Microsoft has already added this functionality to its own Live Hotmail online service. Users can read, edit and share Microsoft Office documents without ..
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Facebook about to launch email service
How Do I: Create a List Definition in Visual Studio 2010?
Lists for the basis of much of the functionality in SharePoint and the out-of-box lists cover various different types of functionality. In this video, Hilton Giesenow, host of The MOSS Show SharePoint podcast ( http://www.TheMossShow.com/ ) shows how to use Visual Studio 2010 to create your own list definition for use in your SharePoint sites as well as how to provision a list by default using your new list definition.
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How Do I: Create a List Definition in Visual Studio 2010?
Build a Collapsible Task Pane in Outlook – Part 2
In part 1 of this series I gave a (brief) overview of the Outlook Task Pane and provided a couple of links to articles on MSDN that explain how to build one.
Recap – 2 Problems with Task Panes within Outlook
Building a task pane and displaying it within Outlook is easy but as I mentioned in Part 1, there are a couple of problems:
- Managing the multiple Task Pane instances, attaching to the Explorer and Inspector windows, and destroying each task pane when its Explorer or Inspector windows closes can be a pain.
- The task pane you build does not come with an “collapse” button. You know, the button with a couple of chevrons pointing in the direction it will collapse? You have to add this functionality yourself. It can be done but there are easier methods.
This brings me back to the point of this series, Add-In-Express 2009 (ADX). This tool takes care of Issue #1 and. Issue #2. Yes, ADX costs a few bucks but it’s a time-saver and it reduces development effort. Either one of those is typically reason enough for me to purchase a tool (especially if the client is paying for it).
Quick Overview of the Design for the Collapsible Task Pane
By collapsible, I mean it can be "minimized" so that it resembles the collapsed state of the ToDo Bar. The task pane has a “collapse” button and resides between the mail preview window and the ToDO bar within Outlook Explorer windows.
Here is the design for the sample add-in I will build in Part 3:
The task pane displays exactly where it should. You can see the collapse button on the upper right-hand corner of the task pane. When the user clicks that button, they will see something like this image:
In this collapsed-state, only a vertical bar displays with an “expand” button. Clicking the expand button will return the task pane to its open state.
Preview of Part 3
Next-up, I’ll dig into the code and actually build the add-in. Also, I’ll decide on what to display within the task pane besides a lame button. Not to worry, I’ll think of something useful to put there and it will be code you can steal…put to use today.
Announcing the Release of the August 2009 CTP for the Open XML SDK
I’m really happy to announce the release of the 3 rd CTP for the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office ! So what did we do in this CTP? Well, there were three main improvements we made to the SDK: Add semantic level validation support Add markup compatibility/extensibility support General improvements based on your feedback Semantic Level Validation Support Let’s go back to the Open XML SDK architecture diagram I showed you when we first announced the Open XML SDK : As mentioned in a previous post , the April 2009 CTP of the Open XML SDK added schema level validation support for Office 2007 Open XML files
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Announcing the Release of the August 2009 CTP for the Open XML SDK
Add a Missing Feature to Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an incredible IDE. I hate working with any other editor simply because VS has turned me into a lazy developer. Still, for all its greatness VS has gaps in its functionality. Luckily, MSFT has exposed the VS API just like they have with Office.
Using this API you can add the killer feature you think VS needs to work the way you do. Even better, MSFT just released the VSIP Factory at http://www.codeplex.com/vsipfactory
This software factory creates the framework needed for a VS package. This allows you to worry less about how to connect your addin to VS and worry more about how to implement the required features.
I recommend taking a look. I also recommend visiting the Visual Studio Extensibility Portal hosted by Devx.com (http://www.devx.com/vstudioextensibility). This site highlights several products that integrate with VS and could provides good coverage as to the possibilities Visual Studio Extensibility offers.