Category: VSCode

Developing in Linux on Windows

David E. Craig1 Comment

I have been working more and more with Linux lately. The job as a Program Manager has put some of my skills to the test. Oddly, I actually taught a semester of Linux back in my “college professor days.” And despite the kicking and screaming, funny enough, I am close to becoming a novice beginner at it.

Last year, I took the deep dive, spending nearly 100% of my personal time in Linux – command line and UI wise. I had an Ubuntu VM in the cloud that I worked with and repurposed on one of my old laptops with a distro of Elementary OS (essentially a MacOS like shell on top of Ubuntu).

Well, recently, I have been playing about with the Windows Subsystem for Linux. In the early days this was what I called a novelty. You could open a command prompt and start bashing out Linux commands and feeling totally geeky 🤓. However, recently, I found that you can now run Linux Applications in a window from Windows 11. This was a bit of a game changer, as now I can run Linux and Windows (side-by-side).

So, I just got through developing and testing an Office JS add-in (which I just published to the store) from Linux using VS Code and Microsoft Edge. It will hopefully be released soon, and I will blog it here (Send to Trello for Outlook Add-in).

Here is how I did it:

  1. First, I would suggest installing Windows Terminal. I can spend a whole blog post on this and might, but it allows you to run CMD, PowerShell and BASH all side by side in tabs. It is awesome.
  2. Open Terminal and install WSL. From a PowerShell tab type “wsl –install”. By default, this will put Ubuntu 20 (behind the scenes) on your system.
  3. Once installed and you restart the Windows Terminal App, you should see Ubuntu as an option for opening a new Tab.
  4. Select that. If it is your first time, you will need to supply it with a username and password.
  5. Once setup, you simply need to start installing apps:
    • Type: “sudo apt update” to start updating the apps, this is like “Windows Update” for Linux.
    • Next, type: “sudo apt install x11-apps -y” to get the basic software installed.
    • Next, you will want to install Microsoft Edge:
      • To install Edge use the code from this page: https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/download?platform=linux-deb (scroll down past the ‘download’ links).
      • Before you run it, you will want to type: “sudo su” and sign in. This signs you in as SUPER USER so that you can do things as an administrator.
      • After it is installed type “exit” to return to normal user mode.
    • Finally, install VS Code, like this: in the Terminal Window, type: “microsoft-edge” which will open Edge. From there go to Bing, search for “install VSCode on Linux” and it should not be too difficult to follow the steps you find. But to help out a bit… 😊 Follow the steps for Ubuntu, here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux.
  6. Now you can type “code” in the Linux command prompt and VSCode for Linux will open in a separate window. From there you can build your application and test it in Edge for Linux as well. That is what I did.

The coup-de-grace, it places these applications right on your START menu:

So, a friend asked me…”Uh, so.. like.. why?” I answered, “Uh… Because, I can!” 🤓

It has been a fun journey, learning something new and as it turns out, it has come in handy quite a few times in the new role as different aspects of the system we are developing cross paths with Linux. I also have a sneaky suspicion that this Windows/Linux integration lines are going to get a bit more “blurred” in the coming years (100% personal opinion).

Yeah! A Trello Type Definitions File

David E. CraigLeave a comment

To date I have created four Trello Power-Ups that I use every day to fill a gap that I need in order to scrum my life’s “backlog.” I was first turned towards Trello when I read Deep Work by Cal Newport. Since then I created:

Each time I created a Power-Up, I found myself going back to the documentation over and over again for the most trivial items. So, I finally sat down and hacked out a type definitions file based on the existing Trello Power-Up Documentation.

