Simple Sample for VSTA integration into CSharp Hello World App

Hi !

I am currently evaluating the VSTA and I think that the ShapeApp samples are too complex for showing the basics of VSTA. Is there a small skeleton sample app available ? Also creating registry entries, gacutil stuff etc should be put into a script so a rookie like me does not deal with that.

I believe I am not the only one with that request, help would be really appriciated.

Hello Michael,

We’ve added some new samples to our downloads area.

Here is a link to a ‘testcon’ console application sample archive with doc included in the zip. The sample demonstrates an application with its winform UI layer contained in a VSTA Addin.  Testcon shows a minimal, but full-featured integration.  It is our simplest host app integration - a good place to start.
ftp://ftp.summsoft.com/private/28059.zip

Unzip the archive into a directory you have created below the root of your C drive to make things simple. The directory structure should look like this:
 
c:\vsta\summitsoftware\samples\testcon\...

A pre-created TestCon.EXE, TestCon.Proxy.Dll and VAO.dll are provided. Read the readme.txt for quick set-up instructions (of course the usual pre-reqs apply)

Once you have the sample working, you can demonstrate the functionality you described by specifying the /design command line switch.

Features of this sample:
- UI'less console manged host application
- Process-sync code to bring down VSTA when the process is killed (by closing the console window, Ctrl+Break, etc.)
- MessageFilter to handle blocking issues
- Seamless debugging experience
- Default project creation and loading
- VSTA integration completely separated into its own assembly
- Managed HostItemProvider/Adapter (if you require a COM adapter for your application, let me know)
- Full ShapeAppCSharpBasic application implementation in VSTA Add-in (minus VSTA :-)

The quickstart document that is included will guide you through the complete integration, starting from a blank solution.
As always, if you have further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Gary

Dear gary,

Would you please make sample for COM adapater ?

thanks in advance

VB6 COMClient Easy Integration

This example shows how simple (20 lines of VB6 code) it is to integrate VSTA into a VB6 application using a generic proxy and VAO. The generic proxy can be used to expose any VB6 ActiveX object to VSTA without using proxygen.  VAO is used to simplify the integration process.

You can see a small COM adapter by looking at the COMConnector project.

Hi Gary,

during my google searching to find a "simple" example for a VSTA integration, I found this thread. But the Assemblies to be referenced at the beginning of the hyperlinked example you posted seem to be depricated / replaced in VS 2008. I guess some of them have been renamed (AddInManager -> AddInAdapter ?) and some of them are updated (having a 9.0 suffix)

Is there an example for an up-to-date VS 2008 integration with a simple example? As to the guy who created this thread, the ShapeApp sample seems to be pretty complex to me, too.

Best regards

Jacques

Yes, the testcon (C# console app) and VB6 minimal samples are for VSTA 1.0.

Which one would you like to have updated for VSTA 2.0?

Hi Gary,

could you update the testcon example for VSTA 2.0?

That would be great.

Best regards

Jacques