VS Pro 2005 vis a vis VSTO 2005

[Howard Kaikow]

I just visited the MSFT web site and saw the comparison/pricing of the
different VS 2005 versions.
I was looking for a statement of the system requirements for VS Pro and
VSTO, could not find.

Also, more details on the differences between VS Pro and VSTO.
For example, can VSTO be used to create a DLL, in particular, a DLL that can
be used as an ActiveX DLL with Office?

In VSTO, other than the addition of the support for Office 2003 and omission
of C++, are there ANY other differences between VS Pro and VSTO?

 

[Guest]

Hi Howard,

I've included a couple of links below that I hope will address your
questions regarding system requirements and the differences between Visual
Studio 2005 Professional and Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft
Office System.

Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 System Requirements
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/resources/sysreqs/default.aspx

Comparison of the Visual Studio Editions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/howtobuy/vs2005/editions/pro/

For Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, VSTO allows you to create a managed
..NET assembly to add additional functionality to a template, document, or
workbook. The assembly is document-centric and as such gets loaded when the
user opens the document or workbook.

For Microsoft Outlook, VSTO allows you to create a managed COM Add-in for
Microsoft Outlook.

For more information about VSTO please visit the following web site.

Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/vsto/default.aspx


Regards,

Ken Laws
Microsoft Support


This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

For more information regarding Visual Studio Tools for Office 2005:

Best of Blogs: Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...n-us/odc_2003_ta/html/odc_landvsto2005_ta.asp

Visual Studio Tools for Office Forum
http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=16

Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/vsto/default.aspx

 

[Howard Kaikow]

I've included a couple of links below that I hope will address your
questions regarding system requirements and the differences between Visual
Studio 2005 Professional and Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft
Office System.

Thanx.

Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 System Requirements
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/resources/sysreqs/default.aspx

I'll need to get another computer.

Comparison of the Visual Studio Editions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/howtobuy/vs2005/editions/pro/

I had seen that.

managed
.NET assembly to add additional functionality to a template, document, or
workbook. The assembly is document-centric and as such gets loaded when the
user opens the document or workbook.

That appears to be no different than with VSTO 2003.

For Microsoft Outlook, VSTO allows you to create a managed COM Add-in for
Microsoft Outlook.

Could one not already do that with VB .NET or C#?
How does VSTO make this better/

The following remain unanswered:

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Howard,
| > For Microsoft Outlook, VSTO allows you to create a managed COM Add-in
for
| > Microsoft Outlook.
|
| Could one not already do that with VB .NET or C#?
| How does VSTO make this better/

The "biggest" advantage I've seen so far with VSTO, is that you no longer
need to create C++ shims to go between Outlook's COM World & .NET World. See
the following article for details:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/de...html/Office_VSTOOutlookAdd-inArchitecture.asp


Here are a couple more good articles that discuss VSTO for Outlook:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/de...a/html/OfficeVSTOIntroducingOutlookAdd-in.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...alk/html/office06012005_VSTOOutlookAdd-in.asp


| > > For example, can VSTO be used to create a DLL, in particular, a DLL
that
| can
| > > be used as an ActiveX DLL with Office?
Yes VSTO for Outlook creates a DLL, as the COM Add-in is deployed as
inprocess. I seem to remember that Word & Excel VSTO also create DLLs, I
would expect InfoPath does also, however I have not tried the InfoPath yet.


| > > In VSTO, other than the addition of the support for Office 2003 and
| omission
| > > of C++, are there ANY other differences between VS Pro and VSTO?
?? VS Pro is an edition of Visual Studio. VSTO is a set of tools that you
use with VS Pro & higher to simplify creating Add-ins for specific office
products (Word, Excel, InfoPath, and Outlook)...

Hope this helps
Jay

| | > I've included a couple of links below that I hope will address your
| > questions regarding system requirements and the differences between
Visual
| > Studio 2005 Professional and Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft
| > Office System.
|
|
| Thanx.
|
| > Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 System Requirements
| > http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/resources/sysreqs/default.aspx
|
| I'll need to get another computer.
|
| > Comparison of the Visual Studio Editions
| > http://msdn.microsoft.com/howtobuy/vs2005/editions/pro/
|
| I had seen that.
|
| >> For Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, VSTO allows you to create a
| managed
| > .NET assembly to add additional functionality to a template, document,
or
| > workbook. The assembly is document-centric and as such gets loaded when
| the
| > user opens the document or workbook.
|
| That appears to be no different than with VSTO 2003.
|
| > For Microsoft Outlook, VSTO allows you to create a managed COM Add-in
for
| > Microsoft Outlook.
|
| Could one not already do that with VB .NET or C#?
| How does VSTO make this better/
|
| The following remain unanswered:
|
| > > For example, can VSTO be used to create a DLL, in particular, a DLL
that
| can
| > > be used as an ActiveX DLL with Office?
| > >
| > > In VSTO, other than the addition of the support for Office 2003 and
| omission
| > > of C++, are there ANY other differences between VS Pro and VSTO?
|
|

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Thanx, I'll look over the articles.