You can find all the information about the type library I created here:

https://github.com/davecra/Trello-Power-Up-TypeDefs

New Trello Power-up: Demote a Card

David E. CraigLeave a comment

Continuing to use Trello I found a need to take cards that had been sitting around a while and put them in a place other than Archive (and forget them). What I had been doing was copy/pasting them in checklists in another card and as needed taking the check list items and promoting them back to a card. However, after performing the manual process (which could take a lot of time) enough times, I decided it was time for another Power-Up. So, I created the Demote a Card Power-Up:

https://trello.com/power-ups/630d74e4e1bab6013d6c1160/demote-a-card

Also — while building this Power-Up, I also got a tad frustrated that there was not any IntelliSense code assistance from the Trello Library. So, I build one in JSDOC and will likely be publishing that on GitHub soon. Not sure how many other developers there are out there that write Power-Ups, but my hope is it might be useful.

Office Web Add-in Debugging in VS Code

David E. CraigLeave a comment

Another recent announcement that has me excited is the ability to debug Office Web Add-ins directly from VS Code. Before this recent announcement, it was a hit or miss proposition. There was Visual Studio 2019, that did a pretty good job. But I liked the lightweight simplicity of VS Code. Visual Studio 2019 seemed too too heavy-weight. It’s hard to put my finger on how or why, but I really enjoy VS Code for Web Add-in development so much better. Except for debugging…

So, to debug, I actually did most of my dev/test in the web versions of Office (Excel online, Outlook online, etc.). Then came the Edge Developer Tools Preview which helped debug task pane add-ins in the full clients. But that did not help with things like the On Send event in Outlook or other UI-less functions. So, it was a struggle at times.

Now that has all changed!!!

The process is a tad more complicated than I like, but it does work. Essentially, you need to:

  1. Run VS Code as administrator
  2. Install the extension in VS Code by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + X and searching for the “Microsoft Office Add-in Debugger”
  3. Add the following code to the .vscode\launch.json file to enable Office Debugging in your project. You will need to update line #7, and replace the uppercase HOST text with the host application for your Office add-in.
{ 
   "type": "office-addin", 
   "request": "attach", 
   "name": "Attach to Office Add-ins", 
   "port": 9222, 
   "trace": "verbose", 
   "url": "https://localhost:3000/taskpane.html?_host_Info=HOST$Win32$16.01$en-US$$$$0", "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}", 
   "timeout": 45000 
}

NOTE: If you create a new Office project with Yeoman, you will not need to add this line, it will be part of the default template going forward.

  1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to then open the Debug pane, select Attach to Office Add-in option from the drop down list at the top of the pane, and press F5 to start debugging.
  2. You can now set breakpoints, see variable values, etc.
Attach to Office Add-ins menu option

Getting Started with OfficeJS

David E. CraigLeave a comment

If you are just getting started with OfficeJS, then this post is for you. I will assume you have some understanding of what Office Web Add-ins are. However, there is one very basic point I will demonstrate in this tutorial:

  • An Office Web Add-In is simply a web site and an XML “description” file. I detailed this in this blog post. And we are going to build on that.

So, you are brand new to OfficeJS, and want to get started. The first thing you need to do is get your development environment up and running. There is a script for that:

Microsoft Office Development Environment Script

NOTE: For more information on this script, please read my blog post.

Next, you will need to pull down the Web Add-in Side Loader tool. Keep this ZIP on your desktop. This will be used later in the steps below to make it really easy for you to install the Add-in to Excel. However, if you prefer to do the steps manually, see the link below. For more information on this tool, please see my blog post and/or the GitHub repository.

Now that you have the development environment setup, lets build your very first, super basic Excel add-in:

  • Create a folder on your desktop called “MyFirstAddIn”
  • Open Notepad and copy/paste the code from HERE, then click File, Save, name it “manifest.xml”, change the type to “All Files *.*”, browse to folder on your desktop, and click Save.

NOTE: In this step you created the manifest file. This file will be used to “install” the add-in into Excel. Essentially, it will tell Excel where the web page is for the task pane.

  • Close Notepad, then open it again. Copy paste this code HERE, then click File, Save, name it “home.html”, change the type to “All Files *.*”, browse to the folder on your desktop, and click Save.

NOTE: In this step you created the primary file for website. This one file contains both the HTML and JavaScript needed to make the taskpane load in Excel.

