CopySourceAsHtml (free on CodePlex) will do exactly what it says.  It’s a Visual Studio 2008 add-in.  It adds a “Copy As Html” menu item in your right click menu inside Visual Studio.  The source code will be copied with all its color coding intact, perfect for blogging.

See the results in this post.

With XLGL 3.0 out, I think we need to spend some time on resolving general issues with XLGL and listing resources available to you.

About 50% of all support call get can be resolved by updating your system. XLGL is bound to Excel and works on Windows. First, make sure you use Genuine Software and that you have the latest update and Service Packs for Windows and Excel.

Then, of course, having the latest version of XLGL really helps. We constantly make improvement ourselves and release updates as needed, free for anyone with a valid subscription to support. These updates may add new features, but also solve bug and add support for changes made either in Excel or Simply Accounting.

You can look at your current version from Excel, under XLGL > About… You can also run XLGL > Check for Updates to see if an update is available and download it.

What if that doesn’t solve it? When XLGL generates an exception, you can send the error report to us, with your own comment. This is anonymous, so if you want to be reached back, please include your email.

Use XLGL > Contact Support to send us support emails. This will include technical information such as the version of XLGL and version Excel you are using and can help us resolve the issue faster. Emails can include screenshot, workbook, Simply Accounting backup file or any other file you deemed necessary. Too much information is better than not enough.

support@logicimtech.com is the email you want to use if you do not have access to XLGL for some reason.

The help file included with XLGL can also help you solve problem, while learning more about XLGL.

This blog along with the french one continuously provide up-to-date information and solution for XLGL.

Look at Twitter (here in French) for the latest news and alerts.

Check out our web site for examples, tutorials and other information.

Did I forget anything?

Pierre Alain

For those of you that don’t know http://windowsteamblog.com , it is a combination of blogs from various Windows Teams within Microsoft.
It’s a great resource for first hand information from the teams themselves and highly recommended!

Last month they started with a post that discusses 3 WHS add-ins, and today AutoExit is one of the lucky ones to be discussed.
You can find the post here: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowshomeserver/archive/2009/11/16/windows-home-server-add-ins-d-link-d-viewcam-autoexit-and-diskmgt.aspx

I have this awesome little ADO.NET code generator called .netSavant.  It analyzes your stored procedures and generates an optimized wrapper class that encapsulates the logic for execution.  After using it myself for quite some time, I thought, oddly, that I could make a little extra cash from the endeavor.  Heh, sadly I was wrong.  Dispite a lot of interest, few people were interested in paying $50 for a visual studio addin that saved a LOT of time and buggy code.  Wierd, but whatever.

So, with mixed feelings I killed the project.  It simply cost too much money to maintain the website and merchant account for a product that only sold a handful of licenses over the 18-24 months.

I’m left wondering what to do with the project.  There are a few options:

1. Create a codeplex project
2. Host the source code myself
3. Release the addin as freeware (no source code)
4. Release the addin as freeware with sponsorship (uhg, gross right?) (no source code)
5. Leave the project inactive and move on to other exciting technologies

I’m wondering if I really want to spend more effort supporting the project as a whole, though with so much time invested, its hard to walk away from it.  Part of me would like to see more people use .netSavant, if only to justify the time I spent creating it.  I’d also like the challenge of updating some of the methodology used to generate the source code, and possibly provide some extensibility points to enhance the analysis features that it supports.

Perhaps some day .netSavant will be resurrected in a better form.  Until that time, thanks for your interest and support.

Joshua

For all of the time I spend in Excel, I struggle when it comes time to plot data.  The MS Office Labs Chart Advisor is meant to help guide which type of chart should be used based on characteristics of the dataset.  While I don’t expect it to replace the human input of defining the kind of story the chart should tell, I do hope it will whittle down the amount of time I spend tuning my charts.

This little add-on is exciting for me, since I have some data mining projects coming up that will be a good proving ground for the add-in.

Thanks to the How-To Geek and Pointy Haired Dilbert for this recommendation.

En complément de ClearContext, je vous avez parlé la semaine dernière de Xobni (INBOX à l’endroit). Ce logiciel développé par une entreprise californienne, est un add-in pour Outlook qui vous offre un nouveau moyen d’organiser et de chercher vos mails.

