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Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification (XPS) Essentials Pack has been released. The Essentials Pack contains XPS technologies that are based on the Win32 API. This pack is supported on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2000 SP4.

This beta release of the Essentials Pack contains:

  • Shell extensions for inspecting and changing XPS Document properties in Windows Explorer
  • A stand-alone XPS Document Viewer

Anyone can take advantage of the simple, clean, extensible features of the XPS Document format to build useful and practical technologies. We built the Essentials Pack with an independent parser and renderer on Win32 platforms to provide XPS viewing on Windows 2000 and Windows systems without the WinFX Runtime Components. This is a great validation that independent XPS implementations are possible.

Your feedback is very valuable in shaping the future of these technologies, so please keep it coming, and stay tuned for future updates! You can provide feedback by emailing XPSinfo@microsoft.com or by joining the community in the XPS Developers Forum of MSDN. For ongoing updates on XPS technologies, visit us on this blog and at http://www.microsoft.com/xps.

Install the Essentials Pack at: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/viewxps.mspx

Published Wednesday, April 05, 2006 4:10 PM by xps

Comments

Thursday, April 06, 2006 3:33 AM by aba_mancom

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

Does this pack install only on US/English language systems? It does not work on my German XP installation; the setup program shows an error message saying that the language installed on my system is different from the update language.
Thursday, April 06, 2006 3:51 AM by aba_mancom

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

Ah. Sorry. Excuse my comment and feel free to delete it. I read the line about the languages in the beta1 limitations just a second after I had hit "Submit".
Thursday, April 06, 2006 4:21 PM by Tim Sneath

# XPS Standalone Viewer Now Available

XPS is the fixed format document technology that ships in Windows Presentation Foundation. It's a specification...
Thursday, April 06, 2006 10:41 PM by KJK::Hyperion

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

no worky. The stand-alone viewer just gives me "Cannot add font resource" errors when viewing guidedtour.xps. The shell extension seems to work, altough it's so subtle and well-integrated I didn't even notice at first :-)

This is on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
Friday, April 07, 2006 5:17 AM by MichaelG

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

Is the WPS print driver available yet?  Is it just a Vista thing or will it be available for XP and earlier?  I'd like to convert some Word docs to XPS so that I can reference them as resources from my WPF app.

Thanks
Michael
Thursday, May 04, 2006 8:19 AM by Pabs

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

Works fine on XP SP2 English

Runs much better the the IE embedded viewer
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 10:34 AM by deINO

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

dosen't works @ XP SP2 Polish..

blame all new standards...
Thursday, February 22, 2007 8:12 AM by DFBew

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

I upgraded my XP SP2 to Vista and remnants of XPS Beta 1 are still on the PC, preventing me from working with xps docuemnts.  Getting error that the Beta is expired.

Thursday, April 17, 2008 6:19 PM by Bill Milosz

# re: Beta 1 of the XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack released to Web!

Can't download the XPS ESSENTIALS PACK, there IS NO DOWNALOAD for the "ESSENTIALS PACK" - isn't there some way to open an XPS document on Windows 2000????

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