Interop vs. Core [Not Resolved]

[RobDog888]

What is the difference between ...

Option Explicit On
Option Strict On
 
Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop
 
Public Class Blah
'...
 
'And
 
Option Explicit On
Option Strict On
 
Imports Microsoft.Office.Core
 
Public Class Blah
'...

I have two systems both running the same version of VS 2003 w/VSTO 2003 on XP. Only difference is one
is XP SP1 and the other is XP SP2. Now if on the system without the .Interop namespace some Office code will give
errors. I have to end up only importing just the Microsoft.Office namespace only.

Here is the code in question.

And on the working system -


The XP SP1 system only shows the Core namespace.



Is there any reason that I should not import the entire Office namespace?

Thanks for any insight into this.

[techgnome]

The XP SP1 system only shows the Core namespace.
[/color]

THat's odd..... that's actualy backwards from what I would expect....

I was going to suggest that maybe the .Interop class is what would allow you to interact with the older Office products, while .Core would be .NET built in to the newer office. I would have expected that .Interop to be in the SP1 as it would allow older code to work..... ??? Unless it got left out and wasn't available until SP2?

Got me. Its just a guess really.

Tg

[RobDog888]

I'm still searching the helpfile and msdn online and I read one thing so far... .Interop (for Office only) is the vendors
official release... blah, blah, blah.

So, maybe its the SP2 that contains the RTM patches for Office but that doesnt make any sense unless its
there and SP2 gives access to it or something like that?

[Shaggy Hiker]

I had something like this for Excel, and I don't fully understand it.

I was doing something that needed the Excel interop. I had it on one system, but not on any other system. Nothing I did in VS seemed to change this in any way. Eventually, I went back to Add/Remove programs in control panel, and selected Office. Under the add features option, I was able to look at individual install components. The key was the .NET programmability libraries (or something like that).

Without these installed, nothing in VS allowed me to use interop (it errored out any reference to it). With these installed, interop was there, and everything worked fine.

I have done no further research on the topic.

[kleinma]

I had something like this for Excel, and I don't fully understand it.

I was doing something that needed the Excel interop. I had it on one system, but not on any other system. Nothing I did in VS seemed to change this in any way. Eventually, I went back to Add/Remove programs in control panel, and selected Office. Under the add features option, I was able to look at individual install components. The key was the .NET programmability libraries (or something like that).

Without these installed, nothing in VS allowed me to use interop (it errored out any reference to it). With these installed, interop was there, and everything worked fine.

I have done no further research on the topic.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...embliesFAQ.asp

[RobDog888]

Thanks Shaggy. I will check it out when I get home.

Guess thats good enough until verification tonight.

Just had a quick look on this system and it appears the the .NET Programmability is under each of
the Office Suite programs you have installed. Plus one under Office Tools for MS Forms 2.0 Programmability.

I know I have a full install at home, but I wil check it out.

[RobDog888]

Doh! Missed your post kleinma. Great link. I bet my other system may have a corrupt interop! I am almost 100% sure
I installed the .NET Programmability Support.

I cant wait to go home for 2 reasons now

[kleinma]

I cant wait to go home for 2 reasons now

can't "work sucks" be a 3rd????

[RobDog888]

can't "work sucks" be a 3rd????

Thats my First reason!

[Shaggy Hiker]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...embliesFAQ.asp

Interesting link, it confirms what I had determined through trial and error. I was thinking that it was pretty awkward requiring the end user to have a certain installation of Excel (with certain components installed) before they were able to use the interop, but maybe that is understandable. Unlike Access, Excel files are tied to the program pretty tightly. By giving away the interop, you are pretty much giving away the program. M$ doesn't like to do that, but in this case I think it is understandable.

[RobDog888]

But if they cant install the PIAs without having Office installed, the only give away is the end user of the
vs program. I dont think that they are giving away too much since it would really take allot of code to do anything
that would be at the level of a replacement.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Actually, one of the things you can do is run the app. It is up to you whether or not it is actually visible to the user. If it is visible, then it is just the same as starting it as normal. In this way, they are giving the whole program away (or, I suppose, the interop must launch the program).

When I was testing some of this, I kept breaking the debugger and restarting. I had a class to encapsulate the Excel work entirely, and the Dispose() method closed it. Whenever I had a problem in debugging, I restarted the app. After a little while, I looked at the system monitor, and realized I had half a dozen hidden Excel instances in memory. Had to go through and terminate them all manually.

