How to: Attach Managed Code Extensions to Documents

You can attach a customization assembly to an existing Microsoft Office Word document or Microsoft Office Excel workbook. The document or workbook can be in any file format that is supported by the Microsoft Office projects and development tools in Visual Studio. For more information, see Architecture of Document-Level Customizations.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects for the following applications: Excel 2013 and Excel 2010; Word 2013 and Word 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.

To attach a customization to a Word or Excel document, use the AddCustomization method of the ServerDocument class. Because the ServerDocument class is designed to be run on a computer that does not have Microsoft Office installed, you can use this method in solutions that are not directly related to Microsoft Office development (such as a console or Windows Forms application).

Note

The customization will fail to load if the code expects controls that the specified document does not have.

For a related video demonstration, see How Do I: Attach or Detach a VSTO Assembly from a Word Document?.

To attach managed code extensions to a document

1. In a project that does not require Microsoft Office, such as a console application or Windows Forms project, add a reference to the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.ServerDocument.dll and Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Runtime.dll assemblies.

2. Add the following Imports or using statements to the top of your code file.

   Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications
   Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Runtime
   

   using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications;
   using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Runtime;
   

3. Call the static AddCustomization method.

   The following code example uses the AddCustomization overload. This overload takes the full path of the document and a Uri that specifies the location of the deployment manifest for the customization you want to attach to the document. This example assumes that a Word document named WordDocument1.docx is on the desktop, and that the deployment manifest is located in a folder that is named Publish that is also on the desktop.

   Dim documentPath As String = System.Environment.GetFolderPath( _
        Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + "\WordDocument1.docx" 
   Dim runtimeVersion As Integer = 0
   
   Try
       runtimeVersion = ServerDocument.GetCustomizationVersion(documentPath)
   
       ' Make sure that this document does not yet have any Visual Studio Tools  
       ' for Office customizations. 
       If runtimeVersion = 0 Then 
           Dim deployManifestPath As String = System.Environment.GetFolderPath( _
               Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) & "\Publish\WordDocument1.vsto" 
           Dim deploymentManifestUri As New Uri(deployManifestPath)
           ServerDocument.AddCustomization(documentPath, deploymentManifestUri)
           System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The document was successfully customized.")
       Else
           System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The document is already customized.")
       End If 
   Catch ex As FileNotFoundException
       System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The specified document does not exist.")
   Catch ex As DocumentNotCustomizedException
       System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The document could not be customized." & _
           vbLf & ex.Message)
   End Try
   

   string documentPath = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(
       Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + @"\WordDocument1.docx";
   int runtimeVersion = 0;
   
   try
   {
       runtimeVersion = ServerDocument.GetCustomizationVersion(documentPath);
   
       // Make sure that this document does not yet have any Visual Studio Tools  
       // for Office customizations. 
       if (runtimeVersion == 0)
       {
           string deployManifestPath = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(
               Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + @"\Publish\WordDocument1.vsto";
   
           Uri deploymentManifestUri = new Uri(deployManifestPath);
           ServerDocument.AddCustomization(documentPath, deploymentManifestUri);
           System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The document was successfully customized.");
       }
       else
       {
           System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The document is already customized.");
       }
   }
   catch (FileNotFoundException)
   {
       System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The specified document does not exist.");
   }
   catch (DocumentNotCustomizedException ex)
   {
       System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("The document could not be customized.\n" +
           ex.Message);
   }
   

4. Build the project and run the application on the computer where you want to attach the customization. The computer must have the Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime installed.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Remove Managed Code Extensions from Documents

Concepts

Managing Documents on a Server by Using the ServerDocument Class

Application and Deployment Manifests in Office Solutions