• Create a Word Document project with the name My Dynamic Actions Pane. Make sure that Create a new document is selected. For more information, see How to: Create Visual Studio Tools for Office Projects.

  Visual Studio opens the new Word document in the designer and adds the My Dynamic Actions Pane project to Solution Explorer.

1. Select the My Dynamic Actions Pane project in Solution Explorer.

2. On the Project menu, select Add New Item.

   The Add New Item dialog box appears.

3. Select XML Schema in the Templates pane.

4. Name the schema ActionsPaneSample.xsd and click Add.

5. On the View menu, select Open With.

6. In the Open With dialog box, select XML Editor and click Open.

7. Replace the text in the XML editor with the following text:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <xs:schema targetNamespace="http://schemas.microsoft.com/vsto/samples" elementFormDefault="qualified"
       xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/vsto/samples"
       xmlns:mstns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/vsto/samples"
       xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
     <xs:element name="Sample" type="SampleType"></xs:element>
     <xs:complexType name="SampleType">
       <xs:all>
         <xs:element name="Insert" type="InsertType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
         <xs:element name="Table" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
       </xs:all>
     </xs:complexType>
     <xs:complexType name="InsertType">
       <xs:sequence>
         <xs:element name="MemoTo" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
         <xs:element name="MemoFrom" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
         <xs:element name="MemoSubject" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
       </xs:sequence>
     </xs:complexType>
   </xs:schema>

8. Save your project.

1. Right click ThisDocument in Solution Explorer, and select View Designer.

2. Add the following text to your Word document:

   MEMORANDUM

   To:

   From:

   Subject:

   The following table lists the contact information you requested:

   Name	Address	City	State	Postal Code
   Nancy Davolio	507 - 20th Ave. E., Apt. 2A	Seattle	WA	98122

1. On the Tools menu, point to Microsoft Office Word Tools, and select Templates and Add-Ins.

   Note
   If Microsoft Office Word Tools Commands is not available in the Tools menu, click the document to give it focus. For more information see, Office Menus in the Visual Studio Environment.

2. In the Templates and Add-ins dialog box, click the XML Schema tab, and click Add Schema.

3. Browse to the ActionsPaneSample.xsd schema you created earlier, which is located in your project directory, and click Open.

4. Click OK in the Schema Settings dialog box.

5. Click OK to close the Templates and Add-ins dialog box.

   The XML Structure task pane opens.

1. Click the Sample element in the XML Structure task pane.

2. Click Apply to Entire Document when prompted.

3. Select the three lines of text that contains To, From, and Subject, and click the Insert element in the XML Structure task pane.

4. Place your cursor after To:, press the TAB key twice, and click the MemoTo element to insert it.

5. Place your cursor after From:, press the TAB key twice, and click the MemoFrom element.

6. Place your cursor after Subject:, press the TAB key once, and click the MemoSubject element.

7. Select the table so that the entire table is highlighted, and click the Table element to apply it.

   The XML tags appear within the table cells.

8. Clear the Show XML tags in the document check box.

9. Click XML Options at the bottom of the XML Structure task pane.

10. Select the Ignore mixed content check box, and click OK.

11. Close the XML Structure task pane.

1. Select the My Dynamic Actions Pane project in Solution Explorer.

2. On the Project menu, select Add New Item.

3. In the Add New Item dialog box, select Actions Pane Control, name it AddTextControl, and click Add.

4. Change the Size property of the actions pane control to 170, 135.

1. From the Windows Forms tab of the Toolbox, drag a Label control to AddTextControl, and change the Text property to To:.

2. Add a Textbox control to AddTextControl and change the following properties:

   Property	Value
   Name	toBox
   Size	110, 20

3. Add a second Label control to AddTextControl, and change the Text property to From:.

4. Add a second Textbox control to AddTextControl and change the following properties:

   Property	Value
   Name	fromBox
   Size	110, 20

5. Add a third Label control to AddTextControl under the previous text box, and change the Text property to Subject:.

6. Add a third Textbox control to AddTextControl next to the previous label, and change the following properties:

   Property	Value
   Name	subjectBox
   Multiline	True
   Size	110, 40

7. Resize the subjectBox text box to allow multiple lines.

8. Add a Button control to AddTextControl and change the following properties:

   Property	Value
   Name	insertText
   Text	Insert

1. Add a second actions pane control to your project and name it ShowPropertiesControl.

2. Change the Size property of the actions pane control to 170, 50.

3. From the Windows Forms tab of the Toolbox, drag a Button control to ShowPropertiesControl and change the following properties:

   Property	Value
   Name	tableProperties
   Text	Table Properties
   Enabled	False
   Size	100, 23

4. For C#, change the Modifiers property of the button to Internal.

1. Add a third actions pane control to your project and name it ShowAllControl.

2. Change the Size property of the actions pane control to 170, 75.

3. From the Windows Forms tab of the Toolbox, add a GroupBox control to ShowAllControl and change the Text property to My Actions Pane.

