form"

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The VS 2005 designer will merge the Excel interface and VS 2005 menus and command bars for you to make it seamless

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
You can work with all Excel functions - enter data in cells, format cells, add worksheets etc and also write code behind in the same environment

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
You can even place Windows Forms controls on the Excel sheets and write code behind for the Windows Forms controls

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
So I could a Windows Forms button or List view to a Excel sheet or Word document and write code in the code behind by double clicking control

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
A new feature of VSTO 2005 is Host Controls

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Host Controls are speicifc to Excel and Word

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
For example

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
In Excel we have a Host Control called "NamedRange"

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
When you are working in a Excel VSTO 2005 project you will see "NamedRange" in the Toolbox

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
When you drop it on a Excel sheet you will asked for a range address

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
So say you create a namedrange called "MyCustomers" - you can double click and do code behind for this range only

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This is not possible in Excel VBA

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
In Excel VBA you cannot define a range and write specifically for that range

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
In a similar way in Word you have a HostControl called "Bookmark"

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
A bookmark is a deisgnated area of a Word document - you can drop this control in your Word document and trap changes there only and not the full document

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Before I go further any questions on HostControls on general VSTO concepts?

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Ok guys will go ahead

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Another very nice feature of VSTO 2005 is Smart Tag development which is hugely simplified

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Smart Tags are the small icons which appear on top your document and you can perform some action with them

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Witth VSTO 2005 it is very easy to build them - earlier it was fairly complex

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
In VSTO 2005 Smart tags are specific to your solution - they are not global to all Word docs or all Excel spreadsheets

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
So you can build a Smart tag in Word to look for the tag "Sensex" and perform some action

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Here is a code sample for this

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
#Region "Smart Tag Example"

    WithEvents DisplayAddress As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.Action

    Private Sub AddSmartTag()

        Dim SmartTagDemo As New _

            Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.SmartTag( _

            "www.microsoft.com/Demo#DemoSmartTag", _

            "Demonstration Smart Tag")

        ' Specify the terms to recognize.

        SmartTagDemo.Terms.Add("term")

        SmartTagDemo.Terms.Add("recognize")

Naresh_MVP (Expert):

' Create the action.

        DisplayAddress = New _

            Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.Action( _

            "To be replaced")

        ' Add the action to the smart tag.

        SmartTagDemo.Actions = New _

            Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.Action() { _

                DisplayAddress}

        ' Add the smart tag to the document.

        Me.VstoSmartTags.Add(SmartTagDemo)

    End Sub

Naresh_MVP (Expert):

Sub OpenMessageBox_BeforeCaptionShow(ByVal sender As Object, _

        ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ActionEventArgs) _

        Handles DisplayAddress.BeforeCaptionShow

        DisplayAddress.Caption = "Display the location of " & _

                e.Text

    End Sub

    Sub DisplayAddress_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _

        ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ActionEventArgs) _

        Handles DisplayAddress.Click

        Dim termStart As Integer = e.Range.Start

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Oops sorry that is not fitting easily

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Hold on one sec

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
More info here on Smart tag development

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
o              More here - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/ms178786(en-us,vs.80).aspx

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
No no handheld devices yet here - this is Office 2003 for the desktop right now - Word, Excel Outlook and Infopath only

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Back to smart tags

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
    WithEvents DisplayAddress As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.Action

    Private Sub AddSmartTag()

        Dim SmartTagDemo As New _

            Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.SmartTag( _

            "www.microsoft.com/Demo#DemoSmartTag", _

            "Demonstration Smart Tag")

        ' Specify the terms to recognize.

        SmartTagDemo.Terms.Add("term")

        SmartTagDemo.Terms.Add("recognize")

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This code will basically allow you to Smart tag the word word "term" and "recognize"
 

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Anyway these words appear in your solution a smart tag will appear

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
        ' Create the action.

        DisplayAddress = New _

            Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.Action( _

            "To be replaced")

        ' Add the action to the smart tag.

