Next Generation Application Extensibility

Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Applications

Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Applications (VSTA) provides a powerful customization toolset for ISVs, their customers, and their partners.  Built on Visual Studio and the .NET Framework,  VSTA enables innovative customization scenarios while offering new levels of security and control.

When integrated into an application, VSTA accelerates the development of tailored solutions for specific customer needs.  Offering managed extensibility for both COM and .NET applications, VSTA makes it easier to write reliable, robust, and secure customizations.  In addition, VSTA projects open in full Visual Studio, making customizations easier for IT departments to develop, manage, and deploy.

VSTA enables ISVs to serve a broader customer base without modifying their core product.  A standardized toolset and a managed extensibility environment, VSTA gives ISVs a strategic advantage in meeting specific customer needs more rapidly and at lower cost.

As part of the Visual Studio family, VSTA will continue to inherit innovations in Visual Studio and .NET, gaining new features with each release.  For example, VSTA will soon enable customizations that use Windows Presentation Foundation for rich UI or Windows Communication Foundation for connected systems development.

To get this next-generation toolset for application extensibility, review the VSTA pricing & licensing and download the Visual Studio Tools For Applications Software Development Kit (SDK).

Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2.0

Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2.0 is the next release of VSTA. For more information, see Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2.0 Product Information.

Watch Now: Visual Studio Tools for Applications Webcast (Level 200) In this on-demand webcast, we explore how customers deploy Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Applications (VSTA) to customize leading applications, going beyond the initial use demonstrated by ABB RobotStudio and Object Customizer by Solgenia.

Technical Overview Visit the VSTA Blog to explore the capabilities of VSTA including advanced add-in management, side by side integration with VBA, and managed code customization of InfoPath. Get unique technical insight into VSTA, VSTO, and Office development from Paul Stubbs, Program Manager for VSTA and co-author of VSTO for Mere Mortals. Visit Thomas Quinn’s blog on VSTA and VSTO for technical articles on the family of Visual Studio Tools. To develop custom forms solutions using VSTA, read the technical whitepaper Extending Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Using Managed Code  (includes a library of common code functions). For more information about enabling VSTA in InfoPath, read the Add-in Power article by Paul Stubbs on MSDN. Watch this MSDN Webcast: Russ and Joe Developer Show with Paul Stubbs: Introduction to Visual Studio Tools for Applications (Level 100).

VSTA Videos Visual Studio Tools for Applications at a Glance Get a quick overview of the basics of VSTA. This video uses a sample application called ShapeApp, which is included in the VSTA SDK, to demonstrate the VSTA IDE and macro recording. Introduction to Visual Studio Tools for Applications If you have questions about what you can do with VSTA, listen to this discussion between Eric Schnepp and Naveen Yajaman of the Visual Studio Tools for Applications product team. They discuss the design ideas, goals, and capabilities of VSTA as a development environment for application customization Customizing InfoPath You can use VSTA to expand the customized solutions you can create by using Microsoft Office InfoPath. Eric Schnepp, lead program manager for the Visual Studio Tools for Applications team, demonstrates how to add custom functionality to a form. Integrating VSTA to Enable Macro Recording Eric Schnepp demonstrates macro recording and debugging in a sample application that has integrated VSTA. Eric Schnepp is lead program manager for the Visual Studio Tools for Applications team.