4. Add a CheckBox control to ShowAllControl on top of the group box and change the following properties:

   Property	Value
   Name	showCheck
   Text	Show All Controls

5. For C#, change the Modifiers property of the check box to Internal.

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click ThisDocument.vb or ThisDocument.cs and select View Code.

2. Create a variable reference for each actions pane control in the declarations section of ThisDocument, as follows:

   Visual Basic

   Dim addText As New AddTextControl
   Dim showProperties As New ShowPropertiesControl
   Dim showAll As New ShowAllControl
   
   Friend WithEvents showCheck As System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox
   

   C#

   private AddTextControl addText = new AddTextControl();
   private ShowPropertiesControl showProperties = new ShowPropertiesControl();
   private ShowAllControl showAll = new ShowAllControl();
   

3. In the Startup event handler of ThisDocument, write the following code to add the ShowAllControl control and show the actions pane:

   Visual Basic

   Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(showAll)
   
   showCheck = showAll.showCheck
   

   C#

   this.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(showAll);
   

   Note
   The order in which you add controls to the actions pane determines their placement. If you have a control that will always be visible at the top of the actions pane, you should add it first. Order is also dependent on the StackOrder property of the actions pane. For more information, see How to: Manage Control Layout on Actions Panes.

4. Add the following code in the ContextEnter event handler of the SampleInsertNode control:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub SampleInsertNode_ContextEnter(ByVal sender As Object, _
       ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs) _
       Handles SampleInsertNode.ContextEnter
   
       If showAll.showCheck.Checked = False Then
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(addText)
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(showProperties)
       End If
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void SampleInsertNode_ContextEnter(object sender, 
       Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs e)
   {
       if (showAll.showCheck.Checked == false)
       {
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(addText);
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(showProperties);
       }
   }
   

5. Add the following code to the ContextLeave event handler of the SampleInsertNode control to hide the control once the user has moved the cursor outside of this XML node:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub SampleInsertNode_ContextLeave(ByVal sender As Object, _
       ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs) _
       Handles SampleInsertNode.ContextLeave
   
       If showAll.showCheck.Checked = False Then
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(addText)
       End If
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void SampleInsertNode_ContextLeave(object sender,
       Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs e)
   {
       if (showAll.showCheck.Checked == false)
       {
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(addText);
       }
   }
   

6. Add the following code in the ContextEnter event handler of the SampleTableNode control:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub SampleTableNode_ContextEnter(ByVal sender As Object, _
       ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs) _
       Handles SampleTableNode.ContextEnter
   
       If showAll.showCheck.Checked = False Then
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(addText)
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(showProperties)
       End If
   
       showProperties.tableProperties.Enabled = True
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void SampleTableNode_ContextEnter(object sender,
       Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs e)
   {
       if (showAll.showCheck.Checked == false)
       {
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(addText);
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(showProperties);
       }
       showProperties.tableProperties.Enabled = true;
   }
   

7. Add the following code in the ContextLeave event handler of the SampleTableNode control to hide the control once the user has moved the cursor outside of this XML node:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub SampleTableNode_ContextLeave(ByVal sender As Object, _
       ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs) _
       Handles SampleTableNode.ContextLeave
   
       If showAll.showCheck.Checked = False Then
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(showProperties)
       End If
   
       showProperties.tableProperties.Enabled = False
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void SampleTableNode_ContextLeave(object sender,
       Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ContextChangeEventArgs e)
   {
       if (showAll.showCheck.Checked == false)
       {
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(showProperties);
       }
       showProperties.tableProperties.Enabled = false;
   }
   

8. In C#, you must add event handlers for the XMLNode controls. You can place this code in the Startup event handler of ThisDocument as shown below. For information on creating event handlers, see How to: Create Event Handlers in Visual Studio Tools for Office.

