Visual Studio 2008 SP1 includes features that are designed to help you accomplish the following tasks:

• Add Host Controls and Smart Tags to Add-in Projects

• Deploy the Office Primary Interop Assemblies with Your Solution Installer

• Rapidly Deploy Your Solution with the .NET Framework Client Profile

• Troubleshoot Installation with the Event Viewer

Add Host Controls and Smart Tags to Add-in Projects

Deploy the Office Primary Interop Assemblies with Your Solution Installer

Rapidly Deploy Your Solution with the .NET Framework Client Profile

Troubleshoot Installation with the Event Viewer

Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office system (version 3.0) includes new features that are designed to help you accomplish the following tasks:

• Customize Microsoft Office Applications by Creating Add-Ins

• Customize Word and Excel Documents

• Create SharePoint Workflows

• Create Custom Task Panes

• Customize the Ribbon

• Structure Documents by Using Word Content Controls

• Extend Outlook Forms with Custom Form Regions

• Import Form Regions That You Design In Outlook

• Secure and Deploy Your Microsoft Office Solutions

Application-level add-ins are a way for you to add your own features to Microsoft Office applications. Code that you write is available to the application itself, regardless of which documents are open.

Visual Studio Tools for Office includes the following features to simplify add-in development:

• Create add-ins by using new project templates for many applications in Microsoft Office 2003 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

• Program add-ins by using a new programming model that is less complicated than writing COM add-ins.

To get started, see Getting Started Programming Application-Level Add-Ins.

Call Code in an Add-in from Other Office Solutions

Use ClickOnce to Deploy Application-Level Add-Ins

Load Application-Level Add-ins Securely

Document-level customizations are a way for you to add your own features to a specific document or workbook. Features in customizations that you create are available only in the associated document or workbook.

Visual Studio Tools for Office includes the following features to simplify development of document-level customizations for Word 2007 and Excel 2007:

• Create customizations for documents and workbooks in the Open XML Formats supported by Word 2007 and Excel 2007, or in the binary file formats supported in Microsoft Office 2003 and earlier.

• Design your documents and templates inside Visual Studio, and write your code in the same environment.

• Add Windows Forms controls to your document or template.

• Add host controls to your document or template. Host controls extend some of the built-in objects in Word and Excel. These objects expose events and have data binding capability.

To get started, see How to: Create Visual Studio Tools for Office Projects.

Call Members in a Document-Level Customization from VBA Code

Design SharePoint workflows that help move documents that are stored on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 through a process efficiently.

Visual Studio Tools for Office introduces the following features to simplify SharePoint workflow development:

• Create SharePoint workflow projects by using the SharePoint 2007 Sequential Workflow and SharePoint 2007 State Machine Workflow templates.

• Press F5 to debug workflow logic. Visual Studio Tools for Office automatically associates the workflow with a default document library on a local SharePoint Web site and starts an instance of the workflow.

To get started, see Walkthrough: Creating and Debugging a SharePoint Workflow Solution.

Configure SharePoint Project Debug Settings by Using a Wizard

Use Visual Studio Tools for Office to create custom task panes. Task panes are user interface panels that are typically docked to one side of a window in a Microsoft Office application. Custom task panes give you a way to create your own task pane and provide users with a familiar interface to access your solution's features. 

You can create custom task panes in application-level add-ins for some applications in the 2007 Microsoft Office system. To get started, see Custom Task Panes Overview.

You can customize the Ribbon of the following applications:

• Microsoft Office Excel 2007

• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

• Microsoft Office Word 2007

For more information, see Ribbon Overview.

Customize the Ribbon by Using the Ribbon Designer

Customize the Ribbon by Using Ribbon XML

Use content controls to create structured Word 2007 documents. A content control defines a region that can contain only a specific type of content, such as text, dates, or pictures. You can use content controls to limit the ways that users can interact with regions of a document.

Visual Studio Tools for Office includes the following features to simplify content control development:

• Program against new managed classes for each content control provided by Word 2007.

• Handle user events for each content control.

• Bind content controls to elements in custom XML parts in the document, to database fields, or to managed objects.

• Add content controls to documents by using the designer:

  • Drag content controls to the document surface.

  • Set control properties by using the Properties window.

  • Double-click controls to create default event handlers.

• Add content controls to documents programmatically at run time.

To get started, see Content Controls.

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Use Visual Studio Tools for Office to design form regions that extend a standard or custom Microsoft Office Outlook form. 

Visual Studio Tools for Office includes the following features to simplify form region development:

• Add form regions to your project quickly by using the Form Region item template.

• Define your form region layout and choose the type of form to extend by using the form region wizard.

• Develop form regions visually by using the form region designer:

  • Drag and drop managed controls to the form region designer surface.

  • Adjust control layout and appearance.

  • Double-click controls to open event handlers.

  • Add custom code by using Visual C# or Visual Basic and take advantage of type checking and IntelliSense.

• Debug your project by using tools that automatically start Outlook and generate the files and configuration settings that Outlook must have to locate and run a form region.

• To get started, see How to: Add a Form Region to an Outlook Add-in Project.

Use the New Outlook Form Region wizard to import any form region that you design in Microsoft Office Outlook. When you design in Outlook, you can use Outlook fields and Outlook native controls that are not available in the Visual Studio Toolbox.

You can also reuse form regions that you have already developed for other Outlook projects.

After you import the form region, you can add code to handle control events. To get started, see Walkthrough: Importing a Form Region That Is Designed in Outlook.

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You can use ClickOnce technologies to secure and deploy all your Visual Studio Tools for Office solutions for the 2007 Microsoft Office system, including document-level customizations and application-level add-ins.

Visual Studio Tools for Office includes the following deployment features:

• Use the Publish Wizard to publish and deploy your customizations and add-ins.

• Enable your solutions to automatically check for updates at regular intervals, download and install updates, or roll back to earlier versions.

• Load and run installed Office solutions when the user is not connected to a network.

To get started, see Deploying Office Solutions (2007 System).

Load Microsoft Office Solutions Securely

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