Microsoft® .NET Development for Microsoft Office

Chapter 11. Smart Documents

Smart documents are documents in Microsoft Word 2003 or workbooks in Microsoft Excel 2003 that have some associated intelligence. You can build two kinds of smart document solutions: simple XML-based solutions and sophisticated DLL-based solutions:

• XML-based solutions. You can create very simple smart documents by writing an XML file that conforms to the Microsoft Office Smart Tag List (MOSTL) schema. Using this approach, you don’t need a custom DLL. Instead, all the "intelligence" is listed in the XML file. You are restricted to displaying static text in the task pane, as well as minimal functionality.

• DLL-based solutions. Sophisticated smart documents require a custom DLL. In this DLL, you write a component that implements ...