Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Daniel A Molina

Lubomir I Birov

Phillip Michael Hoff

Shi Sun

Li Ma

David Andrew Whitechapel

Hao Liu

Vladimir Yuryevich Morozov

Stephen James Styrchak

Rachel M Falzone Schaw

Christian Crowser

Thomas E Quinn

Michael Shneerson

Dimitar Birov

Michael W Morton

John Durant

Solution packages for a product for deployment on a collection of servers can be designed using one or more designers that provide user interfaces for visually arranging and configuring elements of the product. A package object model includes a managed object model that represents a package or feature manifest as defined by a product manifest XML schema. The object model can be used to create references to other project item and feature definitions. The extended object model can be used to generate an equivalent package or feature manifest XML file.

Package design and generation

A managed composite control can be directly (without intermediary hosting layers) hosted within an unmanaged hosting application. A managed control which can host managed composite controls is provided, the managed control being directly hostable within any unmanaged hosting control. An adapter (control) wraps the managed control content before the control content is moved into the unmanaged layer. Overloaded methods are provided that accept managed controls and manage communication between layers in such a way that instead of internal references expecting a user control, the internal references expect an object.

Light-weight managed composite control hosting

An object model is provided that allows .NET developers to customize the Office Ribbon user interface according to a .NET Ribbon model rather than the Ribbon XML/callback model of Office applications. The .NET Ribbon model implements the IRibbonExtensibility interface and provides properties and events for Ribbon components. At runtime, the .NET Ribbon model generates and provides an Office application or document with the XML needed to render the custom Ribbon user interface. A visual designer tool uses the .NET Ribbon model to provide .NET developers with a component view architecture that allows developers to set component properties and generate events.

.Net ribbon model for a ribbon user interface

The forms hosting system allows a developer to design custom Outlook form regions containing standard and custom managed controls using popular development tools. The forms hosting system provides a runtime wrapper that appears to Outlook as a normal ActiveX control. When Outlook invokes the runtime wrapper control, the runtime wrapper control loads the managed controls defined by the developer. The runtime wrapper control translates messages received from Outlook into messages understood by the managed controls.

Developing controls for outlook add-ins

.NET ribbon model for a ribbon user interface

Growing community of inventors

Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Daniel A Molina