Pour cela, Xobni crée un profil pour chaque personne avec qui vous correspondez. Ces profils contiennent les informations sur vos contacts, connections sociales (Facebook, Twitter etc…), les conversations et les pièces attachées, nombre de mails envoyés à ce contact, nombre de mails reçus en provenance de ce contact, mais aussi numéro de téléphone.

Lorsque vous cliquez sur un mail, Xobni vous donne la fiche contact et les mails associés. Vous avez instantanément un aperçu des échanges que vous avez avec ce contact:

Maintenant, voyons la partie recherche. Vous entrez simplement des mots clés dans le menu SEARCH. Xobni affiche alors le fruit de cette recherche structurée par contact, conversations, fichiers partagés, rendez-vous et tâches.

Dans l’idée d’un moteur de recherche, vous pouvez entrer des mots clefs ou une certaine syntaxe pour cibler au plus près votre recherche. (des dates, des noms, opérations booléennes etc…).

Xobni est bien plus puissant et souple d’emploi que la fonction recherche intégrée d’Outlook. Xobni indexe en effet tous vos mails pour accélérer vos recherches. Ca se fait en tache de fond sans ralentir le système.

Une autre fonction fort appréciable de Xobni est ‘AutoSuggest’:

Lorsque vous écrivez un mail, vous tapez l’adresse de votre correspondant et Outlook vous propose des adresses mails mais uniquement si vous les avez déjà utilisées. Mais quid de celles de votre répertoire que vous n’avez encore jamais saisies ? Outlook ne vous les présentera pas. Xobni oui ! Exemple vous cherchez une adresse mail à partir d’un prénom. Xobni vous liste l’ensemble des contacts rattachés à ce prénom que vous l’ayez ou non utilisé une seule fois. Simple, puissant et rapide.

Dans l’idée de ClearContext, Xobni est en mesure de fournir un certains nombres de statistiques (email analytics): quantité de messages reçus et envoyés en fonction des jours de la semaine, des heures de la journée ou sur l’année précédente. Cela vous permet de connaître les personnes avec qui vous correspondez le plus, quelles sont vos heures où vous avez le plus de mails, qui vous répond le plus rapidement ou le plus lentement. Ces outils peuvent vous aider à vous améliorer et à corriger vos habitudes ou celles de vos collaborateurs par exemple. En complément, je vous invite à lire le post “Emails datamining” du Blog d’Olivier Ezrraty

En conclusion, Xobni est donc un excellent complément à ClearContext dans sa facilité à retrouver un élément de votre messagerie Outlook et vous évite de chercher dans tous vos répertoires, tâches, rendez-vous et contacts.

Faites en l’expérience et vous serez conquis. Une petite vidéo en anglais vous donnera un bon aperçu du logiciel.

Sachez qu’une version pour portable Blackberry est en développement et je ne manquerai pas de vous en parlez dès sa sortie.

LifeHacker has published an  article on ‘Five Great Add-ins to Power Up Your Windows Home Server Console’.
AutoExit is featured in it, you can find the article here.

Here is a link from Microsoft VSTO Forums on how to deploy outlook 2003 add-in on Windows Vista.
We just need to change some registry entries. (Shifting them from HKCU hive to HKLM hive).
Here is the direct link to the discussion in the VSTO Forum. Please have a look.

Click here

No. 1 – I found a pearl in Excel 2007, or the Share Workbook feature

You can share a workbook with multiple users over a network! Just go to the “Review” Ribbon and click on “Share Workbook” and tick the “Allow changes…” box. It’s as easy as that!

I have used it to create real time polls in my classes and for other collaborative projects. To see the changes made by other users the individual user has to save the work repeatedly, which is not as good as spreadsheets in Google Docs. You also have the disadvantage, unlike Google Docs, that you cannot share the workbook over the Internet, but just on a local network. However,  for schools this feature is just AWESOME, because it lets you share a workbook with entire classes and you retain all the really amazing features of Excel 2007, features like Smart Arts and the new graphing tools that make look Google Docs spreadsheets like primitive cave drawings in comparison!

