When I started writing my first Azure app, one of the first issues I ran into was dealing with Azure storage -- I couldn't figure out how to set it up in my code so I could use it. I found this nice article about how to structure your connection strings...

This will be, in restaurant parlance, a "soft opening": no fanfare, we'll see if anyone notices. If there are any followers of this blog -- and considering my last post was three years ago, I find that highly unlikely -- you will notice I've changed some...

There have been spurious reports in the media saying that VBA is dead. Caused quite a firestorm around here as you might imagine -- 'cause it just plain isn't true. There is an official statement on the VSTO blog here: \ http://blogs.msdn.com/vsto2...

Good news here -- for me especially :). The demo code from my VSTO Architecture talk at TechEd and in the recent MSDN WebCast is already (mostly) posted here. My colleague Andrew Whitechapel had written the WPF Control and the WCF service that I used...

Geez, I'm looking at this blog, and I'm realizing I've only posted once this year, and that post said I would post more often. What a lame-o! Since my last post I have been busy. I've spoken at two TechEds -- in the US in Orlando and in Europe in Barcelona...

And out of the dark... I've been dark for a while now, time to come out and let you know what's been going on. I've been heads down writing code for VSTO v3 and VSTA v2 due to release -- hopefully, no promises -- later this year. The new version of...

VSTA has been officially released now, in InfoPath in the 2007 Office System, and for use by third parties in the VS SDK. So we're getting our first batch of feature requests. Far and away the biggest request so far is generic support. Admittedly, generic...

Office 2007 is official today, so it is time to update my Form Region Sample. The big difference is new methods on the _FormRegionStartup interface. With input from us here in VSTO, Outlook changed the interface to make it easier to use from VSTO addins...

I've finally finished my Form Region Sample for Outlook 2007 that was promised. I've been working on it in earnest for a couple weeks now in my spare time. I am now resisting the urge to continue tweaking it: it is time to lockdown and ship. The urge...

It's good to be home. But we had a great time in Europe and learned a ton. The best thing I learned is that ISVs are using VSTO and using it well. Hopefully they learned from us as well. I have nothing but good things to say about the Frontline program...

It has been almost two weeks now since I arrived in Europe. As noted, I had hoped to blog more, but with all of the working, sight-seeing, eating, drinking and travelling -- not to mention very intermittent internet availability -- I haven't really had...

Wow, I can't beleive that it has been more than two months since I posted, but the numbers don't lie. It has been an eventful summer. We've been working like dogs on new features that you will be hearing about in the fullness of time. I also had a nice...

I've been working on this on and off since TechEd. I had a customer ask if it was possible to use WPF (formerly Avalon) in a VSTO Custom Task Pane. It is possible, and we're dealing with CTP (Community Technical Preview) releases on top of beta releases...

I'm doing a "chalk-talk" today at TechEd -- at 3:45 in DEV (Blue area) Theatre 1 in the TLC. The listed subject is Designing Managed Add-ins for Reliability, Security and Versioning, the same subject of the talk Jim and I did at PDC. I've refined the...

Mike Hernandez and I are speaking today (3:15 in room 153) about VSTO 'v3' and what we are doing with Office 2007. We'll be showing several demos of the new programmability features enabled by the next version of VSTO in Office 2007. VSTO 'v3' will release...

One of the biggest complaints we had on the February CTP of VSTO v3 was that you couldn't run your VSTO 2005 customizations in Office 2007. I'm happy to say we fixed that problem in the latest CTP for June. What this means is that when you get the...

So many of you have noticed that we got a little surprised by WinFX Beta2. The June Customer Technical Preview (CTP) of VSTO 'v3' requires February CTP of the WinFX Runtime Components along with Beta 2 of Office 2007. Well those Windows guys went and...

TechEd in Boston is only a couple weeks away now. Unfortunately, if you haven't already registered, it looks like it is too late -- already sold out. But for those of you who are going, I will be there with some collegues on the VSTO\VSTA team. I will...

Those of you who have been following my blog will note that I have retroactively added some categories. I hadn't bothered with categories in the past because almost all of my posts have been about MAF. Well, now that MAF is a real thing, we (meaning...

Geez, did I make you wait long enough!?! I have been remiss, hopefully I will have time to do this more regularly. Those of you with kids know how time can evaporate. Anyway, I've promised a post on Adapters for months now, so here it is finally. As...

We are hiring! Would you like to help realize the vision of Office as a development platform? Do you want your work integrated into every one of the hundreds of millions of desktops that have Office installed? Are you looking for a role where you...

Just a quick note to reinforce the announcement of the VSTA SDK Community Technical Preview. This CTP contains all of the MAF pieces and more. Feel free to download it and play around with managed addins! All of the info you need about how to get it...

I'm sure that everyone's reaction to the contract concept is that it is very strict, that it can get complicated quickly, and that it is important to get it right and keep it right. In other words, you don't want just anyone partying in the contract space...

I just noticed my last post was from October. How time flies once we get to the Holiday season. I spent time in the Midwest and the East Coast, and am now back in full swing here in sunny Redmond. Apparently it didn't rain yesterday, and our 27 day streak...

I know its been a while, but I've been busy coding lately. That code will become public fairly soon, so I'll talk about it then. I'm still working on the promised Proxies and Adapters post, it will be coming, I promise. But in the meantime, the subject...