Creating COM add-ins / plug-ins
in .NET and Delphi

Add-in Express™
Express your projects

Add-in Express for Microsoft Office: .NET and VCL editions comparison matrix


Add-in Express for Microsoft Office

Feature List

.NET Edition

Delphi VCL Edition

Environment

Platforms and run-time

Supported platform

.NET Framework

Win32/Win64

.NET Framework versions

4.0 and higher

Not required

Required run-time

Add-in Express Loader

Not required

Supported IDEs and programming languages

IDE

Visual Studio 2022

Visual Studio 2019

Visual Studio 2017

Visual Studio 2015

Visual Studio 2013

Visual Studio 2012

Visual Studio Express (2015 - 2012)

Delphi XE2 - Delphi 11 Alexandria

IDE Editions

Visual Studio:

Community

Professional

Premium

Ultimate

Enterprise

Delphi:

Professional

Enterprise

Ultimate

Architect

Programming languages

VB.NET

C#

C++.NET

Object Pascal

Supported Office applications and customization projects

Supported Office customization projects

Office COM Add-ins

+

+

Office Smart Tags

+

+

Excel Automation Add-ins

+

+

Excel Real-Time Data Servers

+

+

Excel XLLs

+


Supported Office application versions

Outlook

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

Word

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

Excel

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

PowerPoint

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

Project

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

Access

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

Publisher

2003 - 2021

2003 - 2021

Visio

2002 - 2021

2002 - 2021

OneNote

2010 - 2016

2010 - 2016

InfoPath

2007 - 2013

2007 - 2013

FrontPage

2000 - 2003

2000 - 2003

MapPoint

2002 - 2013

2002 - 2013

Integration with other Add-in Express products

Add-in Express for Internet Explorer and .net

+

Office COM Add-ins

Programming Model

Version-neutral run-time

+

+

COM add-in specific visual designer

+

+

Multi-hosted (shared) add-ins

+

+

Multiple add-ins in one assembly

+


Common Office customization

Visual designer for Office toolbars and menus

+

+

Visual designer for the Ribbon UI

+

+

Visual designer for native Office task panes

2007 - 2021

2007 - 2021

Version-neutral advanced task panes for Excel, Word, PowerPoint

2000 - 2021

2000 - 2021

Application-level keyboard shortcuts

+

+

Special components for intercepting of any built-in toolbar controls and menu items

+

+

Using any controls (standard and any 3rd-party) on Office toolbars

+


Outlook customization

Synchronous event helpers for Outlook object events: folders, items, item, etc.

+

+

Special components and visual designer for Outlook Explorer toolbars and menus

+

+

Special components and visual designer for Outlook Inspector toolbars, menus and ribbons

+

+

Context sensitivity: binding toolbars, menus, ribbons and certain controls to folders, folder content types, form classes, etc.

+

+

Special components and visual designer for Outlook option pages and folder properties pages

+

+

Special components and visual designer for the Outlook Navigation Pane shortcuts

+

+

Advanced view and form regions for Outlook

+

+

Context sensitivity for advanced view and form regions: binding regions to folders, content types, form classes, etc.

+

+

Excel Plug-ins

Real-time Data Servers

Version-neutral run-time

+

+

Special components and visual designer for Excel Real-time Data Servers

+

+

Automation Add-ins (worksheet user-defined functions)

Version-neutral run-time

+

+

XLLs (worksheet user-defined functions)

Special components and visual designer for Excel XLLs

+


Office Smart Tags

Programming Model

Version-neutral run-time

+

+

Smart Tag-specific visual designer

+

+

Smart Tag Customization

Run-time customization and visual designer for Microsoft Office Smart Tags

+

+

Smart tag libraries: multiple static and dynamic smart tag recognizers in one project

+

+

Security and Deployment

Security

Enforcing Office and Windows strict security

+

+

Support of Microsoft Office Trust Center

2007 - 2021

2007 - 2021

Application domain isolation

+


Deployment

Multiple projects in one solution

+

+

Deployment technology

Visual Studio integrated setup projects

InnoSetup autogenerated
scripts

Complete support of Wix setup projects

+

+


Complete support of the ClickOnce technology

+


Complete support of InstallShield setup projects

+

More details

More details



Add-in Express for Microsoft Office and .net

Add-in Express for Microsoft Office and Delphi VCL