No. 2 – Triggers in PowerPoint

Triggers in PowerPoint allow you to start animation effects of objects on your slides at the click of other objects, so you can get things to move, change, appear and disappear by clicking on existing objects, or even “invisible” buttons that you have created. The possibilities are limitless. I have seen Blockbuster games designed with triggers and I have made multiple teams games, where from the same slide two teams can play and affect changes on the side of their team. I have also created drop down menus to navigate around your presentation (this is very effective and looks very professional) and spelling and Numeracy games. Have fun with triggers, you will find them in the Timing tool for each animation you create in PowerPoint!

The Timing tool in PPT

Download my Innovid on Triggers here.

No. 3 – Ink for Office 2007

Ink has actually been around for a long time in PowerPoint, but Office 2007 has extended it to Word and Excel too, which is a great asset, if you are using an interactive whiteboard, or a Tablet PC. Well the name says it all, with Ink you can use your interactive pen to hand write directly on you PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and even Excel workbooks. I will produce an Innovid on Ink very soon, so I’ll let you know when you can access this one! Meanwhile, if you want to have a go at inking, you’ll find this tool in the Review ribbons. Have fun with it!

No. 4 – PowerPoint Plex

PPTplex is an amazing plug-in for PowerPoint 2007 that allows you to display all your slides as if they were on a canvas! You can then zoom in and out of each section of your canvas and enjoy the looks of amazement of your audience. You can also look at the PPTplex blog to get your Wiimote to act as the mouse and control your presentation using a Nintento Wii remote control. This is quite amazing!

In Education you can use PPTplex to create amazing mind maps with your classes and to create timelines that really come to life in History, etc…

Have a look at my Innovid on the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Network

No. 5 – Maths Add-in for Word 2007

The Maths Add-in enhances the already very good Equation Editor in Word 2007 and lets you solve simple and simultaneous equations. You can also plot 2-D and 3-D graphs directly in Word and trace the curve, or rotate around the axis of your choice!

This is very useful and if you this Maths is the only thing you can use it for think again, because I used it (under suggestion of Stuart Ball, Microsoft) to get my Yr 12 pupils to create a Poem to describe the Photoelectric Effect

I have made an Innovid about this Add-in, so take a look at it and have fun with it!

Well, these are my top five features in Office 2007. What are yours? Please comment!!!

Well, I do have to admit that I’m creating a bit of a copycat post here…
Today I was reading through the blogs and found this post from Sam Wood.
So I went to watch the video, only to see that AutoExit was also featured on it!

AutoExit can be seen at 15:37 & 15:44 over here.
I’ve never heared of Tekzilla.com before but it looks like a very nice site. (Thanks for the tip Sam )

AutoExit on Tekzilla.com

The Nubli add-in for Outlook:

Nubli is a new add-in for Outlook that allows you to process and organise your inbox in a smart and quick way. It automatically analyses your emailing history and sets priorities and groups your emails in priority sets. You can also customize these priorities and prioritize your contacts. All this a lot more features, like marking emails with actions items and reminders, can be done at the click of a button in the Nubli toolbar.

Download your free trial for Outlook 2003, or Outlook 2007, here.

Have fun!
Nick

Cara membuka Protect Sheet (Unprotect Sheet) di Excel, dengan menggunakan fasilitas Add-In.
Langkah-langkah melakukan Unprotect Sheet di Excel, adalah sebagai berikut :
1. Buka File Excel yang akan di Unptotect;
2. Extract File Password, dan jalankan Password Add-In;
3. Jika muncul tampilan Password.xla contains macros, pilih Enable Macros;
4. Jika muncul tampilan Password remover now loaded, pilih Ok;
5. Lalu pilih menu Tools, Unprotect Sheet;
6. Kemudian pilih Ok;
7. Selesai

Bagi rekan-rekan yang perlu file Password-nya, silahkan download filenya dibawah ini :
PASSWORD

Selamat mencoba.

Sumber :  http://chyardi.blogspot.com/2009/10/membuka-password-sheet-unprotect-sheet.html

Question: I accidentally disabled the EndNote X3 tab in Word 2007. How can I make it reappear?

