Develop solutions for MAC Office

[Shujaat]

Hi,

I've been developing solutions for the PC version of Office in VS2005 and
VS2008. Now one of my clients needs a solution that would work for both PC
and MAC versions. I've never done development work for MAC and wondering if
there's any direct way of creating MAC installer (don't know what's the
equivalent of installers in MAC world) from my VS solutions that would run on
MAC and install the add-in.

 

[Rob Schneider]

Shujaat,

You probably need to be aware that Mac Office 2008 does not have VBA is
is probably the basis of your solution? It's promised for Mac Office 2010.


--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Hi,

I've been developing solutions for the PC version of Office in VS2005 and
VS2008. Now one of my clients needs a solution that would work for both PC
and MAC versions. I've never done development work for MAC and wondering if
there's any direct way of creating MAC installer (don't know what's the
equivalent of installers in MAC world) from my VS solutions that would run on
MAC and install the add-in.

I specialize in developing solutions that work on bith Macintosh and
Windows. Contact me off line at the address below. I can probably help.

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

Hi,

I've been developing solutions for the PC version of Office in VS2005 and
VS2008. Now one of my clients needs a solution that would work for both PC
and MAC versions. I've never done development work for MAC and wondering if
there's any direct way of creating MAC installer (don't know what's the
equivalent of installers in MAC world) from my VS solutions that would run on
MAC and install the add-in.

Please take Bob Greenblatt up on his offer. He'll treat you very well.

Meanwhile, the answer to your question is a qualified "Yes, you can." As
Rob Schneider pointed out, VBA is absent in Office 2008. However it is
available in Office 2004 and will be available again in Office 2011 (not
2010) on the Mac. Office 2011 will debut later this year.

You will need to know the hardware and software capabilities of your
user base. Office 2004 runs on PowerPC processors and Intel processors
and has VBA version 5. The VBA compiler had to be rebuilt for Intel, so
I suspect Office 2011 will require Intel processors, and of course,
Office 2011. It's not too soon to start developing for Office 2011.

Bob will fill you in on the way to build good cross-platform
applications. Avoid Active-X like the plague. Learn a few simple rules
about Mac file path conventions, and you're applications will be able to
run nicely.

And yes, there's an Apple installer application.
http://developer.apple.com/mac/libr...on/Install_Operations/Install_Operations.html

-Jim