Why Add-in Express?

119 Pages·2016·3.02 MB·English

by  Add-in Express Ltd

Add-in Express™

for Microsoft® Office and Delphi VCL
Add-in Exp ress for Office and VCL Add-in Express™ for Microsoft® Office and Delphi VCL

Add-in Express™ for Microsoft® Office and Delphi VCL
Developer's Guide
Revised on 16-May-16

Copyright © Add-in Express Ltd. All rights reserved.
Add-in Express, ADX Extensions, ADX Toolbar Controls, Afalina, AfalinaSoft and Afalina Software are trademarks or registered trademarks of Add-in Express
Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Outlook, and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. Borland and the Delphi logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ADD-IN EXPRESS LTD. MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BY
WAY OF EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, ADD-IN EXPRESS LTD. MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE LICENSED SOFTWARE, DATABASE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT
INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.
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Add-in Exp ress for Office and Delphi VCL Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Add-in Express™ for Microsoft® Office and Delphi VCL .................... 2

Introduction ......................................................................................... 6

Why Add-in Express? ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Add-in Express Products ............................................................................................................................................. 7
System Requirements .................................................................................................................................... 8
Supported Delphi Versions .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Host Applications ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Technical Support ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Installing and Activating............................................................................................................................... 11
Activation Basics ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
Setup Package Contents........................................................................................................................................... 11
Solving Installation Problems .................................................................................................................................... 12
Getting Started .................................................................................. 13

Your First Microsoft Office COM Add-in ..................................................................................................... 14
A Bit of Theory .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Step #1 – Creating a COM Add-in Project ................................................................................................................. 15
Step #2 – COM Add-in Module ................................................................................................................................. 16
Step #3 – COM Add-in Designer ............................................................................................................................... 18
Step #4 – Adding a New Command Bar.................................................................................................................... 18
Step #5 – Adding a New Command Bar Button ........................................................................................................ 19
Step #6 – Accessing Host Application Objects .......................................................................................................... 20
Step #7 - Customizing Main Menus .......................................................................................................................... 21
Step #8 – Customizing Context Menus ..................................................................................................................... 22
Step #9 – Handling Host Application Events ............................................................................................................. 23
Step #10 – Customizing the Office Ribbon User Interface ........................................................................................ 24
Step #11 – Adding Custom Task Panes in Excel 2000-2016 .................................................................................... 25
Step #12 – Adding Custom Task Panes for PowerPoint 2000-2016 ......................................................................... 26
Step #13 – Adding Custom Task Panes for Word 2000-2016 ................................................................................... 26
Step #14 – Running the COM Add-in ........................................................................................................................ 27
Step #15 – Debugging the COM Add-in .................................................................................................................... 30
Step #16 – Deploying the COM Add-in ..................................................................................................................... 30
Your First Microsoft Outlook COM Add-in ................................................................................................. 31
A Bit of Theory .......................................................................................................................................................... 31
Step #1 – Creating an Outlook COM Add-in Project ................................................................................................. 32
Step #2 – COM Add-in Module ................................................................................................................................. 34
Step #3 – COM Add-in Designer ............................................................................................................................... 36
Step #4 – Adding a New Explorer Command Bar ..................................................................................................... 37
Step #5 – Adding a New Command Bar Button ........................................................................................................ 38
Step #6 – Accessing Outlook Objects ....................................................................................................................... 38
Step #7 – Handling Outlook Events .......................................................................................................................... 39
Step #8 – Adding a New Inspector Command Bar .................................................................................................... 40
Step #9 – Customizing Main Menus in Outlook ......................................................................................................... 41
Step #10 – Customizing Context Menus in Outlook .................................................................................................. 42
Step #11 – Handling Events of Outlook Items Object ............................................................................................... 43
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Step #12 – Adding Property Pages to the Folder Properties Dialogs ........................................................................ 45
Step #13 – Intercepting Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................................................................. 46
Step #14 – Customizing the Outlook Ribbon User Interface ..................................................................................... 47
Step #15 – Adding Custom Task Panes in Outlook 2000-2016 ................................................................................ 48
Step #16 – Running the COM Add-in ........................................................................................................................ 50
Step #17 – Debugging the COM Add-in .................................................................................................................... 52
Step #18 – Deploying the COM Add-in ..................................................................................................................... 52
Your First Excel RTD Server ........................................................................................................................ 53
A Bit of Theory .......................................................................................................................................................... 53
Step #1 – Creating a New RTD Server Project ......................................................................................................... 54
Step #2 – RTD Server Module .................................................................................................................................. 55
Step #3 – RTD Server Designer ................................................................................................................................ 56
Step #4 – Adding and Handling a New Topic ............................................................................................................ 56
Step #5 – Running the RTD Server ........................................................................................................................... 58
Step #6 – Debugging the RTD Server ....................................................................................................................... 59
Step #7 – Deploying the RTD Server ........................................................................................................................ 59
Your First Smart Tag ..................................................................................................................................... 60
A Bit of Theory .......................................................................................................................................................... 60
Step #1 – Creating a New Smart Tag Library Project ............................................................................................... 60
Step #2 – Smart Tag Module .................................................................................................................................... 61
Step #3 – Smart Tag Designer .................................................................................................................................. 63
Step #4 – Adding a New Smart Tag .......................................................................................................................... 63
Step #6 - Running Your Smart Tag ........................................................................................................................... 65
Step #7 – Debugging the Smart Tag ......................................................................................................................... 66
Step #8 – Deploying the Smart Tag .......................................................................................................................... 66
Your First Excel Automation Add-in ........................................................................................................... 67
A Bit of Theory .......................................................................................................................................................... 67
Step #1 – Creating a New COM Add-in Project ........................................................................................................ 68
Step #2 – Creating an Excel Automation Add-in ....................................................................................................... 70
Step #3– Creating User-Defined Functions ............................................................................................................... 70
Step #4 – Running the Excel Automation Add-in ...................................................................................................... 72
Step #5 – Debugging the Excel Automation Add-in .................................................................................................. 73
Step #6 – Deploying the Excel Automation Add-in .................................................................................................... 73
Add-in Express Components ............................................................ 74