   C#

   this.SampleInsertNode.ContextEnter += new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.
       ContextChangeEventHandler(SampleInsertNode_ContextEnter);
   
   this.SampleInsertNode.ContextLeave += new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.
       ContextChangeEventHandler(SampleInsertNode_ContextLeave);
   
   this.SampleTableNode.ContextEnter += new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.
       ContextChangeEventHandler(SampleTableNode_ContextEnter);
   
   this.SampleTableNode.ContextLeave += new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.
       ContextChangeEventHandler(SampleTableNode_ContextLeave);
   

Save your project and verify that the actions pane controls change as you move your cursor through the document.

To test your project

1. Add the following code to ThisDocument:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub showCheck_CheckStateChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
       Handles showCheck.CheckStateChanged
   
       If showAll.showCheck.Checked = True Then
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(addText)
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(showProperties)
       Else
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(addText)
           Me.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(showProperties)
       End If
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void showCheck_CheckStateChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
   {
       if (showAll.showCheck.Checked)
       {
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(addText);
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Add(showProperties);
       }
       else
       {
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(addText);
           this.ActionsPane.Controls.Remove(showProperties);
       }
   }
   

2. In C#, you must add an event handler for the checkbox control. You can place this code in the Startup event handler of ThisDocument as shown below. For information on creating event handlers, see How to: Create Event Handlers in Visual Studio Tools for Office.

   C#

   showAll.showCheck.CheckStateChanged += new EventHandler(showCheck_CheckStateChanged);
   

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click AddTextControl.vb or AddTextControl.cs and select View Code.

2. In the Click event handler of the insertText button, write the following code:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub insertText_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
       Handles insertText.Click
   
       With Globals.ThisDocument
           .InsertMemoFromNode.Text = Me.fromBox.Text
           .InsertMemoToNode.Text = Me.toBox.Text
           .InsertMemoSubjectNode.Text = Me.subjectBox.Text
       End With
   
       ' Clear the text boxes.
       Me.fromBox.Text = ""
       Me.toBox.Text = ""
       Me.subjectBox.Text = ""
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void insertText_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
   {
       Globals.ThisDocument.InsertMemoFromNode.Text = this.fromBox.Text;
       Globals.ThisDocument.InsertMemoToNode.Text = this.toBox.Text;
       Globals.ThisDocument.InsertMemoSubjectNode.Text = this.subjectBox.Text;
   
       // Clear the text boxes.
       this.fromBox.Text = "";
       this.toBox.Text = "";
       this.subjectBox.Text = "";
   }
   

3. In C#, you must add an event handler for the button. You can place this code in the AddTextControl constructor after the call to InitializeComponent, as shown below. For information on creating event handlers, see How to: Create Event Handlers in Visual Studio Tools for Office.

   C#

   public AddTextControl()
   {
       InitializeComponent();
       this.insertText.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.insertText_Click);
   }
   

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click ShowPropertiesControl.vb or ShowPropertiesControl.cs and select View Code.

2. Add the following code to the Click event handler of the tableProperties button:

   Visual Basic

   Private Sub tableProperties_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
       Handles tableProperties.Click
   
       Globals.ThisDocument.Application.Dialogs( _
           Word.WdWordDialog.wdDialogTableProperties).Show()
   End Sub
   

   C#

   private void tableProperties_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
   {
       object timeout = 0;
   
       Globals.ThisDocument.Application.Dialogs[
           Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdWordDialog.wdDialogTableProperties]
               .Show(ref timeout);
   }
   

3. In C#, you must add an event handler for the button. You can place this code in the ShowPropertiesControl constructor after the call to InitializeComponent, as shown below. For information on creating event handlers, see How to: Create Event Handlers in Visual Studio Tools for Office.

   C#

   public ShowPropertiesControl()
   {
       InitializeComponent();
       this.tableProperties.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.tableProperties_Click);
   }
   

1. Press F5 to run your project.

2. Confirm that the actions pane is visible.

3. Move your cursor to the section of the document that contains the To, From, and Subject lines, and confirm that the addText controls appear on the actions pane.

4. Enter text in the To, From, and Subject text boxes on the actions pane, and click Insert.

5. Move your cursor to the table and confirm that the showProperties control appears on the actions pane.

6. Click the Table Properties button and confirm that the Table Properties dialog box opens.

7. Click the Show All check box and confirm that all controls on the actions pane are visible.

8. Move your cursor outside of the table and confirm that the Table Properties button becomes disabled.