Articles filed in category 'Microsoft Office'

One of the biggest issues in getting started with SharePoint development are the 2091097 steps you need to go through, and the heavy duty machine you need to invest in, to create a development environment for a SharePoint and Office developer. This is not unlike the fact that creating and running a production SharePoint farm can be extremely time-consuming.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services offer an exciting key technology: Web Parts.Both SharePoint offerings ship with an array of sample Web Parts; putting them in action is the best way to learn what Web Parts are and how they are used. Creating Web Parts in Visual Studio.NET is about to become one of the most powerful tools in your developer's repertoire.

The Open Data Protocol (OData) is an open REST-ful protocol for exposing and consuming data on the web. Also known as Astoria, ADO.NET Data Services, now officially called WCF Data Services in the .NET Framework. There are also SDKs available for other platforms like JavaScript and PHP. Visit the OData site at www.odata.org.

Everyone is excited about the cloud! Well, at least that is the theory. Microsoft introduced Azure such a long time ago - how many of us are really using it? SharePoint BPOS is around, but we still run servers in our backyard! So, why now? And why are things different this time around?

As developers, we're used to data sitting in tables and databases.However, this is not how data exists in the real world?it's merely how developers want data to appear. Typically, data resides in documents and forms, emails and spreadsheets. Smart Tags are Microsoft's first serious attempt to utilize that kind of information and make it available to knowledge workers in a sensible fashion.

Microsoft Office 2003 Editions add a powerful new tool to the Office task pane: the Research Library.By default, the Research Library allows you to type in a word or phrase and search for the term using several built-in resources. The Research Library is also extensible: you can add your own research service simply by creating a Web service that follows schemas defined by Microsoft for research services.

Excel services is yet another important pillar in Microsoft’s business intelligence offering. Business users really like Excel because it is easy to use and they can add complex formulas to Excel to express their logic.They can do so without involving the IT guy. The problem with this scenario, however, is that it becomes very difficult to share some Excel sheets with their coworkers. Usually users prefer to send workbooks via email, but sometimes the workbooks are too l...arge for email, sometimes they have backend data connections, and sometimes workbooks send via email cause version confusion hell.See More

The much-anticipated release of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services is not far away.This is the successor to SharePoint Team Services, and the changes go beyond small enhancements. In the new release, Microsoft has unified the way the technologies work. This article introduces Windows SharePoint Services and shows how it truly responds to the need for highly productive and collaborative desktop tools. Additionally, you'll explore how Windows SharePoint Services work wi...th Office 2003 applications to bring information to users when they need it, and also making it easier for people to work together around common objectives.See More

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 is a form creation program allowing seamless integration of data with various databases, Web services, XML, or any other XML-enabled system.To create the input forms, you just drag and drop controls onto the InfoPath form and specify how the controls connect to the data that is either entered in the form or referenced from external data sources. The result is a data entry form with advanced controls that conforms to Microsoft's interface st...andards, complete with Microsoft Office 2003 toolbars. Information entered in an InfoPath 2003 form is saved as an XML file and can be processed by a backend system.See More

Executive Letter

Product Manager Letter

Word, Excel and PowerPoint all use VBA, so you would think that using Automation in one should be pretty much like using Automation in another, right? In fact, they do have a lot in common. However, there are a number of subtle differences in the way the servers operate that makes writing generic code tricky.

“Run your business, not your mail server.” I am not sure where I read that, but it makes so much sense! Every organization is moving to the cloud, and some just haven’t started their journey yet. One of the fastest and most compelling online cloud based offerings is Office 365. Available in various SKUs, you can get SharePoint, Lync, Exchange, and Office professional as cloud-based offerings. The subscriptions are as low as $2 per user per month to $20 something per user... per month. Also, with SharePoint 2013, if you buy Office 365 subscriptions for your users, you don’t need to buy CALs (Client Access Licenses) for on-premises use.See More

First Premier Bankcard (www.firstpremier.com) is the 10th largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard credit cards in the United States.First Premier employs multiple thousands of people spread across the state of South Dakota. A major percentage of the employees at First Premier work in call-center operations helping people apply for credit cards.

If you developed smart tags in Office XP, you'll be interested in the changes in Office 2003.Smart tag technology links text to resources that provide relevant information useful in creating a document. Or even better, relevant information can be inserted right into the document itself. Smart tags in Microsoft Office 2003 have been improved to make them even easier to develop, and they conquer a few limitations.

Microsoft has opened wide Office development to Visual Studio .NET developers by creating the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System. These tools work with Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition.In its previous versions, Microsoft has spent considerable time making Office available for integration with other Windows-based applications. The ability to integrate with Office began with DDE, went on to OLE 1.0, then to automation, and finally added... Visual Basic for Applications. The Visual Studio Tools for Office combine the vision of its predecessors with the functionality of the future in Office 2003.See More

One of Microsoft Office 2003's most significant new features is the integration of XML technology.The XML features of Word 2003 are a great way to ensure that you can always get to the information stored within documents. This article focuses on taking advantage of Word 2003's XML features from within your applications.