Office Ribbon Components ......................................................................................................................... 75
How Ribbon Controls Are Created ............................................................................................................................ 76
Referring to Built-in Ribbon Controls ......................................................................................................................... 77
Intercepting Built-in Ribbon Controls ......................................................................................................................... 78
Positioning Ribbon Controls ...................................................................................................................................... 78
Creating Ribbon Controls at Run-time ...................................................................................................................... 78
Updating Ribbon Controls at Run-Time..................................................................................................................... 79
Determining a Ribbon Control's Context ................................................................................................................... 79
Sharing Ribbon Controls across Multiple Add-ins ..................................................................................................... 79
Custom Task Panes in Office 2007-2016 .................................................................................................... 81
Command Bars: Toolbars, Menus, and Context Menus ........................................................................... 81
Toolbar ...................................................................................................................................................................... 81
Main Menu ................................................................................................................................................................ 82
Context Menu ............................................................................................................................................................ 82
Outlook Toolbars and Main Menus ........................................................................................................................... 83
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Connecting to Existing Command Bars ..................................................................................................................... 83
Command Bar Controls ................................................................................................................................ 84
Command Bar Control Properties and Events .......................................................................................................... 85
Command Bar Control Types .................................................................................................................................... 85
Using Built-in Command Bar Controls ....................................................................................................................... 85
Built-in Control Connector ........................................................................................................................... 86
Keyboard Shortcut ........................................................................................................................................ 86
Outlook Bar Shortcut Manager .................................................................................................................... 86
Outlook Property Page ................................................................................................................................. 87
Advanced Outlook Regions and Advanced Office Task Panes ............................................................... 87
Introducing Advanced Task Panes in Word, Excel and PowerPoint ......................................................................... 87
Introducing Advanced Outlook Form and View Regions ........................................................................................... 89
Hello, World! .............................................................................................................................................................. 94
The UI Mechanics ..................................................................................................................................................... 95
Excel Task Panes ................................................................................................................................................... 102
Advanced Outlook Regions ..................................................................................................................................... 103
Smart Tag ..................................................................................................................................................... 107
RTD Topic .................................................................................................................................................... 107
Host Application Events ............................................................................................................................. 107
MSForms Controls ...................................................................................................................................... 108
Tips and Notes ................................................................................ 109

Terminology ............................................................................................................................................................ 109
Getting Help on COM Objects, Properties and Methods ......................................................................................... 109
COM Add-ins Dialog ............................................................................................................................................... 109
How to Get Access to the Add-in Host Applications ................................................................................................ 110
Registry Entries ....................................................................................................................................................... 110
ControlTag vs. Tag Property ................................................................................................................................... 110
Pop-ups ................................................................................................................................................................... 110
Edits and Combo Boxes and the Change Event ..................................................................................................... 110
Built-in Controls and Command Bars ...................................................................................................................... 111
CommandBar.SupportedApps ................................................................................................................................ 111
Outlook Command Bar Visibility Rules .................................................................................................................... 111
Removing Custom Command Bars and Controls .................................................................................................... 111
My Add-in Is Always Disconnected ......................................................................................................................... 111
Update Speed for an RTD Server ........................................................................................................................... 111
Sequence of Events When an Office 2007-2016 Custom Task Pane Shows up .................................................... 112
Adding an Office 2007-2016 Custom Task Pane to an Existing Add-in Express Project ........................................ 112
Temporary or Not? .................................................................................................................................................. 113
Registering with User Privileges .............................................................................................................................. 114
Additional Files ........................................................................................................................................................ 116
How to find if Office 64-bit is installed on the target machine .................................................................................. 117
Excel Workbooks .................................................................................................................................................... 117
Word Documents .................................................................................................................................................... 117
Don't use any Office object models in the OnCreate and OnDestroy events .......................................................... 118
Final Note ....................................................................................... 119

