The best reason for not automating office on server

Here is a simple question for you.. why you shouldn't be automating office on the server side..here are the options :

1) Because you promised your boss that you won't do it ?
2) Because gravitational pull of moon can have a negative impact on your solution?
3) Because you love your job ?
4) Because your colleagues don't like your job ?
5) You don't like to call support every now and then and hear that its not supported ?
6) Because of the reasons given in https://support.microsoft.com/257757
7) All of the above
8) Some of the above 
9) None of the above  

hmm.. confused ..here is a better reason. Now you don't need to do it! you have a better way, here it goes.[i'll just talk about word, i know that my intelligent readers can translate it to other office apps :) ]

With Office 2007 we introduced a new document format docx, or Open XML, The Office Open XML Formats are based on XML and ZIP archive technologies. The new file format in Microsoft Office Word 2007 divides the file into document parts, each of which defines a part of the overall contents of the file. You can easily create, change, add, or delete data in a Word 2007 file programmatically or manually.  Here is how to create an Open XML file without using Word https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb264572.aspx .

You can do the same thing programmatically, here are a couple of links that you can follow

https://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/02/OfficeSpace/default.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/11/BasicInstincts/

So, using this method we can create a docx file which is a native format for Word 2007. Now, the only problem remains unsolved is; how to use this format with the older versions of office!  And we already have a solution for this problem.  You can download and use Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.

 

del.icio.us tags: pranav Wagh, microsoft Blogger, Office 2007, Open XML, cool

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Comments

• Anonymous
  March 27, 2007
  You need to interchange options 7 and 8, because choosing option 8 (some) makes it become option 7 (all) :-)

• Anonymous
  July 23, 2008
  Sadly, if you need to convert Office documents to PDF the best result is still to automate the office products to do it. If you ask me, I'd say use any 3rd party pdf conversion library, but don't even think of automating office on the server side, it's real BAD