OfficeDeveloper.NET» Tool

Build a Collapsible Task Pane in Outlook – Part 2

Ty Anderson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:02:52 +0000

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.

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

Staff — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:19:00 +0000

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 …)

Embedding an Open XML File in another Open XML File

Staff — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:26:00 +0000

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

Microsoft warns of Google Apps Sync for Outlook issue

Staff — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:27:10 +0000

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

Implement the Ribbon UI in Windows Forms

Staff — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:45:31 +0000

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

Synchronize with SharePoint under the hood

Staff — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:46:00 +0000

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

New Site aggregates SharePoint Developer Topics…

Ty Anderson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:53:53 +0000

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).

Enhanced Blogging with SharePoint

Ty Anderson — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:12:40 +0000

I use SharePoint as my blogging engine. It makes sense as almost every project my company delivers these days involve SharePoint or are completely based upon SharePoint. Create a blog in SharePoint is easy and it is the main reason my blog is a SharePoint-based blog. It works for me.

Still, if I could change only one thing about the SharePoint blog tools it would be the ease of customizing the blog design. I know, I can use SharePoint designer to modify the page and apply my own custom skin. After a long day of performing such tasks for my client, I have to admit I don’t want to do the same for myself. I want it to be easier. I would rather focus on writing a blog entry that you would find valuable than mess with my blog’s design.

The announcement that the Enhanced Blog Edition (EBE) has reached beta 2 and is now feature complete has me cautiously optimistic that my life will improve. Here are the features provided by this tool (with the those that interest me most in bold format):

Easily deployable solution file (.WSP) with Features that can be activivated or deactivated
Modular Theme Framework ("MTF") with optional "night time" autoswitch themelet
Protection for anonymous access to ‘System Pages’. This means anonymous users cannot access /lists/.aspx, /forms/.aspx, /_layouts/*.aspx
MetaBlogApi working a bit better…You will need to create a Picture/Document library called Media for it to upload images.
Support for Akismet comment spam detection
Multiple categories/tags can be mapped to each blog entry/post
Anonymous comments can be moderated
Name and URL fields in comments
Friendly URL ("FURL") for the blog’s posts
Friendly URL for the blog’s RSS feed
Support for CKS:TagCloud web part (being released separately)
Configurable settings
- Enable content caching
- Enable post triming (Vince, can you add a number field to set the # of characters?)
- Lock down system pages
- Akismet key
- Set specific blog theme (as the default)
- Custom RSS feed (e.g. from Feedburner)
- Enable Theme Selector (so users can select their own theme)
- Redirect the Post.aspx page (Vince, what’s this for?)

Hopefully I will find some time to mess with EBE and dramatically improve the image of officedeveloper.net. Nothing against the default SharePoint look…it’s just a bit stale for me.

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

Ty Anderson — Tue, 29 May 2007 04:41:43 +0000

I love Office 2007′s Ribbon menu system as it has made my efforts to author spreadsheets, documents, and presentations less painful. Granted it did take about 2-3 hours total to become accustomed to how the Ribbon switches to present buttons specifically related to the task I want to accomplish (i.e. formatting a table, working with data, etc.).

The only time I really became frustrated was the first time I tried to create a Pivot Table in Excel. In previous Excel versions, Pivot Table commands resided in the Data menu of the main Menu Bar. Office 2007 has a Data panel on the Ribbon. I must have spent 15 minutes looking for anything Pivot Table related on the Ribbon’s data pane before I became enraged enough to consider other options.

That’s when I took a look at the Insert pane and found the Insert Pivot Table button. Whatever….I still like the Ribbon. Overall it is a superior design to previous Office menu versions.

I know not everyone agrees. I know many don’t like the Ribbon. I know that, even further, some simply hate the Ribbons. I am sure there are many reasons for this but I am sure they will all boil down to the fact it forces you to change and learn a new way of doing things. I know, I know! Change is hard and sometimes scary but when it comes to the new Ribbon you now have a choice.

If you think the Ribbon is horrible or so frustrated that you find yourself rocking in the fetal position underneath the desk in your cubicle, repeating to yourself, "If only they had left the damn Data menu the same!" over and over again….then I suggest you check out Classic Menus from Addintools.com.

This add-in will embed the Office classic menus onto new Ribbon pane appropriately named Menu.

I don’t use it but the screenshots look like this tool just might be a winner for those of you that see absolutely nothing wrong with keeping things they way the are (even if the new way might be teensy weensy bit more productive).

I’m just saying.