Visio taskpanes

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Visio taskpanes
 
Joost Verdaasdonk




Posts: 41
Joined: 2007-05-25
Hi All,

The new version 2010 works great (i was previously using a .net 1.1. version of addin express)
I also saw the new taskpane manager and thought I could use it in our application. (looks great)

The problem however is that our application makes heavy use of Word, Excel and Visio...
But to my surprise there is no taskpane manager for Visio... :cry:

So my question is, was there a specific reason not to build this... (is it because Visio has always been the outsider of Office...?)
Are you guys considering building this feature?

Anyway it would be great for now I can't use this nice feature in Word or Excel because then the app would look inconsistent in Visio.
Regards,
ManualMaster Development
Posted 24 Jul, 2010 18:57:40 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Hi Joost,

Office applications that support custom task panes (introduced in Office 2007):
- Outlook 2007 - 2010
- Excel 2007 - 2010
- Word 2007 - 2010
- PowerPoint 2007 - 2010
- Project 2010

Office applications that support Add-in Express panes:
- Outlook 2000 - 2010
- Excel 2000 - 2010
- Word 2000 - 2010
- PowerPoint 2000 - 2010

As you can see, Visio don't belong to any of the lists above. Currently, we don't think about providing advanced custom task panes in Visio.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 26 Jul, 2010 04:12:09 Top
Joost Verdaasdonk




Posts: 41
Joined: 2007-05-25
Hi Andrei, :)

Yes I was afraid of this and I know that Visio doesn't support custom taskpanes. (This application has always been different)

The funny part is of course that this application DOES have these panes but just doesn't allow automation on them.

But from my understanding you guys don't use the normal way of doing taskpanes because you also have them for office 2000 and that version didn't even have those taskpanes.

I'm guessing here, but perhaps you are using that old trick of reading the window layout of for example MS Word with a tool like Spy++ and then you just modify the window with API calls?

If so then the chances are that you could have done the same for Visio.

O well perhaps in the future then.
Thanks a lot for your answer and have a good day.
Regards,
ManualMaster Development
Posted 26 Jul, 2010 06:12:01 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Joost Verdaasdonk wrote:
The funny part is of course that this application DOES have these panes


How do you know this?

Joost Verdaasdonk wrote:
perhaps you are using that old trick of reading the window layout of for example MS Word with a tool like Spy++ and then you just modify the window with API calls?


Exactly.
Joost Verdaasdonk wrote:
If so then the chances are that you could have done the same for Visio.


Implementing a custom pane even for a single version of an Office application requires a lot of work. I cannot promise you that we will develop panes supporting Visio in the near future.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 26 Jul, 2010 07:53:04 Top
Joost Verdaasdonk




Posts: 41
Joined: 2007-05-25
Hi Andrei,

Just to clarify:

How do you know this?

Wat I meant was that the application itself has these task panes. (In Visio | Menu view | TaskPane)


Thanks for the confirmation on the technique and I do realize that things don't come flying out of the air. Your product is the best in Office land because you've spend an enormous effort on these things.

What I said was... if you are using the Spy++ technique then you Could have decided to do this as well for Visio. (But its clear of course that you guys didn't have it on your wanna have lists)

Again thanks for your answers and thinking along.
Regards,
ManualMaster Development
Posted 26 Jul, 2010 10:47:31 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Hi Joost,

Joost Verdaasdonk wrote:
In Visio | Menu view | TaskPane


Those are task panes, not custom task panes.

Unfortunately, I cannot promise that we will ever develop Add-in Express panes for Visio.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 27 Jul, 2010 06:54:19 Top