Answer: To re-enable the EndNote Cite While You Write (CWYW) Add-in in Word 2007, you need to follow the following steps:

• Click on the Office button in the upper left corner .
• Under the Office menu, click on “Word Options” at the bottom. A new window will open.
• Click on “Add-ins” on the left NavBar in the Word Options window.
• At the bottom of the list of Add-Ins, under “Disabled Application Add-Ins”, you should see the Cite While You Write Add-in. To re-enable this, go to the Manage: pull-down menu located at the very bottom of the Word Options window. Change the menu from “COM Add-ins” to “Disabled Items”.
• Click Go, you will see a little pop-up window.
• Click on the “Add-in: cite while you write (endnote cwyw.dll)” and then hit Enable.
• After doing that, close Word 2007 as well as all other Office programs and then restart Word2007. The EndNote X3 Tab should reappear in the Ribbon next to the View tab.

Should you have any question, please contact us.

Kris Rodenhausen, the author of the add-in P80 has released a new version!

What is P80? (The name comes from Port 80)
It’s a website that you can view via your homepage.
It gives a central overview of various kinds of information that you normally would need to query from all kinds of places (via WHS Console, via RDP,…).
It provides a lot of information into one compact website, this also has the advantage that it can be viewed using a web enabled mobile phone.
P80 is still very young, but it has a lot of potential and it’s already very good.

Kris contacted me, to ask if I wanted to cooperate by giving him an interface to AutoExit so that he could use functionality of AutoExit and implement it in his add-in.
So I thought: why not? I liked the add-in and it seemed like a nice extension.
We worked together on getting this going and you can now view the result in this new release.

That means you can now use your mobile phone to shut down/reboot/… your machines too! (Of course you need to have AutoExit 2008R2 or 2009 installed)

You can find an extensive review on the site from Andrew Edney: http://usingwindowshomeserver.com/2009/09/27/review-of-the-p80-add-in-for-windows-home-server

Download it here

While developing an C#-based add-in for Sparx Enterprise Architect, I just encountered a very nasty bug:

System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at VariantClear(tagVARIANT* pvarg)
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.CustomMarshalers
        .EnumeratorViewOfEnumVariant.MoveNext()
at Foo.bar()

The exception only arises when I deploy the add-in as a compiled (Release build) DLL. When debugging the add-in from within Visual Studio, it worked fine. And this is the “evil” code in Foo.bar():

foreach (EA.Element element in package.Elements)
{
    doSomething();
}

A second glance to the exception stack trace and a reading of this thread made me clear that the translation of “foreach” to a COM operation fails in that specific case. Use the following workaround to get rid of the issue:

for (short i = 0; i < package.Elements.Count; i++)
{
    EA.Element element =
            (EA.Element) package.Elements.GetAt(i);
    doSomething();
}

Much thanks to R Henry who had the same problem and posted his findings in the above-mentioned thread!

AutoCopy :: Add-on for Firefox.

I’m always copying snippets of text from web pages to use on this blog or something else I am writing. This little add-on makes it a bit easier. Every time I select some text it presses Ctrl-C for me and copies it to the clipboard. It only works for text – not images.

It has a useful right-click menu that includes:

• Undo copy
• Previous clipboards – a history!
• Paste to location bar
• Paste to search bar
• Search for (whatever is selected)
• Open in new tab (assuming you’ve selected a URL)
• Append URL to clipboard

My only problem with Firefox add-ons is that they are very sensitive to the Firefox version. Firefox wants to update itself almost weekly and I almost always get an error message about incompatible add-ons I have installed.

It’s another of those things that make using a PC more complex and stressful than I like. I like to minimize the number of add-ons and utilities I install – but they grow inexorably over time. I lost the lot when my old laptop’s drive crashed and it was nice to start from scratch.

I found a problem with Auto Copy when composing blog posts. When I want to add a URL I usually find the page I want in another browser tab and copy the URL from the address bar. Then I return to the editing window, select the text and insert the link.

But with Auto Copy it replaces what I just put on the clipboard with the text I’d selected in the post. That caused me to wonder what was up until I remembered Auto Copy. The work around is to select the text first and open the link creation window. Then go to the other tab and copy the URL.

Aren’t side effects wonderful‽