Microsoft Office extensibility and Add-in Express
Add-in Express for .NET is a feature-rich tool that empowers you to program all types of application-level customization for Microsoft Office 2000 - 2007, including COM Add-ins, Smart Tags, Excel RTD servers and Excel XLL (user defined functions) in Visual Studio .NET. Add-in Express is completely based on the .NET Framework and integrated into Visual Studio. Add-in Express doesn't require profound knowledge of the COM Add-in, Smart Tag and RTD Server technologies and allows a .NET developer to quickly start new projects using Add-in Express wizards, modules, visual designers and components.
Microsoft Office extensibility
Add-in Express is completely based on the Office extensibility technology and extends it with unique features which makes your Office development fast, easy and effective. You can develop all kinds of Office extensions including COM add-ins, smart tags, Excel RTD servers, Automation add-ins and XLLs.
Version-neutrality and edition independence
Add-in Express provides you with version-neutral run-time, so you needn't write code for each Office version. Your write your code once, and it runs on all Office versions, from 2000 to 2007. In addition, your solutions are fully compatible with all Office editions, from Student and Home to Enterprise and Ultimate
Effective project architecture
Add-in Express generates ready-to-use solution templates based on our long-term experience in development and deployment of Office solutions. The Add-in Express architecture makes your Office solutions secure, isolated, managed, deployable and updatable with your minimal efforts.
Visual designers instead of coding
You use visual designers to customize Office menus, toolbars, ribbons, task panes, forms, windows, regions, option and property pages, etc. Add-in Express gives you the True RAD way, so you use components and visual designers instead of routine writing of glue code.
Outlook is the premium platform
Outlook developers benefit from a plenty of Outlook-related features. Using Add-in Express components and their visual designers you can make your Outlook menus, toolbars, ribbons or certain controls context sensitive, bind them to specified folders or content types, build option and folder property pages, add navigation pane shortcuts, embed view and form regions and more.
1st-class GUI with Advanced Outlook Regions
Add-in Express gives you the Advanced Outlook Regions that are shared (you can place several forms from several add-ins into one region), version-neutral (your regions work on Office 2000 as well as on Office 2007 and others), flexible (you can add regions for Outlook views, forms, To-Do bar, Navigation and Reading panes). Finally, you can create, close and move your regions at run-time.
Any .NET controls on Office toolbars
On all versions of Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you can place any built-in or third-party controls on Office toolbars. So, your own toolbars can contain grids, tree views, list views, user controls, forms, etc. With Add-in Express you build a feature-rich GUI that will definitely be liked by your end-users.
Improved Excel extensions
If Excel is your target application, with Add-in Express you can create amazing Excel add-ins with the Advanced Office Task Panes that work for all Excel versions, effective real-time data servers with any number of RTD topics, new user-defined worksheet functions (UDFs) through Automation add-ins or XLLs.
Deployment made easy
With Add-in Express the deployment of your Office projects becomes so easy that you will forget about it. Each Add-in Express solution contains a setup project with all necessary prerequisites. Plus, your solutions fully support ClickOnce, so just build and publish your solution once, deploy and update anywhere.
True RAD - you write applied code only
Add-in Express for .net is completely based on the Rapid Application Development (True RAD) paradigm and allows you to reduce the time you used to spend on COM add-in, smart tag and RTD server development at least by half. You write applied code only, Add-in Express does everything else.
Supported Microsoft Office applications
COM Add-in host applications
- Microsoft Excel 2000 and higher
- Microsoft Outlook 2000 and higher
- Microsoft Word 2000 and higher
- Microsoft FrontPage 2000 and higher
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 and higher
- Microsoft Access 2000 and higher
- Microsoft Project 2000 and higher
- Microsoft MapPoint 2002 and higher
- Microsoft Visio 2002 and higher
- Microsoft Publisher 2003 and higher
- Microsoft InfoPath 2007
Supported MS Office editions
- Student
- Home
- Standard
- Professional
- Professional Plus
- Ultimate
- Enterprise
All Microsoft Office service packs and updates are supported.
Smart Tag host applications
- Microsoft Excel 2002 and higher
- Microsoft Word 2002 and higher
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and higher
- Microsoft Outlook 2003 and higher
Excel RTD servers and Automation Add-ins
- Microsoft Excel 2002 and higher
XLLs
- Microsoft Excel 2000 and higher
Supported IDEs and programming languages
Supported languages
- Visual Basic .NET 2003, 2005, 2008
- Visual C# .NET 2003, 2005, 2008
- Visual C++ .NET 2003, 2005, 2008
- Delphi Prism 2009
- Beta support for Visual Basic 2010
- Beta support for Visual C# 2010
- Beta support for Visual C++ .NET 2010
.NET Framework
- .NET Framework 2.0 and higher
IDE
- Visual Studio 2008 Standard, Professional, Team System
- Visual Basic .NET 2008 Express
- Visual C# .NET 2008 Express
- Visual Studio 2005 Standard, Professional, Team System
- Visual Basic .NET 2005 Express
- Visual C# .NET 2005 Express
- Visual Studio 2003 Standard, Professional, Enterprise
- Delphi Prism 2009
- Beta support for Visual Studio 2010
