I want to create an add-in (a ribbon precisely) for MS Excel by using Visual Studio C# 2010 Express. I have searched and read about it here and here and somewhere else. However, when I want to create a new project I don't see any template as described, I don't see even the Office tab. Is it because I am using the Express edition? I think it shouldn't be. Because in this official comparison they say all editions are capable of office development.
What can I do to develop this add-in?
According to this post on the MSDN forum, Visual Studio Tools for Office are not available in the Express edition. I'm not sure where you're reading that on the comparison page (a quick glance said nothing about the Express edition).
A good alternative to VSTO for making an Excel add-in with .NET is Excel-DNA (which I develop). It is a free library that integrates your .NET assembly with Excel using the C API (as an .xll add-in). You can create user-defined worksheet functions (UDFs) for Excel (which are not supported by VSTO), and make ribbons, RTD servers. And you get easy deployment (a single .xll file) without needing any registration or admin rights, even for ribbons and RTD servers.
Another option, if you just want to integrate through the COM interface and not make UDFs or use the specialized Excel features, is NetOffice. The project give you a version-independent set of interop assemblies for Office and Visio, and allows you to easily make add-ins targeting different versions of Office. NetOffice can also be used as your COM interop library in an Excel-DNA add-in.
Both of these directions will work fine under the Express editions of Visual Studio, as well as in the free SharpDevelop IDE.
Related
I am developing my first Outlook Add-In in C#. In Visual Studio I have the options to develop an "Outlook 2010 Add-in" or "Outlook 2013 Add-in" or probably an "Outlook 2016 Add-in".
This Add-In should work on one PC which runs currently Outlook 2010 but which I could upgrade to a newer version.
If I start to develop an "Outlook 2010 Add-in" will this also work in Outlook 2013 and 2016? Do I have to do something to make it work with different versions of Outlook?
My Add-In will check some details of the mails and depending on the details it will sort these mails. I guess that should work in all versions.
Is there a clear advantage of an 2013 or 2016 Add-In compared to 2010?
As mentioned in comments by #penleychan, targeting the latest version is a good thought. I did the same when I develop my VSTO addin. Most of the time I have used the common features of the Outlook and developed the addin with template version similar to the installed office (on my machine). Its easy to debug.
If the addin is going use specific feature(s) of a version of Office, then we should use that version template.
You may like to refer this link.
You can run your Office 2010 based solution in later Office versions. You just need to choose the right target .net version. Read more about that in the Running Solutions in Different Versions of Microsoft Office article.
Is there a clear advantage of an 2013 or 2016 Add-In compared to 2010?
The only benefit you get in that case - the PIAs version corresponding to the target Office version. That means you will get access to objects, methods, properties and events available in later Office versions. Anyway, at runtime you still can use the late-binding technology which allows accessing missed members at design-time. See Type.InvokeMember for more information.
I have used Shared Add In(C#) to develop an Excel Add-In. In the initialization, I had no problem with loading excel-dna file .xll on Office 2010. However, there is problem with running on either Office 2013 or 2016, showing that "function is Invalid".
AddIn udfAddIn = applicationObject.AddIns.Add(progID, true);//the exception is "AddIns is Invalid"
udfAddIn.Installed = load;
Please help me. I would like to know how it (.xll file) works on Office 2013 and 2016 by shared add in. Thanks!
You are mixing two different technologies when you make a Shared add-in (a COM add-in) with Excel-DNA. I'm surprised it worked with Excel 2010.
The best approach is to make a new Class Library project (targeting .Net Framework) and then install the ExcelDna.AddIn package from NuGet. Then follow the instructions in the readme file that pops up. You should have a starter add-in that works in both Excel versions.
