Distributing office XP PIAs in Office 97,2000

[jeeva]

Our Application Environment VS.Net 2003 – C#, Office XP – PowerPoint Object 10.0 library.

We need to distribute this application on all office platforms like office 97, 2000, 2003.To do this we created a msi setup checking all the dependencies and installed in the Office 2000 machine it is not working , it gives the following error “object reference not set to instance of objectâ€, this happens without office XP PIAs.
If we distribute with office XP PIAs it is given the following Error
“QueryInterface for interface Microsoft.Office.Interop.Powerpoint._Application failedâ€.

When we move to GAC assembly and see office dlls are not registered over there. Is this the problem if so how to register office dlls of XP in office 2000 machine or How to distribute the office XP PIAs in a office 2000 Machine.

 

[Mark Bower [MSFT]]

Office XP PIAs are designed to work only with Office XP. To create a
version of your solution for Office 2003 you will have to recompile using
the Office 2003 PIAs. (The Office 2003 PIAs are not redistributable BTW).
To create a version for Office 2000 and 97 you will have to recompile your
solution using Interop assemblies that you generate yourself using the
tlbimp utility in the .NET Framework. This article may help:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=840585

--
Mark Bower
Microsoft
http://blogs.msdn.com/bowerm

This post is provided 'as-is' without warranty and confers no rights.

Our Application Environment VS.Net 2003 - C#, Office XP - PowerPoint Object 10.0 library.

We need to distribute this application on all office platforms like office

97, 2000, 2003.To do this we created a msi setup checking all the
dependencies and installed in the Office 2000 machine it is not working ,
it gives the following error "object reference not set to instance of
object", this happens without office XP PIAs.

If we distribute with office XP PIAs it is given the following Error
"QueryInterface for interface

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Powerpoint._Application failed".

When we move to GAC assembly and see office dlls are not registered over

there. Is this the problem if so how to register office dlls of XP in office
2000 machine or How to distribute the office XP PIAs in a office 2000
Machine.

 

[Jonathan West]

Hi Mark,

This does seem rather a backward step. Properly configured, COM components
and VBA add-ins can interwork with any version of Office without being
recompiled. If .NET assemplies using the PIAs are going to need
recompilation for every new version of Office, you increase the reasons for
major customers not to upgrade Office once they have a .NET add-in working.


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Mark Bower [MSFT]]

I agree that we could do a better job here of making life easier for
developers. Please use the Office Suggestions web site
(http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/suggestions.aspx) to provide
feedback. Alternatively if you have purchased a support package from
Microsoft you can submit your feedback that way.
I can assure you all the feedback is listened to. In fact, feedback
directly from end-users and developers like you is given far more weight
than comments and suggestions internal folk like me provide.

In the mean-time when you are designing managed add-ins, bear this
limitation in mind and think about how to structure your solution to
minimize the impact. Separate out the business logic of your add-in from
the classes that interface with Office, perhaps creating some kind of
abstraction layer between the two. Also consider using techniques like
conditional compilation to build your solutions.


--
Mark Bower
Microsoft
http://blogs.msdn.com/bowerm

This post is provided 'as-is' without warranty and confers no rights.

 

[Jonathan West]

My solution at present is to stick to using VBA and VB6 for my code. I have
no immediate desire to rewrite large chunks of code if the result is a
further recompile every time a new version of Office comes out and having to
maintain and distribute multiple versions, one for each version of Office.
However, I will be also be passing on the feedback.

--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup

I agree that we could do a better job here of making life easier for
developers. Please use the Office Suggestions web site
(http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/suggestions.aspx) to provide
feedback. Alternatively if you have purchased a support package from
Microsoft you can submit your feedback that way.
I can assure you all the feedback is listened to. In fact, feedback
directly from end-users and developers like you is given far more weight
than comments and suggestions internal folk like me provide.

In the mean-time when you are designing managed add-ins, bear this
limitation in mind and think about how to structure your solution to
minimize the impact. Separate out the business logic of your add-in from
the classes that interface with Office, perhaps creating some kind of
abstraction layer between the two. Also consider using techniques like
conditional compilation to build your solutions.