Create and Edit Office Documents with .NET (for developers)
Microsoft Office documents not only offer an easy and effective way for users to communicate and collaborate, but they also get smarter with each new release and increase connectivity with the remainder of the software universe. In some cases, though, Office applications can't replace the flexibility of custom code. Hence, the need to create and edit Office documents (mostly Word and Excel documents) programmatically exists—particularly from .NET applications.
Depending on your skills, this task can be approached from two diverse directions. You either use .NET to write GUI or console applications that manipulate documents, or leverage the true power of the .NET Framework to embed managed functions inside existing Office documents in a way that vaguely resembles a VBA macro. This article tackles both these techniques, beginning with the second approach.