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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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

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Make SharePoint 2007 Act Like SharePoint 2010 (sort of …)

I’m pretty sure every SharePoint enthusiast has seen those great Sneak Peek videos Microsoft released some time ago. And I’m sure that lots of the new features shown were very exciting for lots of you. Since SharePoint 2010 is still quite far away in the future, let’s try to bring some of the 2010 stuff to SharePoint 2007! In the overview video , Tom Rizzo showed some new user interface functionality, pretty much all of it was heavily using asynchronous Javascript code to dynamically do updates, change layouts etc

Read more from the original source:
Make SharePoint 2007 Act Like SharePoint 2010 (sort of …)

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Embedding an Open XML File in another Open XML File

A couple of weeks ago I gave a presentation on the Open XML SDK to a few customers, where I was asked questions on how to embed files within Open XML documents. I thought it would be a good opportunity to devote a couple of posts around this topic. In today’s post I am going to show you how to embed an Open XML file in another Open XML file

Original post: 
Embedding an Open XML File in another Open XML File

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Microsoft warns of Google Apps Sync for Outlook issue

Microsoft has responded, sort of, to Google's delivery of a free Exchange migration tool for Outlook users by trying to poke holes in the end result. More specifically, the company claims that the tool has a "bug/flaw" that causes Outlook search to stop working. Obviously, the solution is to stop using Outlook, but I'll let Google communicate that.

Read the rest here: 
Microsoft warns of Google Apps Sync for Outlook issue

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Implement the Ribbon UI in Windows Forms

Some of us Excel developers like the Ribbon UI while others find it more difficult to work with it. No matter what we developers think about it exist a growing number of clients requiring that the Ribbon UI to be implemented in .NET based Excel solutions. Microsoft offers no controls that can be used to implement any Ribbon UI solution so we are forced to decide which third-party controls package to be used.  Of cause, most large vendors, such as Component One et al, offer components that can be used but they can be rather expensive.  DotNetBar from DevComponents is an inexpensive controls package including controls for the Ribbon UI.  I have been using the package for a while in clients solutions. DotNetBar includes 47 controls whereof some controls allow us to create a Ribbon UI in Windows Forms

See original here:
Implement the Ribbon UI in Windows Forms

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Synchronize with SharePoint under the hood

Recently I was asked the following question: I am looking to get an understanding of the internal operations during an Access 2007 synchronize execution. I have just been exposed to a SharePoint MOSS and Access 2007 environment where at times the normal sync time goes from 7-minutes to around an hour. I am taking the side of “network bandwidth” as the reason and not the side of “data quantity” as the root cause for the increased time.

The rest is here:
Synchronize with SharePoint under the hood

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More Open XML Solution Tools

While I finish up another blog solution, this time on importing a table from Word into Excel, I thought I would share some information on two useful tools you guys can leverage when building Open XML solutions. The first tool I want to talk about is the next release of PowerTools for Open XML. PowerTools for Open XML is an open source project on CodePlex , which is entirely based on version 1 of the Open XML SDK.

Here is the original: 
More Open XML Solution Tools

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New Site aggregates SharePoint Developer Topics…

Microsoft has a new site that helps you get started using SharePoint in your development efforts. The site aggregates virtual labs, webcasts, white papers, tutorials and other related content. Instead of searching everywhere for good code to steal, you can go to this site and find what you need to get started with SharePoint development

The site covers the foundational topics of SharePoint development such as:

• building Web Parts
• working with SharePoint Data Lists
• creating custom Workflows
• creating Event Handlers
• Designing custom Themes (or Brands)
• using SharePoint Web Services
• creating custom Content types
• and more (i.e. Silverlight, page navigation, user management, etc)

The site reminds me of the Interactive Developer Map (IDM) available at the Office Developer Portal. The IDM highlights what you can do with WPF while also providing a tool that aggregates content related to Office development (i.e. VSTO, SharePoint, & more).

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Enhanced Blogging with SharePoint

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Classic Menus for Office 2007 – For Those Who Do Not Like Change

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