Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) announcements

• Link
  New release of VSTO run-time fixes issues
  Cindy Meister MVP Friday, April 18, 2014 5:47 PM

  For details, see the blog article http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vsto/archive/2014/04/10/vsto-runtime-update-to-address-slow-shutdown-and-unknown-publisher-for-sha256-certificates.aspx

  This release fixes:

  1. For VSTO add-ins using WPF controls, customers using touch-enabled
  devices experienced a 15-20 second lag when closing Office applications

  2. for developers using SHA256 code-signing certificates, the installation
  Trust Prompt would erroneously display “Unknown Publisher” even when the
  publisher was fully trusted.

• Link
  Roadmap for Apps for Office, VSTO, and VBA
  Cindy Meister MVP Tuesday, June 18, 2013 4:40 PM

  Many folks have been asking about the emerging "apps for Office" model, and what it means for the future of VSTO.  Rest assured that VSTO continues to be alive and well.  In fact, many existing automation scenarios continue to be best served by VSTO for now.  At the same time, there are many exciting opportunities to look forward in apps for Office: for example, the ability to better integrate with web content and JavaScript/CSS libraries, support for additional programming languages and platforms, support for host applications beyond the desktop versions of Office, and new distribution, lifecycle management, and monetization opportunities through the Office Store.

  To learn more, please see the blog post:  "Roadmap for Apps for Office, VSTO, and VBA".
  

• Link
  Office Tools for Visual Studio 2015
  Cindy Meister MVP Wednesday, March 6, 2013 2:22 PM

  The newest version of Visual Studio - 2015 - is now available.

  The Community edition of Visual Studio also supports "Office Tools", including VSTO and "Apps for Office" templates. Both can be downloaded at
  https://www.visualstudio.com/features/office-tools-vs

  What was new in VS 2013 for Office:

  For VSTO developers in particular, new in this release is the ability to code-sign VSTO solutions with SHA-256 certificates.  The latest release also supports Office 2013 right-out-of-the-box without requiring a separate download, and the Office 2013 templates can now target the latest .NET Framework 4.5.1.

  Visual Studio 2013 also delivers a broad set of tooling for the new apps for Office and apps for SharePoint.  Some highlights include the ability to create MVC SharePoint apps, enhancements around app-publishing, and a new set of tooling around Cloud Business Apps that integrate seamlessly with Office 365 services.  Learn more on the apps for Office and SharePoint blog.

  Tip: 
  Just like Visual Studio 2012, Visual Studio 2013 continues to support the Office 2010 templates.  However, to reduce clutter, we have re-categorized the project templates according to the .NET Framework version that they support.  So, if you're looking for the Office 2010 templates, be sure to adjust the ".NET Framework" dropdown to ".NET Framework 4.0".

  

  We hope you enjoy Visual Studio 2013 and the many great features that this IDE has to offer!

  ~ Michael Zlatkovsky | Program Manager, Visual Studio Tools for Office & Apps for Office

  
  
• Link
  Documentation for Office 2013 Ribbon controls now available
  Cindy Meister MVP Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:49 AM

  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.

  Best Regards,
  Nathan O.
  Microsoft Online Community Support

Visual Studio LightSwitch Extensibility announcements

• Link
  LightSwitch Extensibility Toolkit for Visual Studio 2012 Released
  Beth Massi - Microsoft Wednesday, March 14, 2012 8:12 PM

  We've just uploaded the updated version of the Extensibility Toolkit to the MSDN Extensions Gallery: LightSwitch Extensibility Toolkit for VS 2012

  The toolkit provides project types for creating new LightSwitch Extension Libraries that target Visual Studio 11 and includes templates for creating the following LightSwitch extensions: LightSwitch Business Type, LightSwitch Control, LightSwitch Data Source, LightSwitch Screen Template, LightSwitch Shell, and LightSwitch Theme.

  Updated versions of the eight extensibility samples have been uploaded to the LightSwitch Extensibility Samples for VS 2012 as well.

