I want to create an Office Add-In with some HTML + JavaScript for sell in Office Store. And this add-in no need using any server side facilities.
But if I understood https://dev.office.com/getting-started/addins the source files of Add-in must hosted on some Web server.
So main question: can I somehow pack all sources and all resources of Add-in to the output DLL file and push to Office Store only the Manifest and DLL files without any web servers?
I need this for allow users from Office Store, install this Add-in to his Office and let work with it even offline (without internet connection).
Also such configuration a little complicate for reverse Add-in, if someone decide steal my sources and create duplicate of Add-in.
No, it is not possible because office add-in have to be located somewhere. When the user "installs" a web based office addin, in reality he just subscribes to a server where the addin is hosted. Microsoft doesn't host the dlls, (i.e they don't provide a server to run your dll), they just establish a link between the final user and your server via the office store and provide an API to ease interaction.
If you want to build an add-in that can be completely offline, you should look VSTO addins, XLA addin , XLL addins or COM addins. However none of these addins can be published on the office store.
It has been possible to use appcache to make offline webapp add-ins for office 2013 (https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/Apps-for-Office-Enable-bdcb7a2f).
Its unclear whether this works with newer versions of Office.
This is definitely not possible via the Office Store.
Related
I have developed an Office add-in for Excel and would now like to test it under production conditions before it is deployed and published in AppSource.
Is there any way to test the add-in under production conditions? The only thing I have found so far is the ability to do this via sideloading (https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/office/dev/add-ins/testing/test-debug-office-add-ins#sideload-an-office-add-in-for-testing). But that is not a real test environment for me. Are there any other possibilities?
Sideload is our recommendation to test your add-in before you do public publish.
If you plan to publish your add-in to AppSource and make it available within the Office experience, make sure that you conform to the Commercial marketplace certification policies.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/marketplace/certification-policies
After you submit, A validation test will be conducted.
please pay attention to following areas:
Add-ins must follow design guidelines without impeding the customer
experience within the host application.
Add-ins must be compatible
with all versions of Internet Explorer 11 and later, and the latest
versions of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple
Safari (macOS).
Add-ins must work in all Office applications
specified in the Hosts element in the add-in manifest.
Add-ins must work across all platforms that support methods defined in the Requirements element in the add-in manifest,
For more information about the validation policies, please refers to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/marketplace/certification-policies#1120-office-add-ins
All the questions/answers I have seen so far are old and do not provide a definitive answer.
Also what can I use locally and what can I use online?
what can I use locally and what can I use online?
You may use your VSTO and VBA add-ins for Office Desktop application on Windows.
Office applications on Web (online) has extensibility via Office.js API. Microsoft current name is "Office Add-ins", you may try them by loading into your Office application (excel) from Office Store. If you want to develop add-in based on this technology I would suggest to start over here: Office Add-ins platform overview. The conception behind of this technology is "build once, use everywhere where Office runs". That means your add-in may work for Office Desktop on Windows, Office Desktop on Mac, Online versions as well as some mobile platforms (subject to availability)
I was trying to find a way to publish an outlook add in to office store.
But I found out that we can publish only office apps and not the add ins to the office store.
Hence I wanted to know what is the difference between an office app and an office add in?
And is there an easy way to convert an already built add in to an app?
Or will I have to implement the functionality all over again, while developing the app?
Hence I wanted to know what is the difference between an office app and an office add in?
Not so long ago (at #build2015) MS named Office Apps as "add-ins" as well. Classic Office add-ins are based on the IDTExtensibility2 interface (COM). They can't be run on any device or web browser. Office COM add-ins are for the desktop editions of MS Office (x86 and x64). COM add-ins can be implemented using a wide range of programming languages: from unmanaged C++ or Delphi to managed ones (C#, VB.NET and etc.). On the opposite side Office Apps (also called as add-ins now) are a small web based applications (HTML, CSS, JS) that have a limited access to the object model (typically related to the selection or opened item).
And is there an easy way to convert an already built add in to an app?
No, they are entirely different type of applications.
Or will I have to implement the functionality all over again, while developing the app?
Yes, you need to develop an Office App from the ground.
It is not lear what Office application you are talking about, but in case of Outlook you may find the Selecting an API or technology for developing solutions for Outlook 2013 article in MSDN helpful.
Sorry for the confusion. "Add-in" is just the new name for "App". So, you should be able to publish your add-in (built using HTML and JavaScript) to the Store. This is different from the really old COM add-ins.
I have a .net solution for converting word/excel to pdf developed in MS Visual Studio .Net 2003.I added references i.e., Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word in my project. It is working fine in my local system where MS Office is installed but when I tried to execute in the server where MS Office is not installed, I face some Class ID errors 00024500-0000-0000-c000-000000000046 and 000209FF-0000-0000-c000-000000000046 with respect to Word and excel. So i told my client to install MS Office on server but he wants me to use Office runtime 2010 to convert MS office documents? So what is office runtime actually? Was it helpful in my case? Does MS Office installation is required if I am using VSTO?
I am new here. Kindly help.
Thanks,
Praveen.
There is no "Office runtime".
I added references i.e., Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word in my project.
Interop assemblies are used to marshal your calls into unmanaged environment. There is no actual COM servers installed that may handle your calls (i.e. no endpoints).
Anyway, Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment.
If you are building a solution that runs in a server-side context, you should try to use components that have been made safe for unattended execution. Or, you should try to find alternatives that allow at least part of the code to run client-side. If you use an Office application from a server-side solution, the application will lack many of the necessary capabilities to run successfully. Additionally, you will be taking risks with the stability of your overall solution. You can read more about that in the Considerations for server-side Automation of Office article.
If you deal only with open XML documents you can use the Open XML SDK. See Welcome to the Open XML SDK 2.5 for Office for more information.
But if you need to deal with binary file formats you have to look for third-party components that are designed for the server-side execution.
I need to have all the documents in Sharepoint opens in client applications. I set the appropriate setting in the admin page, but it doesn't work for all users. Also I tried to set this in library settings, result was similar.
I think the reason may be on a client side, but I haven't found it. All users with this trouble have IE7 and MS Office 2003.
Does anybody know, how i could handle this?
I would think that the server is checking if the user has Office installed locally. This is achieved by trying to activate an object from the ActiveX control installed by Office locally. You can find this DLL under c:\program files\microsoft office\office12[14]\OWSSUPP.dll. If this dll fails to load, for instance, missing or not registered probably, SharePoint assumes that no local client software is installed. You can register the DLL or run repair on the Office installation, that should fix the problem