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Visual Studio 2005: Tools for Office

with expert Jan Fransen


Course at a glance

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  • Dev & IT Pro Power Pack

Release date 5/17/2006
Level Intermediate
Runtime 6h 47m
Closed captioning N/A
Transcript N/A
eBooks / courseware Included
Hands-on labs Included
Sample code Included
Exams Included
Platform Internet Explorer Only


Enterprise Solutions

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Course description

This course is designed for developers who want to develop solutions based on Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Excel 2003, or Microsoft Outlook 2003. You will learn about the types of solutions you can create with Visual Studio Tools for Office, understand how work with the Office object models, find out how to create your own user interface through Windows forms or the Actions pane, learn about deploying your solutions to end-user computers, and much more.

Meet the expert

Jan Fransen has been working to educate people in the best ways to use Microsoft products for more than 15 years. She's written both data-based and document-based applications for large and small companies and has helped hundreds of Office users and developers get started on the right foot through public and onsite training classes. As a writer, Jan has developed training courseware, contributed to books on Microsoft Office, written white papers for publication on MSDN, and created samples designed to help developers get up to speed quickly on new Microsoft products and features.

Course outline



Module 1

Getting Started (26:26)
  • Introduction (03:19)
  • Types of Office Solutions (01:05)
  • Visual Studio Tools for Office (00:53)
  • VSTO - Part of VS Family (00:45)
  • What's Included in VSTO? (01:09)
  • Development Language (00:36)
  • VSTO Prerequisites (01:04)
  • Checking Your Installation (01:20)
  • Create a VSTO Project (04:37)
  • What the Project Created (01:37)
  • Document Changes (00:55)
  • The Assembly (00:59)
  • Behind the Scenes (01:42)
  • Added References (02:21)
  • Other Events (02:35)
  • Summary (01:22)
Object Models (22:04)
  • Introduction (01:33)
  • The Application Object (00:46)
  • Req. for Automation Solutions (00:49)
  • Automation Solution Demo (05:02)
  • Properties and Methods (02:11)
  • Member Objects (01:07)
  • Add a Document Demo (02:08)
  • Responding to Events (03:39)
  • Threads (02:39)
  • Summary (02:07)
Word Object Model (18:24)
  • Introduction (00:43)
  • Using Word Objects (00:59)
  • ActiveDocument (00:43)
  • Word Object Model Demo (04:18)
  • Word's Range Object (01:39)
  • Range Object Demo (02:33)
  • Insert a Range (03:48)
  • Insert Methods of a Range (02:37)
  • Summary (01:01)

Module 2

Excel Object Model (30:43)
  • Introduction (00:48)
  • Working with Excel Objects (01:08)
  • ActiveWorkbook & This... (00:25)
  • ActiveSheet (01:10)
  • ExcelObjectModel Demo (03:33)
  • ActiveCell and Selection (02:31)
  • Selection in Charts (02:39)
  • Excel Ranges (00:36)
  • CurrentRegion (02:44)
  • The Item Property (03:50)
  • Working with a Sub-Range (02:48)
  • Chart Object (00:58)
  • Use the Macro Recorder (05:34)
  • Summary (01:53)
Outlook Object Model (14:14)
  • Introduction (00:39)
  • Navigating Outlook Objects (00:31)
  • E-Mailing with CreateItem (04:55)
  • Add a Contact (01:21)
  • Navigating Folders (00:24)
  • NameSpace Object (00:20)
  • Moving Items in Folders (04:43)
  • Summary (01:19)

Module 3

C# Techniques (32:09)
  • Introduction (00:56)
  • Optional Parameters (01:15)
  • Using Opt. Param. in Code (03:25)
  • Arguments by Reference (02:12)
  • Word Arguments by Ref (01:41)
  • Close Event (00:54)
  • Accessors in PIAs (00:58)
  • Parameterized Properties (04:34)
  • Variant Parameters (01:20)
  • Styles.get_Item (02:45)
  • Accessing File Dialogs (04:43)
  • Late-Bound Members (01:14)
  • Using Reflection (05:21)
  • Summary (00:45)
Creating Add-Ins (50:32)
  • Introduction (01:20)
  • Automation Add-In (07:47)
  • Automation Walkthrough (03:32)
  • COM Add-Ins (00:57)
  • Excel COM Add-In (07:03)
  • Providing a User Interface (06:58)
  • Get & Print Sheets (09:22)
  • COM Add-In Downside (01:20)
  • Check for Attachment (10:12)
  • Summary (01:57)

Module 4

Code-Behind Solutions (51:21)
  • Introduction (00:43)
  • Code-Behind Templates (00:31)
  • Code-Behind Classes (00:43)
  • Code-Behind Architecture (00:41)
  • The Assembly (00:42)
  • Create Code-Behind Solution (08:08)
  • Add a WinForm to the UI (16:26)
  • Settings (07:01)
  • Add WinForm Controls (05:16)
  • Host Controls (01:40)
  • Excel Host Control (04:11)
  • Word Host Control (04:33)
  • Summary (00:40)
Working with Actions Pane (33:02)
  • Introduction (01:55)
  • Introducing the Actions Pane (00:59)
  • Build an Actions Pane in Code (02:47)
  • Running the Actions Pane (01:13)
  • Adding Multiple Controls (14:01)
  • Context Sensitive Actions Pane (05:53)
  • Writing Event Code (02:43)
  • Custom Action Pane Available (02:35)
  • Summary (00:53)

Module 5

VS Data Sources (43:39)
  • Introduction (01:33)
  • Objects You Need to Know (00:53)
  • DataSets and DataTables (00:20)
  • TableAdapters (00:42)
  • Create a SQL Data Source (05:30)
  • Binding Data to Host Controls (09:50)
  • DataTables and Fill Methods (03:03)
  • Configure Data Source (10:23)
  • Adding Order Details (07:28)
  • Add Custom Formatting (03:10)
  • Summary (00:43)
Data Binding in Word (20:22)
  • Introduction (00:38)
  • Sample Solution (03:50)
  • Replace Bookmarks with Data (03:57)
  • 1st Iteration of the Solution (03:45)
  • Add a DataGridView (02:08)
  • Creating an Actions Pane (05:01)
  • Summary (01:00)

Module 6

Deployment (37:03)
  • Introduction (01:21)
  • Deployment Models (01:27)
  • End-User's Computer (01:56)
  • Walking Through Deployment (03:27)
  • Security & Office Solutions (05:16)
  • Move/Rename Deployed Docs (01:53)
  • Edit the Application Manifest (06:18)
  • Change User Trust Perm. (01:39)
  • Deploying Changes (03:56)
  • Deploy Asm. to Shared Folder (01:40)
  • Strong Name (05:21)
  • DLL Version Info (02:25)
  • Summary (00:19)
Publish Wizard (27:00)
  • Introduction (00:51)
  • Publish Wizard Overview (04:55)
  • Updating with Publish Wizard (01:54)
  • Assembly Update Recap (00:39)
  • Deploy an Outlook Add-In (07:29)
  • Network Deployment (09:31)
  • Change Network Deployment (01:01)
  • Summary (00:38)