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Introductions

Hi, so I thought I should introduce myself. I’m Kathleen McGrath and while this is my first blog, I have been blogging about VSTO for the past 3 years.  I really like VSTO, having come from a VBA developer background and I’m even more excited about it now that they have announced Cypress.  I’ve created a number of videos on how to use various features of VSTO, so I thought I’d provide a link to them in case you haven’t already seen them:

VSTO 2005 Videos

 

Locating and Deleting NamedRange Controls

Resizing Controls Within Worksheet Cells

Adding a User Control to a Document

Understanding Column and Row Order of Data-Bound List Objects

Resizing Excel Controls

Adding Controls to the Actions Pane

Setting the Stack Order of Controls on the Actions Pane

Changing Controls on the Actions Pane

Binding Data to Controls in Excel

Binding Data to Controls in Word

Adding Smart Tags to Documents

Working with Managed Controls

Working with Word Host Controls

 

VSTO 2005 "v3"March CTP

 

Creating a Custom Task Pane

Creating an Add-in for PowerPoint

Customizing the Ribbon

 

VSTO 2005 "v3" June CTP

 

Creating a Custom Task Pane

Customizing the Ribbon

 

If you have any feedback on these videos, or requests for videos you'd like to see, please let me know!

I’m also working on a book with co-author Paul Stubbs called Visual Studio Tools for Office for Mere Mortals. This book is designed for VBA developers who are thinking about moving to VSTO.  I plan to blog more about the book as we get closer to publishing.

--Kathleen

 

Published Saturday, June 10, 2006 5:47 PM by kmcgrath

Comments

# re: Introductions

Kathleen, I am soooooooooooooooooooo happy to see you blogging.

I've caught a couple of your older vsto vidoes elsewhere and now there is a whole treasure trove here.

Your videos hit great topics and are so easy to understand.

I know I will learn a lot here.

jack
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:49 AM by spy39

# Suggestions

Kathleen -

I am re-entering some programming after about 20 years.  My past experience was during the earliest days of personal computers when if one wanted a software application the chance was one would have to write the program; this was pre C/PM (or was that CP/M?).  My personal programming continued as a combination hobby and 'for work' use until OOP had just arrived and the readily available applications for my purposes, but professionally done.  It was fun though.

After reviewing what languages and compilers are now available I decided to jump in at the .NET level rather than learning what is slipping off the back end of the learning curve.  When I found Visual Express a few days ago I thought heaven occurred, only to discover that it won't work with MS Office (Excel & Word) for VBA, which was my original intention.  After scouting the internet for information about the various packages of MS Visual Languages, and getting a little confused as to what would suit my needs without overdoing it, I thought I would try your blog as the environment seemed friendly.  Anyway, I think I would like to have the text editor/compiler for MS Visual Basic that would allow me to do coding modules, primarily as refined macros, but as long as I'm having fun, why not have more fun and have the capability of coding some limited Windows applications if I get that industrious?  After seeing the magic that VSTO (Express Version) can produce I know I would be tempted to go a little higher;  I won't be working with anyone else (Team Versions), but I might try an application or two for a very small network (fewer than 5 people), and perhaps something built around a data base (is SQL appropriate for such a limited use, or would the size of the data base be more significant?).  Do you know which 'one(s)' of the MS Visual Basic products would be most suitable, or perhaps someothers who frequent this blog could suggest something.

Ron E

Friday, October 20, 2006 7:56 PM by roneaton

# re: Introductions

Hi Ron,

Welcome back to programming! For learning .NET, you should definitely take a look at Visual Basic Express and the documuntation that comes with it.  See the "Links" section of this blog. There are also a number of video tutorials available on MSDN (and I plan on producing some of these as well).    

If you want to create add-ins for Office (2003 or 2007), you can download VSTO 2005 SE for FREE -- but this will only work with Visual Studio Standard Edition or above (not Express). I think if your primary interest is in Office development, then you'll definitely want to take a look at VSTO. If you want to learn more about Windows programming, Visual Basic Express Edition will get you started. Why not start with the free download of Visual Basic Express to get your feet wet and learn about programing in Visual Basic .NET, learn about the IDE and the .NET Framework, etc. Then when you're more comfortable programming in .NET, think about upgrading to Visual Studio (and install VSTO).  I hope this helps!

--Kathleen

Friday, October 20, 2006 8:18 PM by kmcgrath

# re: Introductions

Kathleen -

Thank you for the quick response.  Your recommendations were running around in my head, but the impatience in me was saying 'do something now.'  What you have suggested is certainly the most constructive and logical of my options and that is what I will do.  "Build for the future!"

Thank you again.

Ron E

Saturday, October 21, 2006 2:41 PM by roneaton
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