I'm still looking for verification that VST O 2005 allows one to produce
DLLs, NOT COM add-in DLLs.
Such choices are not offerred by VSTO 2003.

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Howard,
| I'm still looking for verification that VST O 2005 allows one to produce
| DLLs, NOT COM add-in DLLs.
| Such choices are not offerred by VSTO 2003.
??

VS Pro lets you create DLLs, VSTO simply adds specific templates for the
specific projects.

I understand that you need VS Pro to load VSTO in both 2003 & 2005 flavors.

My understanding is:
VSTO Word is a DLL that "Extends" a Word document
VSTO Excel is a DLL that "extends" an Excel document
VSTO InfoPath is a DLL that "extends" an InfoPath form

I know VSTO Outlook is a COM Addin DLL.

I guess I don't follow what you are desiring to answer your question. Can
you be a little more specific about what you want the DLL to be & do.

Hope this helps
Jay

| |
| Thanx, I'll look over the articles.
|
| I'm still looking for verification that VST O 2005 allows one to produce
| DLLs, NOT COM add-in DLLs.
| Such choices are not offerred by VSTO 2003.
|
|

 

[Howard Kaikow]

I guess I don't follow what you are desiring to answer your question. Can
you be a little more specific about what you want the DLL to be & do.

"In VSTO, other than the addition of the support for Office 2003 and
omission
of C++, are there ANY other differences between VS Pro and VSTO?"


So, VSTO does not offer the capabilities of VS Pro.
MSFT intentionally does not make this clear in their summary of differences
between VS PRO and VSTO.

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Howard,
| So, VSTO does not offer the capabilities of VS Pro.
No as VSTO requires VS itself to be installed first:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828087

You gain all the capabilities of VS Pro, by installing VS Pro, then on top
of those capabilities you get the additional templates that VSTO offers...

| MSFT intentionally does not make this clear in their summary of
differences
| between VS PRO and VSTO.
What's not clear, VSTO requires VS to be installed first. In other words
VSTO is not Visual Studio, rather its VS *Tools For Office*, the Visual
Studio is just the "hosting" environment.

Hope this helps
Jay


| | > I guess I don't follow what you are desiring to answer your question.
Can
| > you be a little more specific about what you want the DLL to be & do.
|
| "In VSTO, other than the addition of the support for Office 2003 and
| omission
| of C++, are there ANY other differences between VS Pro and VSTO?"
|
|
| So, VSTO does not offer the capabilities of VS Pro.
| MSFT intentionally does not make this clear in their summary of
differences
| between VS PRO and VSTO.
|
|

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Howard,
| So, VSTO does not offer the capabilities of VS Pro.
No as VSTO requires VS itself to be installed first:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828087

You gain all the capabilities of VS Pro, by installing VS Pro, then on top
of those capabilities you get the additional templates that VSTO offers...

VSTO does NOT require VS PRo be installed first.
VSTO comes packaged with its own VB .NET and C#.

| MSFT intentionally does not make this clear in their summary of
differences
| between VS PRO and VSTO.
What's not clear, VSTO requires VS to be installed first. In other words
VSTO is not Visual Studio, rather its VS *Tools For Office*, the Visual
Studio is just the "hosting" environment.

VSTO is a separate critter that includes its own VB .NET and C#.

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Howard,
| VSTO does NOT require VS PRo be installed first.
When I installed VSTO I already had VS Enterprise installed, The KB article
I mentioned indicates that it requires a flavor of VS installed before hand!

I have used the beta of the Outlook version of VSTO and the beta *DOES*
require the VS Beta be installed first.

| VSTO comes packaged with its own VB .NET and C#.
Technically the .NET Runtime includes VB. NET & C# compilers. For .NET 1.0
look for csc.exe & vbc.exe in your
\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322 folder! Those compilers are
capably of creating DLLs.


Unfortunately I don't have any further info to offer, you may want to call
MS directly to see if you can find your answer.

