September 2006 - Posts

posted Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:57 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Forthcoming Security Event

Just a quick plug for an interesting developer security event running soon at Microsoft's UK offices in Reading.  It's called "Implementing Security in the Software Application Lifecycle" and it happens on 12th October 2006. For full details, and Read More
posted Sunday, September 24, 2006 2:07 AM by martin :: 2 Comments

Top Tip for Charging MP3 Players

The other day, Mike and I were bemoaning the fact that our MP3 players had no specific charger, and that we have to plug them into a PC to keep them charged up.  Since then, I've made an amazing discovery (which may well have been obvious to all Read More
posted Thursday, September 21, 2006 10:10 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Office 2007 and WCF Services

I built a service using Windows Communication Foundation, and then consumed it from a Custom Take Pane in Powerpoint 2007.  I expected the client-side of that to be problematical, chiefly because of WCF's predilection for config files.  I needn't Read More
posted Thursday, September 21, 2006 6:11 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Office 2007 Custom Task Panes

In Office 2003 we had the idea of Action Panes.  They're the docking dialogs that appear at the side of your Office application's main window, and were bound to specific documents. Office 2007 applications support Custom Task Panes, which look similar Read More
posted Wednesday, September 20, 2006 9:57 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Transparency in Office 2007 Ribbon Images

You can quite easily provide your own images to be used inside controls when you extend the Ribbon, see this earlier post about transforming them into IPictureDisp format.  I created my own image, using the latest CTP of Expression Graphic Designer, Read More
posted Tuesday, September 19, 2006 5:15 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Outlook 2007 Form Region Add-ins

With Outlook 2007 it's possible to define a piece of UI that appears inside Outlook's inspector windows, either for all items or just for items of a specific type (such as messages or appointments).  We call these UI extensions Form Regions.  Read More
posted Friday, September 15, 2006 8:48 AM by martin :: 1 Comments

Office 2007 Ribbon Extensibility - Qualified IDs

In the xml for a Ribbon extension, you can give each control an ID, which is just a simple textual string that uniquely identifies the control within that extension.  You can refer to those IDs in order to position other controls before or after, Read More
posted Friday, September 15, 2006 7:15 AM by martin :: 1 Comments

Images for the Ribbon

I might have been a little harsh in my earlier post about loading images into Ribbon controls.  It turns out that it's not so easy to find an example for converting managed images, bitmaps, etc. into IPictureDisp format.  Here's a sample implementation, Read More
posted Thursday, September 14, 2006 11:14 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Help with Attachments

This is such a simple idea, I'm sure somebody must have done it before.  I don't know about you, but occasionally I'll send an email where I intended to attach a file, but I hit "send" without adding the attachment first.  It's no big deal, Read More
posted Thursday, September 14, 2006 11:11 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Office Beta2 Technical Refresh plus VSTO 2005 SE

Announced a short time ago, download here... http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx Also, the beta of Visual Studio Tools for Office 2005, Second Edition.  Download here... http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5012A573-0D84-4E39-983C-CA22F2107B07&displaylang=e Read More
posted Thursday, September 14, 2006 9:50 AM by martin :: 2 Comments

Office 2007 Ribbon Extensibility - Loading Images

When you extend the ribbon in an Office 2007 application, there are a number of different ways for your code to supply images for the controls in your extension.  In an attempt to enumerate them all, I've listed some xml fragments below with Read More
posted Thursday, September 14, 2006 4:49 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Office 2007 Developer Events in the UK

We're running some new events for Office 2007 development in the near future... 11-October-2006 - Office 2007 Developer Features - Server (London) 19-October-2006 - Office 2007 Developer Features - Client (Reading) Click on the links for more Read More
posted Wednesday, September 13, 2006 6:10 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Office 2007 Developer Resources

This post is a list of useful resources for developers working with the 2007 Microsoft Office System and Visual Studio Tools for Office.  It's not everything, not by a long chalk, but it's a start :-) Custom Task Panes http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=197654 Read More
posted Wednesday, September 13, 2006 5:46 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Expression Web Beta 1

Microsoft Expression Web Designer has undergone a radical name change.  Henceforth it shall be known as Microsoft Expression Web :-) The good news is that Beta 1 has just been posted. Microsoft Expression Page Download Expression Web Beta 1 I've Read More
posted Tuesday, September 12, 2006 9:36 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

October Windows Vista Security Events

On the 10th of October I'll be participating in a couple of events at Microsoft's offices, Thames Valley Park, Reading. We're talking about the security features of Windows Vista, including User Account Control (UAC) and Windows Cardspace.  Read More
posted Tuesday, September 05, 2006 2:07 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Another MSDN Roadshow Re-run

For what I expect to be the last time, we will be re-running the MSDN Roadshow for anyone that wanted to attend but couldn't.  The date is 26th September, and the venue is Microsoft's offices at Thames Valley Park, Reading. For more information, Read More
posted Friday, September 01, 2006 5:30 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Windows Live Writer

I've been using this new tool for my last few posts.  It's currently in Beta, but working well for me.  Check out the team blog (and download the tool) here. Read More
posted Friday, September 01, 2006 2:09 AM by martin :: (Comments Off)

Developer Security Event

I have been known to speak on this topic myself, but this time I'll be there just as an attendee.  If you can be in London on 21st September, you could do worse than sign up for this free event being held at Microsoft's offices, Great Pulteney Street. Read More