Design recommendation

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Design recommendation
Which way do I want to go for a design...? 
George Spears




Posts: 79
 Joined: 2010-05-06
Hello,

Brand new to Add-In Express....so this is probably a newbie style question... Looking for a design recommendation for a first project. My app analyzes a portion of text, and makes some recommendations. This app runs standalone now. Looking to incorporate it into BOTH Excel and Word. Both would use panes, both with menu access, both use the exact same processing... Only difference is Excel would look at the currently selected cell, while Word would look at the currently highlighted text to get the source text for the analysis. My app would process the text, then "paste" the data either into the adjoining cell (for Excel) or below the selected text for Word.

Design Consideration Question: Am I looking at one app/project, and the same code runs in both Excel and Word, or should I look at two different apps?

If I use a single project, what is the PROPER way to determine if the app running is Excel or Word?
Anything else I should be taking into consideration?

Thanks,
George S
Posted 07 Dec, 2011 21:53:41 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18821
 Joined: 2006-05-11
Hello George,

Typically, Word and Excel extensions coexist peacefully in one project. To check the host application of your add-in you use TadxCOMAddInModule.HostType, the top-level object from the corresponding object model is provided in TadxCOMAddInModule.ExcelApp and TadxCOMAddInModule.WordApp.

If you are going to use commandbar controls in your add-in, please check the section "Temporary or Not?" in {Add-in Express}\Docs\adxvcl.pdf on your PC. It describes why you need to use permanent command bars and controls (Temporary = False) in a Word add-in. Note that when an admin user uninstalls of a per-machine Word add-in, the uninstaller will be able to remove a custom toolbar only for that user; the toolbar will be still visible (non-functioning) for all other users. That is, Word add-ins should be per-user.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 08 Dec, 2011 06:03:18 Top