Programming Microsoft® Office Business Applications

Programming Microsoft® Office Business Applications

by Steve Fox, Rob Barker, Joanna Bischel, Erika Ehrli Cabral, Paul Stubbs
Released March 2008
Publisher(s): Microsoft Press
ISBN: 9780735625365

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Get practical guidance for creating custom applications by using the capabilities of the Microsoft Office platform. This hands-on reference illustrates how to use Microsoft Visual Studio�® Tools for Office and the Microsoft Office system to create Office Business Applications an emerging breed of application that bridges the gap between line of business (LOB) systems and end-user productivity tools. OBAs allow users to increase productivity by providing a seamless and integrated end-to-end user experience from their desktop to data in enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and other business systems. Experts on the Microsoft Office, Visual Studio Tools for Office, and OBA teams at Microsoft adeptly illustrate how to develop smart clients and Web services in the Microsoft Office environment. You ll also get guidance on custom development for the Microsoft Office FluentTM user interface and Windows�® SharePoint�® Services, application deployment, and managing workflow. Complete with code samples on the Web, this book delivers the pragmatic information enterprise developers need to know to create and deploy custom business applications to the organization.

Key Book Benefits

Delivers practical, hands-on information on creating custom Office Business Applications

Written by experts on the Microsoft Office, Visual Studio Tools for Office, and OBA teams

Provides a reference to working in Microsoft Office with smart clients, Web services, and more

Features guidance about custom development for the Microsoft Office

Fluent interface and SharePoint Services, managing workflow, and OBA deployment

Includes code samples on the Web

Visit the catalog page for Programming Microsoft® Office Business ApplicationsVisit the errata page for Programming Microsoft® Office Business ApplicationsVisit the supplemental content page for Programming Microsoft® Office Business Applications

