Chapter 14. Developing Office XML applications Office Script Developer Task
Smart documents
Smart tags
The research pane
XML expansion packs and manifests
Previous versions of Microsoft Office allowed developers to create custom applications that work within the Office environment. XML in Office 2003 improves Office custom applications, for two major reasons:
Office can process more than its traditional binary .doc and .xls files. These days, almost any data is available as XML, which means it can be edited by Office. Complex applications can be built to perform completely customized tasks, but still provide the familiar features of the Office environment.
XML allows the elements of a document to be identified unambiguously. Applications can therefore be accurately context-sensitive when interacting with the user.
A complete explanation of how to develop Office-based applications is outside the scope of this book. This chapter covers some of the key XML-enabled aspects, including:[1]
[1] Microsoft refers to applications that use these features as smart client solutions.
Smart documents, which allow specialized, context-sensitive task panes to appear, depending on the current element type. Users can interact with controls in the task pane.
Smart tags, which allow context-sensitive menus to appear when a sequence of characters is recognized that matches a list or pattern.
The research pane, which allows customized research services to be used from an Office task pane.
XML expansion packs and manifests, which facilitate the deployment of Office applications.