  Enjoy

  
  
  
• Link
  Visual Studio LightSwitch Extensibility Toolkit Now Available
  Beth Massi - Microsoft Wednesday, July 27, 2011 10:08 PM

  Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch gives you a simpler and faster way to create high-quality business applications for the desktop and the cloud. Professional developers can extend the functionality of LightSwitch by creating extensions using Visual Studio 2010 Professional, the Visual Studio SDK, and the Visual Studio LightSwitch 2011 Extensibility Toolkit. The toolkit provides project types for creating new LightSwitch Extension Libraries and includes templates for creating your own themes, shells, business types, controls, screen templates, and data sources.

  You can access the toolkit plus walkthroughs, samples and documentation here on the Developer Center. Please make sure you follow the instructions carefully for installing the toolkit and the prerequisites.

  
    Extending Visual Studio LightSwitch

   

  HAVE FUN!

• Link
  Welcome to the Visual Studio LightSwitch Extensibility Forum
  Beth Massi - Microsoft Monday, August 23, 2010 10:17 PM

  Thank you for your interest in Visual Studio LightSwitch! This forum is for questions related to extending Visual Studio LightSwitch which is now available as of July 26th. For general questions and install troubleshooting please see the LightSwitch General forum.

  To get started learning how to extend LightSwitch please see :

  • Extending Visual Studio LightSwitch page on the Developer Center where you can download the LightSwitch Extensibility Toolkit and read walkthroughs on how to get started
  • LightSwitch Team Extensibility Samples that you can download to learn how to build many of the supported extension types
  • Advanced hands-on labs in the LightSwitch Training Kit where you will build and package an extension that can be reused by the Visual Studio LightSwitch end user

  Also make sure to visit the following resources:

  • Visual Studio LightSwitch Developer Center on MSDN
  • Visual Studio LightSwitch Team Blog
  • LightSwitch Beta Documentation on MSDN 

  If you have a bug to report or just want to make a suggestion please enter them through Connect: http://connect.microsoft.com/lightswitch

  Have fun!

Visual Studio LightSwitch - General Questions announcements

• Link
  LightSwitch Update
  LightSwitch Team Friday, October 14, 2016 11:03 PM

  Visual Studio 2015 is the last release of Visual Studio that includes the LightSwitch tooling and we recommend users not begin new application development with LightSwitch. That said, we will continue to support users with existing LightSwitch applications, including critical bug fixes and security issues as per the Microsoft Support Lifecycle.  For reference, the mainstream support phase for Visual Studio 2015 is active until 10/13/2020.  

  For more information see the LightSwitch Blog. 

• Link
  Welcome to the Visual Studio LightSwitch Forum! (Please Read)
  Beth Massi - Microsoft Monday, July 25, 2011 8:35 PM

  Thank you for your interest in Visual Studio LightSwitch! This forum is for general questions related to Visual Studio LightSwitch.

  Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question! Please treat all forum visitors with respect, and help out your fellow LightSwitch developers by providing answers whenever possible.

  Also please take a look at the following learning resources on the Lightswitch Developer Center (http://msdn.com/lightswitch).

  Learn to build LightSwitch Applications

  Watch the instructional LightSwitch "How Do I?" videos

  Become part of the LightSwitch Community:

  LightSwitch on Facebook

  LightSwitch on Twitter

  Visual Studio LightSwitch Team Blog

  Enjoy!

  
  
  

Visual Studio Visualization announcements

• Link
  Where to post feedback, bugs, and questions - Visual Studio Ultimate
  Alan Cameron Wills - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 10:15 PM

  • This Forum - for Visual Studio Ultimate architecture tools - UML, DGML, Architecture Explorer, Layer diagrams
  • Visualization and Modeling SDK Forum - for domain-specific languages and extending the modeling tools
  • Visual Studio Extensibility Forum - about VSX, MEF, EnvDTE, and other non-modeling extensions
  • Microsoft Connect Visual Studio - for bug reports and suggestions
  • The Community Content block at the bottom of any MSDN Library page to add your own tips, corrections or feedback about the content.

  Thanks for posting your questions and feedback! We use them to help us improve the product and improve the help pages.

Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) announcements

• Link
  Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2015 released!
  Xiaoying Guo Friday, September 11, 2015 4:17 PM

  You can get the VSTA 2015 and VSTA 2015 SDK through the links below:

  • VSTA 2015
  • VSTA 2015 SDK

  The overall summary of VSTA 2015:

  Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications lets you enable end users to customize your existing applications using Visual Basic and Visual C#. Since the VSTA 2012 release, several changes have been introduced to the licensing model as well as to how you integrate VSTA into your applications: 

  • There is no longer a licensing fee for the VSTA redistributable components. Your organization can distribute and use the VSTA redistributable components free of charge.
  • VSTA no longer provides its own Visual Studio Environment for authoring macros. Instead, a supported version of Visual Studio Professional (Premium, or Ultimate) is required to develop VSTA macros and add-ins. VSTA has two primary modes of operation: with Visual Studio Professional (Premium, or Ultimate) installed and standalone. In standalone mode, VSTA provides your application with the means to load, compile, and run end user customizations. With a supported version of Visual Studio Professional (Premium, or Ultimate) installed on your user’s machine, VSTA extends that functionality with the means to edit and debug those customizations.
  • VSTA 2015 supports .NET Framework 4.5.1.
  • VSTA 2015 presents a simplified API for integrating design-time experiences into your application using either managed (Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET) or unmanaged (Visual C++) code. It simplifies tasks such as finding the installation of Visual Studio, launching the external process, and synchronizing save state, making integration significantly easier than previous versions.
  • VSTA 2015 provides the ability to upgrade VSTA projects from Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, compile, and run them. It also maintains compatibility with VSTA 2012 and VSTA 2013 projects.
  • VSTA no longer requires your application host to provide a runtime library in order to run. This gives you the flexibility to choose the method of running user code best tailored to the host application.

  System Requirement:

  • Windows 7 Service Pack 1
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows 10

  Runtime requirement for VSTA 2013:

  • Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2015

  Requirement to enable editing and debugging for VSTA customization:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 (Professional Edition or above)
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 (Community Edition or above)
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (Community Edition or above)
• Link
  VSTA API reference documentation is now available at MSDN!
  Xiaoying Guo Wednesday, July 29, 2015 6:48 PM

  Now you can access the VSTA API references at anytime using any Internet connected device through https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn707392.aspx.

Tools for Apache Cordova announcements

• Link
  Welcome to the Tools for Apache Cordova Forum! (Please Read)
  Ellen Fitch Tuesday, March 31, 2015 7:31 AM

  Thank you for your interest in Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova! This forum is for general questions related to Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova.

  Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question! Please treat all forum visitors with respect, and help out your fellow Cordova developers by providing answers whenever possible.

  Also please take a look at the following learning resources about our Tools.

  [Doc] Getting Started with Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova

  [Video] Building Apache Cordova Apps with Visual Studio

  [Video] Debugging your Apache Cordova App on iOS

  Enjoy. 

Visual Studio Visualization & Modeling SDK (DSL Tools) announcements

• Link
  This topic is now transfered to the Visual Studio Extensibility forum
  Jean-Marc Prieur Tuesday, December 6, 2016 4:39 PM

  This forum is now closed.
  Please now ask questions on the Visual Studio Extensibility Forum
• Link
  Where to post feedback, bugs, and questions - Visualization & Modeling Tools SDK
  Alan Cameron Wills - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 10:43 PM

  • This Forum - for domain-specific languages and extending the modeling tools
  • Visualization and Modeling Forum - for Visual Studio Ultimate architecture tools - UML, DGML, Architecture Explorer, Layer diagrams
  • Visual Studio Extensibility Forum - about VSX, MEF, EnvDTE, Text Templates (T4) and other non-modeling extensibility
  • Microsoft Connect Visual Studio - for bug reports and suggestions
  • The Community Content block at the bottom of any MSDN Library page to add your own tips, corrections or feedback about the content

  Thanks for posting your questions and feedback! We use them to help us improve the product and improve the help pages.