Ty Anderson

Video: Implementing a custom UI for Office add-ins with ClickOnce

Sometimes I get on a roll. Currently that roll is “customizing deployment packages”. Yesterday, I subjected you to a video that shows how to customize a ClickTwice deployment to include a EULA (among other things). Today, I have some ClickOnce goodness for you.

With ClickOnce, Add-in Express installs a program in the Windows Start menu that allows your users to:

  1. Update your add-in (if updates are indeed available)
  2. Register your add-in… which is useful if you took advantage of #3 and…
  3. Unregister(ed) your add-in.

This little program’s UI looks like this:

The standard UI of the Add-in Express ClickOnce installer

This UI is a great example of an efficient design. It does what it does and it works well for every add-in built with Add-in Express for Microsoft Office and .NET.

But what if you wanted to customize it just a little bit? Well my friend, you have options… starting with building your custom UI to replace the one above. To find out how this story ends, you will have to watch the video. I can’t give everything away for free!

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2 Comments

  • raffaeu says:

    Not sure I find this useful for myself. I mean, if I can’t modify the ClickOnce UI what should I have to install on the client system an additional UI and show it the second time?

  • Dmitry Kostochko (Add-in Express Team) says:

    Hi Raffaeu,

    Thank you for your comment. Sorry, I do not quite understand the question, you do not necessarily have to use an additional custom UI if you don’t need it.

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