Compared with VBA it’s a total different ‘world’ which is also true to some extend when it comes to classic VB. I’ve never said that .NET stuff is simple…

In my opinion the MSDN articles I refer to (see http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2006/08/16/creating-and-deploying-managed-com-add-ins-with-vbnet-2005-part-vi/) are good although they don’t describe how to put the generated standard COM DLL and the ‘shimmed’ managed COM add-in into an installation package. The later will be subject for an additional post by me.

Kind regards,
Dennis

I intend to download the trail of VS2005 pro, and set aside some time to follow your instructions,
I am looking forward to the shim section, I’ve never been able to understand this!

Many thanks for Your kind comment

From what I can understand it looks like we:
- For 2000 to 2003 will still need to use a ‘shimmed’ DLL *if* we use the .NET platform while
- For 2007 and forward it will rely on manifest which does not require any shimming at all.
(If I understand it correctly this is already an approach when it comes to MS Outlook).

Usually MSFT don’t give anything for free so I guess that by making it available for free they hope that more developers will find their way to the .NET platform.

Kind regards,
Dennis

Ross, that is an excellent link. (And the official announcement, here: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=459132&SiteID=1) This “Cypress” VS 2005 add-on does sound very promising. Might this finally be our easy-to-deploy shim for Office? We’ll have to wait and see, I suppose…

Thanks for the URL and Your kind comment

>Sure looks like .net needs a lot of work to get it up and running.

Yes, and it will be even more complicated when we add additional technical information when it comes to deployment and codesigning.

I hope You and other visitors can maintain the interest as I will in the end compare VB.NET with VB 6.0 when it comes to COM add-ins where I hope I can present some guidelines.

The folling list shows the headlines for remaining post on the subject:

1. NotesTool – Functions
2. Com Shim Wizard
3. Security (Strong names and CodeSigning)
4. Deployment
5. VB 6.0 vs VB.NET 2005 – Creating & Deploying COM add-ins

Kind regards,
Dennis

Have you heard much about the new VS addin for makeing Office adding?
http://blogs.msdn.com/kathleen/archive/2006/08/09/693474.aspx