If one is developing a .NET application, how can I develop an application
that uses COM automation that targets multiple versions of Word? For
example, the signature for the Document.Open method is different from
version 9 to version 11 (and I'm sure there are other variations as well),
and I'm wondering if there's some easy way to deal with it.
At present I'm only concerned with supporting 9-11 (i.e. Word 2000, XP, and
2003), though I'd like to be flexible enough to deal with future versions as
well. How are developers dealing with this sticky situation now?
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
12  2985 
Evan,
Unfortunately, there is no good solution for this. For something like
this, you will have to determine the version of Word you are using, and make
the appropriate call. This will also mean having references to the interop
assemblies for all three versions.
Given that the newer versions should support the older interfaces, you
might have some luck for most of the properties/methods, since you can
always downcast to the lowest version of the interface you will support.
However, if you need to do something different based on the version that
you have, you should probably write a utility class which will expose
methods which take the interface pointer, a version, and the parameters for
the operation, which will contain the separate logic.
Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard. caspershouse.co m
"Evan Stone" <re************ *********@hotma il.com> wrote in message
news:OS******** *****@tk2msftng p13.phx.gbl... If one is developing a .NET application, how can I develop an application
that uses COM automation that targets multiple versions of Word? For
example, the signature for the Document.Open method is different from
version 9 to version 11 (and I'm sure there are other variations as well),
and I'm wondering if there's some easy way to deal with it.
At present I'm only concerned with supporting 9-11 (i.e. Word 2000, XP,
and
2003), though I'd like to be flexible enough to deal with future versions
as
well. How are developers dealing with this sticky situation now?
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
Office automation is pure evil.
--
Derek Davis dd******@gmail. com
"Evan Stone" <re************ *********@hotma il.com> wrote in message
news:OS******** *****@tk2msftng p13.phx.gbl... If one is developing a .NET application, how can I develop an application
that uses COM automation that targets multiple versions of Word? For
example, the signature for the Document.Open method is different from
version 9 to version 11 (and I'm sure there are other variations as well),
and I'm wondering if there's some easy way to deal with it.
At present I'm only concerned with supporting 9-11 (i.e. Word 2000, XP,
and
2003), though I'd like to be flexible enough to deal with future versions
as
well. How are developers dealing with this sticky situation now?
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
> Unfortunately, there is no good solution for this.
It figures. For something like
this, you will have to determine the version of Word you are using, and
make the appropriate call. This will also mean having references to the
interop assemblies for all three versions.
Is it possible to set references to multiple type libraries within one
assembly? How does that work - is VS.NET smart enough to create separate
namespaces for the different versions of the assemblies so we can
differentiate at runtime?
Or, would it make sense to create 3 (for now) assemblies that each have one
reference to each Word Interop assembly, and then use a Factory pattern to
instantiate the appropriate version of a wrapper object designed to handle
its corresponding version?
Then there's the matter of determining the version of Word that they have
installed, which is another problem to deal with as well (but probably less
tricky)....
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
Evan,
See inline: Is it possible to set references to multiple type libraries within one
assembly? How does that work - is VS.NET smart enough to create separate
namespaces for the different versions of the assemblies so we can
differentiate at runtime?
No, it is not.
Or, would it make sense to create 3 (for now) assemblies that each have
one
reference to each Word Interop assembly, and then use a Factory pattern to
instantiate the appropriate version of a wrapper object designed to handle
its corresponding version?
Yes, it would. However, you would have to take care of the situations
where the interface differs. This would involve you having to create your
own interface, which in turn would check the version on those "tricky"
calls, and make the call to the appropriate interface.
Then there's the matter of determining the version of Word that they have
installed, which is another problem to deal with as well (but probably
less
tricky)....
I believe there is a registry setting which will tell you this.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard. caspershouse.co m
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
> Office automation is pure evil.
Agreed. But sometimes a necessary evil, unfortunately.. .
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
Inline. Is it possible to set references to multiple type libraries within one
assembly? How does that work - is VS.NET smart enough to create separate
namespaces for the different versions of the assemblies so we can
differentiate at runtime?
No, it is not.
Neato!
....but it's also as I figured, so whatever. Or, would it make sense to create 3 (for now) assemblies that each have
one
reference to each Word Interop assembly, and then use a Factory pattern
to instantiate the appropriate version of a wrapper object designed to
handle its corresponding version?
Yes, it would. However, you would have to take care of the situations
where the interface differs. This would involve you having to create your
own interface, which in turn would check the version on those "tricky"
calls, and make the call to the appropriate interface.
This is the scenario that I was originally planning for. I was planning on
writing an Adapter that would provide a *consistent* interface that the rest
of my application would interact with, and then pass the calls to the
appropriate underlying component. Then there's the matter of determining the version of Word that they
have installed, which is another problem to deal with as well (but probably
less
tricky)....
I believe there is a registry setting which will tell you this.
OK. I'll check this out... I'm sure it's fairly easy to do, and is not one
of my major concerns at this point.
Thanks for the information, Nicholas. You've been most helpful.
:)
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
Nicholas,
One more thing....
Do you have any idea as to how to get hold of the various .OLB type library
files one would need to accomplish what I'm hoping to do? Actually I *think*
I can get my hands on the v10 and v11 typelibs, but I'm not sure if I have
v9 around anywhere...
Thanks!
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
Evan,
If you have the original installs of those products, then you should be
able to get the type libraries.
Also, I forgot one thing. The recommendation that you use different
namespaces for the different versions can actually be done. Instead of
setting a reference in VS.NET to the COM object, use the TLBIMP utility to
generate the type libraries. That utility will allow you to specify the
namespace that the types in the assembly are in.
Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- ca*******@caspe rshouse.com
"Evan Stone" <re************ *********@hotma il.com> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP15.phx.gbl. .. Nicholas,
One more thing....
Do you have any idea as to how to get hold of the various .OLB type
library
files one would need to accomplish what I'm hoping to do? Actually I
*think*
I can get my hands on the v10 and v11 typelibs, but I'm not sure if I have
v9 around anywhere...
Thanks!
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
Not if you choose the right tools, and C# is not such tool, programming
against Office is where VB.NET has got it over C# hands-down. For example
VB.NET supports late binding at the language level, no need to resort to
reflection, VB.NET supports optional parameters, named parameters and
passing expressions to ref. parameters, whereas C# does not.
Willy.
"carion1" <dd******@gmail .com> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP14.phx.gbl. .. Office automation is pure evil.
--
Derek Davis
dd******@gmail. com
"Evan Stone" <re************ *********@hotma il.com> wrote in message
news:OS******** *****@tk2msftng p13.phx.gbl... If one is developing a .NET application, how can I develop an application
that uses COM automation that targets multiple versions of Word? For
example, the signature for the Document.Open method is different from
version 9 to version 11 (and I'm sure there are other variations as
well),
and I'm wondering if there's some easy way to deal with it.
At present I'm only concerned with supporting 9-11 (i.e. Word 2000, XP,
and
2003), though I'd like to be flexible enough to deal with future versions
as
well. How are developers dealing with this sticky situation now?
evan stone | software engineer
----------------------------------------
santa rosa, ca, usa
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version 9 to version 11 (and I'm sure there are other variations as well),
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