Hope this helps
Jay

| | > Howard,
| > | So, VSTO does not offer the capabilities of VS Pro.
| > No as VSTO requires VS itself to be installed first:
| >
| > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828087
| >
| > You gain all the capabilities of VS Pro, by installing VS Pro, then on
top
| > of those capabilities you get the additional templates that VSTO
offers...
|
| VSTO does NOT require VS PRo be installed first.
| VSTO comes packaged with its own VB .NET and C#.
|
| > | MSFT intentionally does not make this clear in their summary of
| > differences
| > | between VS PRO and VSTO.
| > What's not clear, VSTO requires VS to be installed first. In other words
| > VSTO is not Visual Studio, rather its VS *Tools For Office*, the Visual
| > Studio is just the "hosting" environment.
|
| VSTO is a separate critter that includes its own VB .NET and C#.
|
|

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Howard,
| VSTO does NOT require VS PRo be installed first.
When I installed VSTO I already had VS Enterprise installed, The KB article
I mentioned indicates that it requires a flavor of VS installed before

hand!

Yes, but that is inaccuraye.
VSTO ships with VB .NET and C#, not necessarily the same versions as in VS
itself.
Of course it is smart enough r=to realize when a real VS ius already
installeed, but tis does not address my question.

I am asking solely about VSTO.

I have used the beta of the Outlook version of VSTO and the beta *DOES*
require the VS Beta be installed first.

But that's a Beta, so it does not matter.

| VSTO comes packaged with its own VB .NET and C#.
Technically the .NET Runtime includes VB. NET & C# compilers. For .NET 1.0
look for csc.exe & vbc.exe in your
\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322 folder! Those compilers are
capably of creating DLLs.

That's NOT my question.

I asked what are the differences between VS Pro and VSTO, in particulasr
whether VSTO, by itself, can create DLLs.
As VSTO 2003 cannot, I have no evidence that VSTO 2005 can.

I'll just have to wait for an official statement from MSFT, rather than
playing guessing games.
Im outta here.

 

[Guest]

Hi Howard,

The differences between the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft
Office System Edition (VSTO 2005) and the Visual Studio 2005 Professional
Edition are as follows:

Visual Studio 2005 Professional includes language support for Visual C++ and
Visual J#. These languages are not included within VSTO 2005 Edition.

Visual Studio 2005 Professional includes support for Mobile Projects and
also includes 64 bit support which are not included with the VSTO 2005
Edition.

VSTO 2005 Edition includes support for Excel, Word, Outlook and InfoPath
Projects as well as the Access Developer Extensions which is not included
within the retail version of Visual Studio 2005 Professional.

To address your specific question you should be able to create .NET
assemblies using the VSTO 2005 Edition.


I also wanted to let you know that there are several new enhancements for
VSTO 2005 including:

Microsoft Excel and Word are now hosted within the VS IDE
New host controls for Microsoft Excel and Word
You can add Windows controls to the Microsoft Excel and Word document
A new managed document actions task pane
Document-centric VSTO SmartTags for Microsoft Word and Excel.


Regards,

Ken Laws
Microsoft Support


This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

For more information regarding Visual Studio Tools for Office 2005:

Best of Blogs: Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...n-us/odc_2003_ta/html/odc_landvsto2005_ta.asp

Visual Studio Tools for Office Forum
http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=16

Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/vsto/default.aspx

 

[Howard Kaikow]

To address your specific question you should be able to create .NET
assemblies using the VSTO 2005 Edition.

I remain unconvinced, since the descriptions I've seen seem to be similar to
VSTO 2003, which does not offer DLL options under the Microsoft Office
System category for a new project.

Of course, that may be because I already had VS Pro 2003 installed, so there
was no need for such options to be installed for VSTO 2003.

I guess that the only thing that is going to convince this curmudgeon is if
MSFT posts a KB article and/or a paper demonstrating EXPLICTLY how to create
an ActiveX DLL with VSTO 2005 for Word or Excel, register that DLL and then
include a reference to that DLL in a Word template or an Excel workbook.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

I just tried creating a DLL with VSTO 2003 that could be used by Word.

First, i made sure that Word 2003 would handle a VB .NET dll created with VS
Pro 2003.
I knew this would work because I had previously down this.

Next, I stared a VSTO 2003 Word document project.
My first attempt was to add a class to the .vb file.

DLL file got created, but no tlb file.
I used regasm to register and create the tlb.

I was able to add a Reference to the tlb in Word 2003, but got the error
about missing dependemcies, etc. when trying to execute the function in the
DLL.

So I started over and moved the function into the OfficeCodeBehind class.
Same result, I had to create the tlb when registering.
And same error upon execution.

So, unless I am doing something wrong, it appears that there's a missing
thingamabob when trying to use a VSTO DLL with Word in the same way a VS Pro
DLL could be used.

Anybody do the above successfully with VSTO 2003, or if wit hVSTO 2005,
describe what was done?