Eric White's Blog

Whew!  I finished the fourth and final screen-cast.  In this screen-cast, I show how to use Word Automation Services to repaginate a document and update the table-of-contents.

You can download the code that I present in this video from OpenXMLDeveloper.org.

Here is the complete list of screen-casts in this series.

I’ve been posting some new content over at OpenXMLDeveloper.org, and somehow didn’t manage to post the info here.

I’ve posted the third (out of four) screen-casts around inserting / updating tables-of-contents.

Exploring Tables-of-Contents in Open XML WordprocessingML Documents (Part 3)

My goal is to get the fourth posted before the end of the week.

Update: Here is the complete list of screen-casts in this series.

The following screen-cast was in response to a specific query in the forums on OpenXMLDeveloper.org.  Even if you don’t care about speaker notes in an Open XML PresentationML document, you might be interested in watching this.  It shows my approach to researching Open XML markup.

Screen-cast: Remove Speaker Notes from an Open XML Presentation

The following screen-cast re-affirmed the truism: it takes more time to make a shorter screen-cast.  The following is 6:40 long.

New Screen-Cast: Short and Sweet Intro to DocumentBuilder 2.0

I’ve had a few questions lately about how the Microsoft Public License works.

The text of the Ms-PL: http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/licenses.mspx

You can find a page on Microsoft.com that explains the Ms-PL in straightforward terms: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/communitysourcelicensing.mspx

Here is a StackOverflow.com question/answer page regarding the Ms-PL: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1424307/how-does-ms-pl-license-work

I’ve just published the second screen-cast in this series on updating the TOC of a WordprocessingML document.  In the first screen-cast, I explored the markup around TOCs.  In this second screen-cast, I discuss the markup a bit more, and then introduce some code that makes it easy to add a TOC to a document.  This code will become part of the PowerTools for Open XML project.

As part of the definition of each TOC, you specify a set of switches that Word uses as instructions on how to construct the TOC.  This screen-cast discusses the TOC switches, and shows how to find out more about them from the text of the Open XML standard.

You can find the code that I discuss in this video on OpenXMLDeveloper.org.

Now, back to editing the third screen-cast in this series.  Looks as though there are going to be four.

Here is the complete list of screen-casts in this series.

-Eric

One issue that has been sorely lacking in content is that of adding / updating TOCs in WordprocessingML documents.  I’m starting a series of screen-casts around this issue, and I’ve just posted the first in the series.  The first video walks through the markup for a table of contents.  It explains how the TOC can (but is not required to) be in a content control, and why you would want to put it in a content control.  It discusses how fields in WordprocessingML are used to represent a TOC.  The video dissects field markup, and explains how fields can be nested (and always are nested in the case of a TOC).

In the video, I reference three links.  Here are those links:

Open XML Package Editor Power Tool for Visual Studio 2010

Open XML Markup Simplifier Application

Deep dive into fields in WordprocessingML

The next video will be an introduction into some code that I’ve written for PowerTools for Open XML, which enables you to more easily insert a TOC into a document.

Update: Here is the complete list of screen-casts in this series.

Recently I wrote some code that implemented search-and-replace for Open XML WordprocessingML documents.  I wrote that code for an Open XML developer who needed to implement that functionality using XML DOM, although with a different language than C#.  Because XML DOM is standardized, translating the code to another language and another implementation of XML DOM is relatively straightforward.

I want to introduce search-and-replace functionality in a CMDLET in PowerTools for Open XML, but I have been moving PowerTools code away from XmlDocument, so I rewrote the search-and-replace code using LINQ to XML, using a functional transform.  It was an interesting and fun project.  The video below introduces the TextReplacer class, and compares it to the code that I presented that uses XmlDocument.  It is an interesting comparison of imperative code (using XmlDocument) and functional code (using LINQ to XML).

You can download the TextReplacer class from this blog post (in an attachment at the bottom).

The 2010 Information Worker Demonstration and Evaluation Virtual Machine, (also known, at least by me, as the SharePoint 2010 Evaluation VM) is my favorite way to play around with SharePoint development. If you have a computer running Windows Server 2008 R2, you can get up and going quickly with the VM. The VM has everything you need in it to get going with SharePoint development – an operational installation of SharePoint Server 2010, Office 2010, Visual Studio 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2, Silverlight, and much more. This means that you can be writing code within minutes of installation of the VM. After downloading the VM, it takes less than half an hour to get up and going. In this post, I introduce a two-part video that walks through the process of getting the SharePoint Eval VM up and running.

Download: 2010 Information Worker Demonstration and Evaluation Virtual Machine

The Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 instances used in these virtual machines are distributed without activation or a valid product key. You will receive activation notifications a few days after your first use, and expiration notifications after 120 days.

The Virtual Machines contained in this package are un-activated 180 day evaluations. They will require activation, or re-arming, after a 10 day period after which they will shut down after 2 hours of continuous operation. You can reset the activation clock a limited number of times (4 or less is what the setup guide indicates). Some time ago, I wrote a blog post, How to Install and Activate the IW Demo/Evaluation Hyper-V Machine, which walks through the process of connecting the VM to the internet and activating it, after which the VM will operate properly for 180 days.

I am going to be posting a few screen-casts in the near future about SharePoint, BCS, and some other fun topics. To make it as easy as possible for you to follow along in those screen-casts, I’ve recorded a 2-part screen-cast that walks through the process of getting the SharePoint Demo VM up and going. Those other screen-casts will take up where these screen-casts leave off.

Here is the first of the two parts:

Here is the second of the two parts:

In the next screen-cast, I’ll show you how to install the AdventureWorks demo database, and create an external content type (ECT) using a table in that database.

I’ve put together a screen-cast that shows how to query an Open XML spreadsheet using LINQ from VB.NET.  If you are using VB, this is a super-easy way to extract data from SpreadsheetML.

You can find the code at OpenXMLDeveloper.org.

DocumentBuilder 2.0 is a much-improved version of the DocumentBuilder class that is part of PowerTools for Open XML. Using DocumentBuilder, you can split Open XML WordprocessingML documents apart, and merge and combine them in a variety of ways. DocumentBuilder deals with the many issues associated with interrelated markup in Open XML WordprocessingML.

This third screen-cast in this 3 part series explains how DocumentBuilder is data-driven so that it is more robust.

You can find a complete list of DocumentBuilder 2.0 content as well as links to download it in the DocumentBuilder Wiki Page on OpenXMLDeveloper.org.

Before watching this screen-cast, be sure to watch the first in the series and the second in the series.

DocumentBuilder 2.0 is a much-improved version of the DocumentBuilder class that is part of PowerTools for Open XML.  Using DocumentBuilder, you can split Open XML WordprocessingML documents apart, and merge and combine them in a variety of ways.  DocumentBuilder deals with the many issues associated with interrelated markup in Open XML WordprocessingML.

You can find a complete list of DocumentBuilder 2.0 content as well as links to download it in the DocumentBuilder Wiki Page on OpenXMLDeveloper.org.

Before watching this screen-cast, be sure to watch the first in the series.