Can you recommend a dev approach?

[Julian]

Apologies if the shotgun approach offends anyone (or if I have just droned
on far too long...) but I can't a priori see which single forum this might
have been most appropriate for...

I've been using MS Office since it came into existence; I am currently using
Word 2002 (considering migrating to Word 2007) and have extensive VBA
developments (in .dot template files) which I am considering productionising
and releasing.

[The developments cover enhanced
* Comment management
* Outlining facilties (esp. for use with tables)
* Document change-history tracking/journalling
* Document navigation
* Reviewing tools

all supported by numerous dynamic toolbars and userforms/dialogs with
extensive event handling within the limitations of Word VBA (which it might
be nice to go beyond...)

There is some use of embedded ActiveX objects - such as spreadsheets (OWC) -
but no RichEdit, which I would very much like to have if I could....].

In the hope that Word 2007 does pan out I would expect to develop for Word
2007/Vista... but I could just as easily remain with Word pre-2007.

Background:
------------

Although not the "day job" I have been programming in a wide variety of
languages for >25 (ugh!) years... including basic, Pascal, C, C++, Forth*,
assemblers, wordbasic, visual basic... (but not C#, Java, JS, PERL, Python,
Ruby...) but know nothing whatsoever about Windows development architectures
such as COM, .NET... (Come to that, what are they???) I'm also moderately
comfortable with XML and the like. (*including rewriting a DEC RT Forth
interpreter to run under TSX... how old is that??? Maybe I need a "technical
refresh"!)

Questions:
----------

* What approach to adopt? (Open question! Continue with VBA, move
to VB proper, develop as "Add-in template" or ".com add-in" or do something
else entirely?)
* What toolset would I need for the recommended approach?
* What other good questions have I forgotten to ask by virtue of
brevity and/or stupidity?

All advice gratefully received.

TIA

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Julian

I think there are two possible ways to consider this question.

Method 1 is to consider this as a technical question. One answer would
be to use the newest tools available at your disposal, whatever they
might be. That would mean VisualStudio 2008 and the various technologies
available in it. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-au/vstudio/default.aspx.

Method 2 is to consider this as a business question. One answer would be
to provide what your (future) customers will want. To answer this you
would need to consider how those customers' machines are set up, what
operating system they are using, what Office security settings are in
place, and how they will deploy and maintain the products you make. As
an example, you might consider how to deploy and maintain your tools in
an environment in which some users have Windows XP and some Windows
Vista; some have Office 2003 and some have Office 2007; and each user
may, at different times, use an always-connected desktop machine, a
sometimes-connected laptop, and remote access to their business network.

There are no right answers here; just trade offs to make, and only you
can be the judge of those.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

Apologies if the shotgun approach offends anyone (or if I have just
droned on far too long...) but I can't a priori see which single forum
this might have been most appropriate for...

I've been using MS Office since it came into existence; I am currently
using Word 2002 (considering migrating to Word 2007) and have
extensive VBA developments (in .dot template files) which I am
considering productionising and releasing.

[The developments cover enhanced
* Comment management
* Outlining facilties (esp. for use with tables)
* Document change-history tracking/journalling
* Document navigation
* Reviewing tools

all supported by numerous dynamic toolbars and userforms/dialogs with
extensive event handling within the limitations of Word VBA (which it
might be nice to go beyond...)

There is some use of embedded ActiveX objects - such as spreadsheets
(OWC) - but no RichEdit, which I would very much like to have if I
could....].

In the hope that Word 2007 does pan out I would expect to develop for
Word 2007/Vista... but I could just as easily remain with Word
pre-2007.

Background:
------------

Although not the "day job" I have been programming in a wide variety
of languages for >25 (ugh!) years... including basic, Pascal, C, C++,
Forth*, assemblers, wordbasic, visual basic... (but not C#, Java, JS,
PERL, Python, Ruby...) but know nothing whatsoever about Windows
development architectures such as COM, .NET... (Come to that, what are
they???) I'm also moderately comfortable with XML and the like.
(*including rewriting a DEC RT Forth interpreter to run under TSX...
how old is that??? Maybe I need a "technical refresh"!)

Questions:
----------

* What approach to adopt? (Open question! Continue with VBA,
move to VB proper, develop as "Add-in template" or ".com add-in" or do
something else entirely?)
* What toolset would I need for the recommended approach?
* What other good questions have I forgotten to ask by virtue
of brevity and/or stupidity?

All advice gratefully received.

TIA
--
Julian I-Do-Stuff

Some Vista stuff, but mostly just Stuff at
http://berossus,blogspot.com

 

[Julian]

Thank you Shauna... and nicely said <g>

I hadn't totally ignored the "business" aspects in my own considerations,
but your points reinforce my own thinking and suggest well-defined scope.
And thanks for the VS 2008 nudge...

I think I can see how it is beginning to shape up...

Thanks again

 

[John Guin]

Since most of your work is in VBA, I would take a look at VB first. The code
is not "cut and paste," but it is similar enough that it should seem
familiar. VS 2008 express is probably not a good choice, unless you want to
try out VB (you can't build setup projects, for instance).

VS 2008 with VSTO a probably the best bet, but I am not the most unbiased
person with an opinion...

 

[Julian]

Thanks John - didn't realise that VB might not be cut-and-paste but
encouraged by the general idea... I did think about all the other language
options and was already thinking that I didn't want to go all the way back
to the "spec"!

Must confess I found the various differentiating offerings of VS a bit
confusing so the steer away from Express was helpful - not sure was VSTO is
but now I have seen the name I hope it will catch my eye when next look...

Thanks again,