The best place for Excel-DNA support is the Google group at https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/exceldna
What is best way and practics parsing excel files without using COM interop or OLEDB connection
You could use NetOffice, im currently using it in my project. Its pretty cool,
Code Sample for Excel
Features
Office integration without version limitations
All features of the Office versions 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 are included
Active support in version independent development (please scroll down)
Syntactically and semantically identical to the Microsoft Interop Assemblies
No training if you already know the Office object model, use your existing PIA code
Reduced and more readable code with automatic management of COM proxies
Usable with .NET version 2.0 or higher
Easy Addin Development
No deployment hurdles, no registration
No dependencies, no interop assemblies, no need for VSTO
Visual Studio Project Templates and Wizards available Photo Gallery
I have had good success with ClosedXML.
I am currently working on an Excel 2010 add-in which formerly was an Excel 2007 add-in.
Somewhere in the process of switching computers, the add-in was converted i think.
Some of my customers stated that the add-in wasn't working on Excel 2007 anymore so I tried to debug it in a VirtualBox with Excel 2007 and Visual Studio 2010 installed.
Now I get the Error Message:
You cannot debug or run this project, because the required version of the Microsft Office application is not installed.
I started a new Excel 2007 add-in project and tried to find what the differences are and came up with the idea that it somewhat has to do with the dll's so I changed my 2010 addin until it looked like an 2007 addin.
I still get the error message stating that my project can't be debugged.
Is there anything I could've forgotten to change.
Writing a completely new addin is unfortunately not an option.
These questions haven't helped me so far:
Excel Addin that works on Excel 2007 and 2010
Deploying Office 2010 addin
To get VS 2010 working with Office 2007 modify the project file (.csproj) so that it will open in Office 2007 and not look for Office 2010 when run (hence the error message above).
Here is the project settings change (Excel example):
Source XPath:
//Project/ProjectExtensions/VisualStudio/FlavorProperties/ProjectProperties/#DebugInfoExeName
Old Value (Office 2010):
DebugInfoExeName="#Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel\InstallRoot\Path#excel.exe"
New Value (Office 2007):
DebugInfoExeName="#Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\InstallRoot
\Path#excel.exe"
After changing this project setting, when you fire up the debugger (F5) it will load the Excel 2007 application instead of looking for Excel 2010.
Typically, when I am developing against multiple versions of Office with VSTO Add-ins, I have a project for each version of Office I am targeting. I put all common code between the projects into a single project (typically the oldest project) and use linked files, I add the common files to the newer projects. This allows me to write one set of common core code, abstracted from the requirements of each version of Office. This means I am no longer fighting the different ways VSTO is compiled for each version of Office. This can be made easier with shared folders and virtual machines, so I can develop and test without multiple computers. It is by no means graceful, but it works well for me. This should allow you to develop your VSTO Add-in against both Office 2007 and Office 2010 without much issue.
I want to use C# class methods in Excel. Can anybody guid me how to do it ?
The C# component will be excel add-in. How to create setup for this addin, so that I just need to give setup to user which will install add-in at client's machine. User should not need to do any other steps like registering the C# dll.
(Disclaimer: I develop the Excel-Dna library.)
You should have a look at Excel-Dna - http://excel-dna.net. The library allows managed assemblies written in C#, VB.NET or F# to expose high-performance user-defined functions (UDFs) and macros to Excel through the native .xll interface. The project is open-source and freely allows commercial use.
With Excel-Dna you can create a single .xll add-in file that the user can open as an add-in without any further installation or registration. Excel-Dna add-ins can expose RTD servers and customized Ribbons for Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 without additional registration, so you need no extra setup program.
You will need to create a new Visual Studio project of type Excel 2007 Add-In (or Excel 2003 Add-In). The option for this can be found (in Visual Studio 2008) at:
New Project dialog -> Project types -> Visual C# -> Office
This Add-In will need to be installed on the target machine(s).
The Add-In will be able to hook into the Excel object model and therefore access any loaded spreadsheets etc.
The Add-In will also be able to add buttons to the Excel toolbar/ribbon.
Try looking at VSTO, there's a section explicitly for Excel
You can create Excel projects within Visual Studio (previously known as Excel VSTO projects) or you can use a third party library such as ExcelDna.