Table of contents

  1. Programming Microsoft® Office Business Applications
    1. List of Figures
    2. Foreword
    3. Introduction
      1. Office Business Applications
      2. Who Is This Book For?
      3. About Programming Office Business Applications
      4. Support and Downloads
      5. System Requirements
      6. Additional Resources
        1. Resources at Microsoft.com
        2. Blogs
        3. Books
    4. Acknowledgments
    5. 1. Introducing Office Business Applications
      1. Getting Started
      2. What Is an Office Business Application?
      3. The Office Business Application Platform
        1. Office Business Application Pillars
          1. Enterprise Content Management (ECM)
          2. Business Intelligence (BI)
          3. Unified Communication and Collaboration
      4. Office Business Application Services and Technologies
        1. Workflow
        2. Business Data Catalog
        3. Search
        4. The Microsoft Office Fluent UI ("The Ribbon")
        5. Open XML File Format
        6. Excel Services
        7. Web Site and Security Framework
      5. A Breakthrough Opportunity for Businesses and Developers
        1. Architecture of an Office Business Application
        2. Attributes of an Office Business Application
          1. Ease of Use
          2. Role-Based
          3. Collaborative
          4. Configurable
          5. Contextual
      6. How Do You Develop an OBA?
        1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System
        2. Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Second Edition
        3. Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer
      7. What Does an OBA Look Like?
      8. Summary
      9. Further Reading and Related Technologies
    6. 2. Creating a Smart Client for Your Office Business Application by Using VSTO
      1. Getting Started with Visual Studio Tools for Office
        1. A Brief History of VSTO
        2. Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
        3. Project Templates
          1. Office 2003
          2. Office 2007
        4. Item Templates
        5. Debugging
      2. OBA Smart Client Samples
        1. Office Add-Ins
        2. Office Document Solutions
        3. Excel ListObject Data Binding
        4. Office Ribbon Designer
          1. Outlook Commandbars
        5. Custom Task Panes
        6. Actions Pane
        7. Open XML File Format
        8. Content Controls
        9. Outlook Form Regions
      3. Summary
    7. 3. Building Business Intelligence for Your Office Business Applications
      1. Office Business Application Framework
      2. Developing Client-Side Business Intelligence Customizations
        1. Integrating Data into Excel 2007 Using Native Office Features
        2. Creating Business Intelligence Solutions Using Visual Studio Tools for Office
      3. Customizing the Excel 2007 User Interface
      4. Business Intelligence in MOSS 2007
        1. The Business Intelligence Dashboard
        2. Excel Services
        3. Key Performance Indicators
        4. Business Data Catalog
      5. Further Reading and Related Technologies
    8. 4. Integrating Web Services into Your Office Business Applications
      1. The Need for S+S in Today’s Enterprise Solutions
      2. S+S and the 2007 Microsoft Office System
        1. Services Available in Office 2007
        2. Presentation Layer for Services in the Office 2007 Client
      3. Job Candidate Recruiting Interview Feedback Solution
        1. Scenario Overview
        2. A Possible End-To-End Solution
        3. Retrieving Best-Practice Interview Questions
          1. Using the SharePoint List Web Service to Retrieve List Items
        4. Inserting an Interview Question
        5. Verifying a Candidate’s Salary Using the Recruiting Salary Model
          1. Overview of Excel Services
          2. Performing Calculations Server-Side in Word Using the Excel Calculation Engine
        6. Retrieving Candidate Data from the LOB System from the Custom Task Pane
          1. Overview of the Business Data Catalog
          2. Creating the Application Definition File
          3. Developing the Custom Web Service
          4. Consuming the Custom Web Service in the Client Application
      4. Summary
      5. Further Reading and Resources
        1. Office Business Applications
        2. General Office Development
        3. Office SharePoint Server
        4. Windows SharePoint Services
        5. Visual Studio Tools for Office
        6. Blogs
    9. 5. Building Social Networking into Your Office Business Application
      1. What Is Social Networking?
        1. Applying Social Networking to OBAs
        2. My Site and My Profile
          1. My Site
          2. My Profile
        3. Integrating Blogs into Your OBA
        4. Integrating Wikis into Your OBA
        5. RSS
        6. Third-Party Social Networking Applications and OBAs
      2. Summary
      3. Further Reading
    10. 6. SharePoint and Developing Office Business Applications
      1. Where to Start?
      2. What’s the Difference between WSS Version 3.0 and MOSS 2007?
        1. OBA Reference Application Packs
      3. What Tools Are Available?
        1. Visual Studio 2008
          1. Sequential Workflow
          2. State Machine Workflow
        2. MOSS 2007 Out-of-the-Box Workflows
          1. Approval Workflow
          2. Collect Feedback Workflow
          3. Collect Signatures Workflow
          4. Disposition Approval Workflow
        3. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions
          1. Web Parts Template
        4. SharePoint Solution Generator
        5. Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
        6. Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor
      4. Summary
      5. Further Reading and Related Technologies
    11. 7. Managing Complex Business Processes with Custom SharePoint Workflow
      1. Workflow Processes in the Real World
      2. Introduction to Workflow in the 2007 Microsoft Office System
        1. Windows Workflow Foundation
          1. Workflow Authoring Styles
        2. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
        3. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
          1. Support for InfoPath Forms
          2. Integration into 2007 Microsoft Office System Client Applications
          3. Out-of-the-Box Workflows
          4. Customization of Workflows
      3. Creating Custom Workflows
        1. Overview of Creating Custom Workflows in SharePoint Designer
          1. Expense Report Scenario
        2. Workflow Project Templates in Visual Studio Tools for Office
          1. Sequential Workflows
          2. State Machine Workflows
          3. Deployment
            1. Building a Feature Package
      4. Customizing Business Rules
      5. Summary
      6. Further Reading and Resources
    12. 8. Deploying Your Office Business Application in the Enterprise
      1. VSTO Deployment
        1. Publish Wizard
        2. Installation
        3. Update and Rollback
          1. Rollback
        4. Uninstallation
        5. Document Solutions
        6. Publishing Document Solutions to SharePoint
        7. Publish Page
          1. Publish Location
          2. Install Settings
          3. Publish Language
          4. Publish Version
          5. Changing the Install Location
          6. Update on Demand
      2. SharePoint Deployment
        1. Features
        2. SharePoint Workflow Deployment
      3. Summary
    13. A. About the Authors
    14. Index

Product information

  • Title: Programming Microsoft® Office Business Applications
  • Author(s): Steve Fox, Rob Barker, Joanna Bischel, Erika Ehrli Cabral, Paul Stubbs
  • Release date: March 2008
  • Publisher(s): Microsoft Press
  • ISBN: 9780735625365