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Introduction
Add-in Express is a development tool designed to simplify and speed up the
development of Office COM Add-ins, Run-Time Data servers (RTD servers), Smart
Tags, and Excel Automation Add-ins in Delphi through the consistent use of the RAD
paradigm. It provides a number of specialized components that allow the developer to
walk through the interface-programming phase to the functional programming phase
with a minimal loss of time.
.
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Add-in Exp ress for Office and Delphi VCL Why Add-in Express?

Why Add-in Express?
Microsoft supplied us with another term – Office Extensions. This term covers all the customization
technologies provided for Office applications. The technologies are:
 COM Add-ins
 Smart Tags
 Excel RTD Servers
 Excel Automation Add-ins
Add-in Express allows you to overcome the basic problem when customizing Office applications – building your
solutions into the Office application. Based on the True RAD paradigm, Add-in Express saves the time that you
would have to spend on research, prototyping, and debugging numerous issues of any of the above-mentioned
technologies in all versions and updates of all Office applications. The issues include safe loading / unloading,
host application startup / shutdown, as well as user-interaction-related and deployment-related issues.
Add-in Express Products
Add-in Express offers a number of products for developers on its web site.
 Add-in Express for Microsoft Office and .NET
It allows creating version-neutral managed COM add-ins, smart tags, Excel Automation add-ins, XLL add-ins
and RTD servers in Visual Studio. See http://www.add-in-express.com/add-in-net/ .
 Add-in Express for Internet Explorer and .NET
It allows developing add-ons for IE in Visual Studio. Custom toolbars, sidebars and BHOs are on board. See
http://www.add-in-express.com/programming-internet-explorer/ .
 Security Manager for Microsoft Outlook
This is a product designed for Outlook solution developers. It allows controlling the Outlook e-mail security
guard by turning it off and on in order to suppress unwanted Outlook security warnings. See http://www.add-in-
express.com/outlook-security/ .
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Add-in Exp ress for Office and Delphi VCL System Requirements

System Requirements
You must have Microsoft Office 2000 Sample Automation Server Wrapper Components installed.
Supported Delphi Versions
 Delphi XE2 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional with Update Pack 4 Hotfix 1
 Delphi XE3 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional with Update Pack 1
 Delphi XE4 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional with Update Pack 1
 Delphi XE5 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional
 Delphi XE6 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional
 Delphi XE7 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional
 Delphi XE8 Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional
 Delphi 10 Seattle Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise, Professional
 Delphi 10.1 Berlin Architect, Ultimate, Enterprise, Professional
Host Applications
COM Add-ins
 Microsoft Excel 2000 and higher
 Microsoft Outlook 2000 and higher
 Microsoft Word 2000 and higher
 Microsoft FrontPage 2000 and higher
 Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 and higher
 Microsoft Access 2000 and higher
 Microsoft Project 2000 and higher
 Microsoft MapPoint 2002 and higher
 Microsoft Visio 2002 and higher
 Microsoft Publisher 2003 and higher
 Microsoft InfoPath 2007 and higher
Real-Time Data Servers
 Microsoft Excel 2002 and higher
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Add-in Exp ress for Office and Delphi VCL System Requirements

Smart Tags
 Microsoft Excel 2002 and higher
 Microsoft Word 2002 and higher
 Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and higher
Smart tags are declared deprecated since Office 2010. However, you can still use the related APIs
in projects for Excel 2010-2016 and Word 2010-2016; see Changes in Word 2010 and Changes in
Excel 2010 .
Excel Automation Add-ins
 Microsoft Excel 2002 and higher
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Add-in Exp ress for Office and Delphi VCL Technical Support

Technical Support
Add-in Express is developed and supported by the Add-in Express Team, a branch of Add-in Express Ltd. You
can get technical support using any of the following methods.
The Add-in Express web site at www.add-in-express.com provides a mine of information and software
downloads for Add-in Express developers, including:
 The HOWTOs section that contains sample projects answering most common "how to" questions.
 Add-in Express technical blog contains most recent information as well as Video HOWTOs.
 Add-in Express Toys contains "open sourced" add-ins for popular Office applications.
 Built-in Controls Scanner utility, which is free.
For technical support through the Internet, e-mail us at [email protected] or use our forums .
If you are a subscriber of our Premium Support Service and need help immediately, you can request technical
support via an instant messenger, e.g. Windows/MSN Messenger or Skype.
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