Is it possible to deploy the new JavaScript add-ins as simple static files using something like Apache? The tutorials suggest ISS or Node.
The add-in that I have in mind has zero interactions with the web, only with the spreadsheet itself.
I would ideally like to just be able to reference the files with file:// URLs but that would be too easy.
Note that I am not talking about VBA, VSTO, C#.Net. Those are all easy. I am talking about the newest, most obtuse technology.
Why suffer the pain? Because Microsoft hates VBA. It is slowly degrading. And eventually I will have to move on. They are fools, because VBA is their secret sauce, but so be it.
Yes. You can host the web application part of an Office Add-in on an Apache server.
Related
Q1. Are there any method to distribute excel office add-in(w/ office.js) in privately?
(Will office.js add-in also be distributed like VSTO's .exe OR .xla/.xlam macro files with password?)
Q2. If I run office add-in server(node.js) on my on-premise server, What will have to be distributed to the end-users?
(I want to hide the core source logic unlike VBA macro.)
I am now developing an excel office add-in. But there seems to be some limitation to deploy to the end-users in my company.(We are now testing environment for pilot, and using office 365 but it is restricted by IT's policy)
When I refer to the official documentation below, the docs says that the way to deploy add-in in privately are Microsoft 365 admin center OR SharePoint catalog.(AppSource is publicly for everyone.)
refer. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/publish/publish
However, it seems that it have to use Microsoft's services or components like SharePoint or admin center. I don't want to use these items because I want to flexibly cope with various environments.
I have also read the article as below.
refer. How to distribute private office add-ins?
But the reply thread seems that the writer couldn't get the appropriate answer what I also want to know.
I want to know the other ways to distribute excel office add-in(w/ office.js) without unveiling my core source logic and what is the minimum materials I have to provide to the end-users(i.g. manifest or something).
Typically, as you have already know, you need to host the add-in's source code on the web server anywhere. The manifest file just refers to the place where the sources are stored. And the single file which should be provided to be able to side-load add-ins locally is the manifest file. Everything else is hosted under your control.
Due to the nature of the web technology you can't hide the source code from users. The add-in acts like a regular web page. The best what you could do is to obfuscate your code.
(Desktop version) I'm new to using the javascript API for excel, but is it possible to create an excel add-in and share with other users without having to add the add-in to an app source etc? Can it be embedded in the excel file etc. I'd like to share scripts with other users the same way that I can share VBA if it's possible?
for security reasons as well as to make manageability of your add-ins easier, we do not store the code within the workbook, like VBA. Instead, the javascript is hosted on your website and we have a reference to your add-in saved in the workbook.
What this means, is to get a similar experience to VBA, you must either have the add-in hosted on app source (which will make it accessible via the Office Store), OR each user in an organization must have the add-in deployed or available to them (here we recommend centralized deployment as it will give the most robust experience).
This has all the current deployment options you can use for Office add-ins: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/publish/publish
thanks!
Is it possible to embed google excel in my website to edit document stored locally?
My manager asked me if it is possible to integrate the Microsoft office webapp in my own website.
Clients have excel files stored on our website, we want to know if it is possible for them to open the file with a web excel page, edit the file and save the modifications. For now, they use SharePoint so it is easy for them but we intend to use an other platform.
Our client can have all the license we need.
I searched but I didn't find any solution.
I know you should be able to do this with ASP and the .Net Framework. SharePoint uses ASP pages, so you may try to do something simpler.
If you go over the Internet you'll see several solutions because people do this too.
e.g. a thing you can do is to use Open XML API to do this, and it is like reading / modifying a flat file on the server. A restriction is it has to be .xlsx / 2007 format onward.
I have HTML and JavaScript that run just fine in a SharePoint 2013 content-editor web-part, from which I can access the Ewa.EwaControl object (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ee589018.aspx) to get to the various Excel Web Parts hosted on the page.
The Ewa has some limitations that I'd like to overcome by using the office.js (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/fp142185.aspx).
Also, both Ewa and office.js seem to do a similar thing, but I can't find anything on the internet that indicates which is deprecated in favor of which. With SharePoint 2016 requiring Office Online Server, and Excel Web Parts now being subsumed by Office Online Server, what does that mean with regard to the future of either office.js or Ewa? They seem to have overlapping features and it's unclear which we should invest in.
I can't speak for all teams but I work on Office.js and I can assure you at least we are actively working on Office.js. We are bringing in tons of New APIs with Office 2016 and try to reach as many platforms as we can. You can find all the released APIs and ongoing effort from out Documentation on Github. https://github.com/OfficeDev/office-js-docs
I hope that helps you make your decision.
Thanks,
Sky
I have read very little content regarding Sharepoint (SP), and most of my reading has been sales pitch oriented overview material. I utilitze VBA with Office apps - especially Access - on a regular basis, and I am wondering if there is any translatable way to retain the custom functionality of writing my own VBA within Sharepoint, especially with MS Access.
I have read that Access databases can be run on SP, with tbales to list and forms to InfoPath, but I am assuming they are primarily talking about Access database apps that were built with wizards, which consist mainly of bound objects without explicitly-defined code.
Most of my app are primarily code driven with VBA because of my automation requirements, which I rely on to perform my tasks. Am I going to be able to accomplish the same thing within SP, and could anyone please provide any references on the subject, specifically?
You can use Access to distribute your front end to users, regardless of how much VBA it has, but an app with VBA code in it will not convert to run in the browser as a Web Database within Sharepoint 2010's Access Services. For that to work, you have to use the new, more powerful macros and limit yourself to the features supported by web objects. For an existing app, this means rebuilding every object from scratch.
Do you need to run your Access app in a web browser? If not, then you're barking up the wrong tree here.
AFAIK Sharepoint does not support VBA.
If you publish an Access database to SharePoint as a web database it cannot use VBA, however you can create a hybrid with the tables in SharePoint and the frontend in Access, that way you can have as much VBA etc as you want and still have the advantages of your data being stored in the SharePoint SQL server. You can store the frontend on SharePoint and have users download it through SharePoint .
The alternative is to keep a traditional Access database on the SharePoint share and access it via webDAV rather than the SharePoint web interface. You could map the SharePoint library as a local drive to make it easy.
Note that drive mapping is considered a legacy technology and will no longer be supported by Windows 11 due to the demise of IE11.