[RobDog888]

Ok, I installed the .NET Programm blah ... but no .Interop yet.

It says to run the RegAsm from the global assembly cache

From the global assembly cache, run the RegAsm tool on the affected PIA to re-register it. For example, run RegAsm on the Office PIA (the Office PIA namespace is Microsoft.Office.Core), as follows:
%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\RegAsm.exe
%systemroot%\assembly\GAC\Office\11.0.0.0__71e9bce111e9429c\Office.dll

[RobDog888]

I updated my office and ran the regasm from the command line.
Now I get the .Interop but when I add both references (Ofice and Outlook) the Outlook objects are not found.

[RobDog888]

*BUMP* = Outlook still not found.

[kleinma]

rob, unless I am doing something wrong (or not what you are looking for) I was able to set a reference to "Microsoft Outlook 11.0 Object Library" under the com tab, and then I was able to access the outlook classes.

the reference file it says it points to in the com tab is msoutl.tlb, but when you add the reference, it points to the dll in the GAC for outlooks PIA

and it imports as
Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook

[Shaggy Hiker]

I haven't worked with Outlook, but I see the same things Kleinma sees. From your description, it really sounds like the programmability (from post #6) is not installed for Outlook. Is there a way to confirm it? Your description sounds like the problem I had before I got Excel set up right.

[kleinma]

I also did not have to install anything to the GAC, it did it for me when I put my office CD in and did the advanced install and selected to install the PIAs

i noticed you said you had to do it manually rob?

[RobDog888]

Yes, I installed the PIAs from the Office CD and then I still had to run the RegAsm like in the article. That got the
Interop to show, but even with the reference to Outlook added it still shows "undefined" for my Outlook objects.

[RobDog888]

I was just re-reading some of the posts to make sure I didnt miss something and I did but it doesnt make sense.
"Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook" make it work but at the office my system is using the "Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop"
only and that works?

Why is it different and why doesnt it recognise from just the Interop import the Outlook namespace?

[kleinma]

I was just re-reading some of the posts to make sure I didnt miss something and I did but it doesnt make sense.
"Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook" make it work but at the office my system is using the "Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop"
only and that works?

Why is it different and why doesnt it recognise from just the Interop import the Outlook namespace?

well there are 2 different COM references, one is the Office 11.0 object library and one is the outlook 11.0 one.....

I think if you reference the first one, it gives you what you say you have at work... while the second give you what I had posted..

[RobDog888]

Well now I'm even more confused. I added a reference to MS Excel and with the Imports ...Interop only I can
do Dim oWB As Excel.Workbook without errors. I should be able to do the same for Outlook but it doesnt have the PIAs I guess.

[kleinma]

Well now I'm even more confused. I added a reference to MS Excel and with the Imports ...Interop only I can
do Dim oWB As Excel.Workbook without errors. I should be able to do the same for Outlook but it doesnt have the PIAs I guess.

do you see the outlook PIA in the GAC?

[RobDog888]

But if you add just the Outlook reference then it adds both the Outlook and Office references.

I'll look in the GAC.

[kleinma]

But if you add just the Outlook reference then it adds both the Outlook and Office references.

I'll look in the GAC.

its weird... if i remove the office reference but leave the outlook one, it still works.. did this to test

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim OL As New Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.ApplicationClass
        MsgBox(OL.Version)
        OL = Nothing
    End Sub

im not sure if you lose any other functionality though...

[RobDog888]

I dont see the PIAs I re-ran the Office setup and double checked if the .NET Programmability were installed
for all products and they were. Should I install the PIA Redistributables download too?

[kleinma]

I dont see the PIAs I re-ran the Office setup and double checked if the .NET Programmability were installed
for all products and they were. Should I install the PIA Redistributables download too?

hmmm maybe.. or can you select an uninstall of the PIAs in the office setup, and then try to install them again?

[RobDog888]

Ok, I removed the Outlook PIA and re-opened my Outlook project. Removed the reference and re-added it.
It works now but then that means I dont have PIAs for Outlook. It worked the other way (with PIA) but I'll have to
connect to work and compare the GAC? (I'm playing hooky from work today )

[Shaggy Hiker]

I don't know what that office one does. I remember that I added it, removed it, added it again, etc. Never did see any changes.

[RobDog888]

The Office reference is the core of the Office program. Like commandbars, toolbars, buttons, and menu items.

[Shaggy Hiker]

That explains it, I never used any of that stuff.