Add-in Express 2010 for Office (.net and VCL) Beta 1 is published
This is again reposting of the newsletter that we sent out a few days ago. In the previous newsletter I promised to disturb you again only after publishing beta 1 of our flagship product – Add-in Express 2010 for Office. The time has come, but first I will tell an interesting story again, (in continuation of the previous one), and then proceed to our news.
The story
In the morning of November 5, 1757, the private secretary of King Friedrich II the Great, grew sad. And how could he not lose his spirit in the atmosphere of the field camp, which the 24-thousand Prussian army hastily pitched near the Saxon village of Rossbach. And how could he not become sad, when every now and then one could hear the banging of drums, the hoofbeat of horse troops and the clanking of infantry columns’ accoutrements around the camp – the joint 50-housand Franco-Imperial army was unhurriedly encircling the Prussians. King Friedrich was an observant man and he asked his secretary about the cause of his sadness, and the latter frankly confessed to all his sad thoughts. “My friend, promptly order to lay the tables for dinner and have dinner with me. And right after the dinner I will give an answer to your sadness!” said the king.
In half an hour, after completing the encirclement of the Prussians, and knowing that Friedrich was having dinner with his secretary, and seeing no motion in the Prussian camp, the Franco-German army also decided to have a snack before the battle. Oh yes, the French and Germans had already realized the imminence of Friedrich’s defeat, and became so assured of their forthcoming victory, that a frugal dinner at officer tables was gradually and imperceptibly turning into a bacchanal celebration of the victory. Complimentary toasts went round, Burgundy and Chablis flew like water, the celebration was going into full swing. And in the Prussian camp, the dinner of the King and his secretary was coming to an end.
Friedrich abruptly rose from the table, told something in a low voice to one of his adjutants and said, “Here is my answer!” At once, anxious shrill sounds of bugles and the banging of drums rolled out across the camp. The Prussian army, the best trained and the most disciplined army of that time, drew up in a battle formation in a blink and its columns thrust into the formations of their enemies, disordered by merriment and exultation. The battle ended in two hours with a complete rout of the Franco-German army. An excellent Prussian infantry dotted the Is and crossed the Ts in the battle, and finally raised the spirit of the secretary.
Now about our story… ;-)
Add-in Express 2010 for Office Beta 1 is published
I am sure that most of our Professional and Premium subscribers have already received their license keys for this beta. Moreover, I see that many of them already downloaded it and, probably, started to test their add-ins. At least my Inbox is overflowed with questions. I will answer some of them right here, but most of my answers will be published on our blog in the next few days. In this connection, I apologize to all who will get my personal reply with a big delay or will not get it at all, because I may consider that I have already answered you in this newsletter.
Well, here goes…
.NET and VCL only?! Where is VSTO?
So far, we published beta 1 only for two editions – .net and VCL. It is decided that we will publish a beta for VSTO (and probably a release at once) immediately after the release of VSTO. As you understand, two our editions, Add-in Express for .net and Add-in Express for VSTO, have a common code base. That is why, we will be able to assemble the VSTO edition pretty swiftly after our flagship has been tested and published.
Where is Security Manager 2010 for Outlook?
Beta 1 of Security Manager 2010 is going to be published together with beta 2 of Add-in Express for .net and Add-in Express for VCL, and it will be included in the Premium packages of both editions.
What about a complete feature list of Add-in Express 2010 Beta 1?
You can find it on our latest news page.
Why the list of known issues is bigger than ever?
The answer is simple – we don’t have the Office 2010 release, nor VS 2010 release, nor Outlook Social Connector add-in release yet. The last (by the way, this is our largest headache, which I mentioned in the previous newsletter) being installed in Outlook 2003 – 2007, makes many add-ins not functioning, including those that were built on older Add-in Express versions.
Is Visual Studio 2010 supported?
Yes, Add-in Express 2010 for Office and .net provides full support for Visual Studio 2010 RC. Support for VS2010 RTM will be added once it is published.
Is Add-in Express 2010 targeted to Office 2010 only?
No! Add-in Express 2010 supports all new features of Office 2010 (x86 and x64) as well as all features of previous Office versions. So, you can continue developing version-neutral Office add-ins using Add-in Express 2010.
Is Office 2010 64-bit completely supported?
Yes, it is fully supported by Add-in Express 2010 for Office .net. No for Add-in Express for Office and VCL.
Where can I find more details about msi-based web-deployment?
We will publish a blog post about msi-based web-enabled deployment soon.
Does beta 1 support all new ribbons of Office 2010?
Yes, all new ribbons of version 2010 of Outlook, Publisher, Project, Visio and InfoPath are completely supported.
What about Outlook Reading Pane and To-Do Bar regions?
As we wrote in the Known issues section, beta 1 doesn’t support these regions in Outlook 2010. There are some limitations, and it will take us some time to carry out additional research. I cannot give you the 100% guarantee that we will be able to implement regions for Reading Pane and To-Do bar in Outlook 2010. Apropos of this, if the Outlook Social Connector add-in is installed in Outlook 2003 – 2007, regions for Reading Pane do not work either.
What about view regions for appointment folders (e.g. Calendar)?
All regions for this folder do not work so far. This does not mean, however, that they will not work in beta 2 – we need time for more research.
Our main news
At our today’s meeting, Andrei voiced a very interesting idea that all of us fully supported at once. In response to my information about huge positive feedback to our beta, Andrei declared, “You know, we have the best customers in the world.” Briefly, pithy and true to fact. That is why, I address all who are reading this text, please accept my warm and countless thanks for all your support. Our entire team and I personally like very much to work for you and with you. Many thank to all :)
Last updated on 09-Apr-2010.