by on March 23, 2008

Correcting the Excel Visual Studio Design-Time Adapter Error

While working to complete a project yesterday, I received this message after opening a VSTO Excel project:

VSTOAdaptorError_thumb

I used my search engine of choice to search for “Excel Visual Studio Design-Time Adapter” and received only a few results (< 3 pages and only the first 2-3 were relevant). Uggh.

Microsoft has an article that discusses the issue but I didn’t have any of the problems they mention.

I did see two comments somewhere that mentioned re-installing Visual Studio or Office will correct the problem. Repairing my VS installation didn’t do it but repairing Office did.

So if you have the nasty “Excel Visual Studio Design-Time Adapter” (or “Word Visual Studio Design-Time Adapter”) error, just repair your Office installation.

Filed Under: Excel, Office Development, VSTO
by on March 14, 2008 Leave a Comment

Random Round-Up of Interesting Stuff

Just some stuff I have found while trying to get a few things done this week. You might find these items interesting…or you might not.

CKS:EBE Stuff

I’m working on implement CKS:EBE here at OfficeDeveloper.NET. I like it, except that when I apply a template, none of my posts show. The dang PostList.XSL craps out somewhere. I haven’t had time to figure out why. If you anyone out there has a suggestion, I wouldn’t mind knowing about it.

Anyways, I found these links helpful.

Intro to EBE :  a nice intro to the CKS:EBE

EBE resources : lots of links to CKS:EBE content

Building a blog host  :step-by-step walk-through covering how to create a SharePoint blog and activate CKS:EBE

 

Other Interesting Stuff

Along the way I ran across the following tools. Some I have installed, some I haven’t. But they all have me thinking they could be useful.

MSDN Gallery

Visual Studio Gallery : yet another site to find .NET code.

SharePoint List DataTable : retrieve SharePoint data

VS Power Commands : some commands I wish were included in Visual Studio

Filed Under: .NET, SharePoint
by on March 10, 2008 Leave a Comment

LINQ for SharePoint Looks Promising

I am working on an application that involves integrating SharePoint data with Outlook & Excel. I love LINQ and wondered if someone happened to already produced some LINQ to SharePoint tools. A quick search found a great tool built by Bart De Smet. His tool is a available at CodePlex. Here is a summary of the features (straight from the CodePlex site):

  • Custom query provider that translates LINQ queries to CAML, the Collaborative Application Markup Language used by SharePoint for querying.
  • Support for LINQ in C# 3.0 and Visual Basic 9.0.
  • Entity creation tool SpMetal to export SharePoint list definitions to entity classes used for querying.
  • Visual Studio 2008 integration for entity creation (a.k.a. SPML).
  • Can connect to a SharePoint site either using the SharePoint object model or via the SharePoint web services.
  • Planned support for updating through entity types.

Setup was involved running an .msi file and it worked flawlessly. After a bit of trouble related to Lookup fields in SharePoint, I was able to add a LinqToSharePoint class to my VSTO project, choose the desired lists from my site, and create the LINQ class.

Regarding the trouble with Lookup fields, all I can say is if you select a list that has lookup fields, be sure to choose the list(s) that contain the lookup values.

 

 

Filed Under: .NET, SharePoint
by on March 6, 2008 Leave a Comment

Some Setup Required (re: Code from Outlook Session at ODC)

 wrench_thumbIt has come to my attention that the sample code I posted from my Outlook session at ODC 2008 does not compile. Well, all I have to say is that it does compile…as long as you have all the components.

The project utilizes a a couple of 3rd Party controls. So before compiling, install the following:

  1. The Krypton Toolkit from Component Factory. This is a free toolkit and I think it rocks for building compelling UIs for Office Business Applications. In my sample code I use the Krypton Header control.
  2. The Telerik RadControls for Winform. These controls are not free but you can obtain a trial version. In my sample code, I use the Telerik RadChart control.

Once you install both of these components, the code should be good to go.

Filed Under: Conferences, Office Development, Outlook, Samples
by on March 6, 2008 Leave a Comment

Enhanced Blogging with SharePoint

cks_Ebe I gave the beta versions of the Community Kit for SharePoint: Enhanced Blog Edition 2.0 (CKS:EBE) a try and decided to wait for the final release before implementing on OfficeDeveloper.NET. Who knows when I will have time but I will take a stab at implementing CKS:EBE over the next week…and I hope to avoid using one of the available themes for more than a month. I will build my own design. Maybe during a conference call or two.

I’ll post any interesting updates (i.e. issues that I had to overcome)

 

Also…I am not certain but I think the official name for CKS:EBE might be longer than VSTO’s official name.

Filed Under: SharePoint
by on March 1, 2008 Leave a Comment

10 Solutions Every SharePoint Developer Should Know How to Create

After working on the CodePlex Features project, it became clear to me how SharePoint developers need solid solution examples they can draw on. This became the kernel of an idea to create a set of "Top 10" features that are used across a wide variety of SharePoint projects.

Go here to read the rest:
10 Solutions Every SharePoint Developer Should Know How to Create

Filed Under: Business Intelligence, SharePoint, Windows Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,