The WordMeister

There is apparently a bug in the Open XML SDK 2.0 when trying to work with a document that contains a Ribbon extension using the namespace for Office 2010 <customUI xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2009/07/customui“>

If the document contains a customUI12 part, you get the error ArgumentOutOfRangeException when using WordProcessingDocument.Open.

The problem appears to be fixed in Open XML SDK 2.5, which requires the .NET Framework 4.0. Read the rest of this entry »

The following information was supplied by MSFT Nathan O. last week in the Office MSDN forums:

“I know the documentation for Office 2013 is still somewhat limited, but hopefully the following link will help.

Microsoft Office Document: [MS-CustomUI2] Supporting Documentation – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=727

From here, you should be able to download the *.txt files for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus the imageMso information. Once a file is downloaded, it can be opened in Excel to make it easier to look through all the controls.” Read the rest of this entry »

While trying to find the namespace for an Office 2013 Ribbon I checked the ECMA pages today and discovered that the 4th edition of the ECMA-376 standard has been released this month.

It can be downloaded in four parts at
http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm

Not yet updated are the special Office Implementation Extension standards for things like the Ribbon and Toolbars. Let’s hope, now that the ECMA-Standard is public, that these will soon follow!

Since a few days ago, we’re being informed that MSDN is going to discontinue the “classic view” and support only the “lightweight view” for its library. This promises to be a disaster, and you have to wonder what kind of data the Powers That Be are looking at to make this kind of decision. If you want to protest, post here. Read the rest of this entry »

Mostly, I work with Word and that’s what this blog is usually about. But I do program inter-Office with Excel, PowerPoint and Access, when the need arises. Of those, PowerPoint is my least favorite – I find the object model impenetrable and always have to ask questions of my colleagues in the PowerPoint forum…

One of the projects that’s kept me busy the last few weeks is a VSTO add-in for PowerPoint. Simply formulated, it’s a tool to assist in drawing diagrams for Western trail patterns. I want it to work in versions 2007, 2010 and 2013, which it does, with a notable exception in 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been over a month since I last wrote an article. Obviously, I’ve been busy…

Among other things, we’ve signed a contract for a fourth edition of “Word Programmierung, Das Handbuch” with Microsoft Press, Germany. Word developer books don’t have it easy on the software book market and the German-speaking market is comparatively limited in scope. So we’re very proud that our work is still selling well enough after almost ten years to warrant a fourth edition. Read the rest of this entry »