        SmartTagDemo.Actions = New _

            Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.Action() { _

                DisplayAddress}

        ' Add the smart tag to the document.

        Me.VstoSmartTags.Add(SmartTagDemo)

    End Sub

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This code basically adds teh smart to the solution (complete of prior code)

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This code executes when the smart tag is clicked

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Sub DisplayAddress_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _

        ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ActionEventArgs) _

        Handles DisplayAddress.Click

        Dim termStart As Integer = e.Range.Start

        Dim termEnd As Integer = e.Range.End

        MsgBox("The recognized text '" & e.Text & _

                "' begins at position " & termStart & _

                " and ends at position " & termEnd)

    End Sub

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Here in Word it prints where the Word exists in Word doc - however you could check for things like Stock Ticker or Customer Info and link to a CRM system etc

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Sorry it cannot be viewed on handhelds

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
To know more on Smart tag refer here

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
o              http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/ms178786(en-us,vs.80).aspx

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
My next topic is Action Panes

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
In Office 2003 all of you have seen the Task Pane

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This is docked window normally on right and you can do Styles, Revisions and all kinds of nice things

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
However with VBA you cannot create your own task pane

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
However with VSTO you can write to a special task pane called the "Action Pane" and place a Windows forms controls there

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
                Task Panes contain Windows Forms controls. You can also add “User Controls” which can be combination of many Windows forms controls

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
So how we develop the Action pane for our solution and display in Word or Excel

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
§              Open your Word/Excel project in Visual Studio.

§              On the Project menu, click Add New Item.

§              In the Add New Item dialog box, select Actions Pane Control, name it HelloControl and click Add.

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The Word and Excel projects have a special item you can add to project called "Action Pane"
 

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Give the ActionPane a name and open from Solution Explorer

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Here you can drop Windows Forms or your User controls

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Yes

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Word and Excel have Task Panes - you can create a special one for your solution with VSTO

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Add the following code to ThisDocument_Startup to activate the Action Pane you amde

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Dim hello As New HelloControl

      Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(hello)

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This assumes HelloControl is the name of the ActionPane you just made

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The Action Pane can have Windows Forms control and code behind and interact with your solution

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
For example assume you had a button on the Action Pane

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This can be code behind for the button

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles Button1.Click

    Globals.ThisDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range.Text = "Hello world!"

End Sub

 
Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The Global.ThisDocument refers to the word document in your solution

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
<http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/7we49he1(en-us,vs.80).aspx>

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
To know more on Action Panes in VSTO

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
You can also make the Action Pane change as user moves to different parts of your document

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
For example user is in a area where they can change logo - you can have button "Insert Logo"

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
If user in a table you can have options to format table or sum table cols

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
To learn how to do this

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
<http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/zbxt1ax4.aspx>

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This article shows you how to customize the action pane to diferent parts of your document/spreadsheet

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Now the last topic is Deployment

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Deploying VSTO solutions is a little tricky and you need to ship the document/spreadsheet and the .Net assembly

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The .Net assembly needs "Full Trust" to execute

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
o              Deploying a basic Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Word or Excel solution generally means working with four files:

o             

§              The Word or Excel file (template, document, or workbook) that the end user works in

§              The assembly that contains your compiled custom code and any dependent assemblies such as resources, satellites, or helper libraries

§              The deployment manifest

§              The application manifest

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This can get confusing

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The best way to do this is to read this blog

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
o              http://blogs.msdn.com/vsto2/archive/2005/10/11/479825.aspx 

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
This gives a very simple way to deploy VSTO solutions which I found very useful

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
The MSDN articles for more info are at

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
o              http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/hesc2788(en-us,vs.80).aspx

Angel Yuan [MSFT] (Moderator):
Thank you very much for all of your participation. It’s the end of today’s chat. Thank you Naresh. Thank you India MVPs.

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Yes you do

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Thanks everybody

Agel Yuan [MSFT] (Moderator):
Have a nice evening. :-)

Naresh_MVP (Expert):
Thanks all again - have a nice evening