  • Now you need to side load the manifest and you do that by first opening the ZIP file on your desktop: Set-WebAddin (v1.0.0.0).zip and extracting the Set-WebAddin.exe to the “MyFirstAddIn” folder.
  • Press Window+R to open the run dialog, and type CMD and press enter.

NOTE: This will open the Windows Command Prompt which you will use to sideload the add-in and run it.

NOTE: The word “sideload” is a fancy way to say install it for only your instance of Excel. It is also known as Developer Sideloading.

  • Change the directory to the folder on your desktop with this command:
cd "%userprofile%\desktop\MyFirstAddIn"
  • Next, type this command:
Set-WebAddin -test -manifestPath "%userprofile%\desktop\myfirstaddin\manifest.xml"

NOTE: In this step you have sideloaded the add-in to Office. This essentially tells Office you have an added an Excel add-in via the information in the manifest file which, when loaded tells Excel everything it needs to know about it, including where to find it. If you prefer to do the sideloading steps manually, you can follow them here.

  • Now you are almost ready. Type this last command (that is a dot/period at the end, very important):
http-server .

NOTE: The above steps start a local the http-server on your computer so that it will serve the webpage in the browser from the folder (.) you are current inside. You can now test this by clicking this link.

  • You are now ready to go. Simply open Excel and a new Blank Workbook. Then on the Insert tab, click the down arrow next to My add-ins and click BasicAddin. It should look like this:
The BasicAddIn in the Developer Add-ins menu
  • Your add-in Task Pane should load.
  • Click in cell A1, type “Hello World!”, and then in your Task Pane, click the “Click here” button and you should see “Hello World!” in the bottom of the page.
  • Once you are done, you can press CTRL+C in the command prompt window to shutdown the server and then to uninstall the add-in you can use this command:
Set-WebAddin -cleanup -manifestPath "%userprofile%\desktop\myfirstaddin\manifest.xml"

And that is it. There are three things to note here:

  • You created your first web add-in.
  • You did not use VSCode or any Integrated Development Environment. You did this only with Notepad.
  • But as an added bonus – you have also installed VSCode and the tools you need to start doing more complex things with Office Web Add-ins.

JavaScript, HTML, Web, CSS, front-end, back-end, web server, ports, local hosts… some, if not all of these are new terms if you are just getting into this new world of the Web and Web add-ins. But it does not have to be that complicated. As I referred to earlier, the following posts should be your next two stops on your journey:

Getting started as an OfficeJS Developer

Start Developing in OfficeJS Today with ScriptLab

If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

Microsoft Office Development Environment Setup Script

David E. Craig1 Comment

If you are new to Office Web Add-in Development, then this post is for you. Even if you are not new and you need to setup a new development environment, this post is for you too.

Now, as far as manually setting up a new Office web add-in development environment, there are a few sources for helping you get started. There is the official guide here:

Set up your development environment

And I have also written one here:

How to-Configure VSCode for Office Development

NOTE: Mine is a tad more complicated, but essentially walks you through setting up for full fledged development, including source control with Git. That article was actually more for me when I wrote it.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

However, after a co-worker and fellow Office Developer (Marty Andren) and I got to talking about this topic, I had an idea to create a script essentially automating the entire process. That was how the Microsoft Office Development Setup script, or MODES was born. The script is posted in the following repository:

https://github.com/davecra/modes

The MODES script is provided as-is for folks who need to setup an Office development environment. It is a simple run it and done. Once you have completed this script you will have:

NOTE: This also installs http-server, a simple local web server that I hope to use in a forthcoming blog post that expands on a previous post demonstrating how easy it is to build a Web Add-ins from scratch.

NOTE: The script installs everything as local user, so there is no need for administrative permissions.

On the MODES GitHub post, you can follow the README directions to download and run the PowerShell script. If you are unfamiliar with PowerShell, you can just follow the steps and should walk you through what you need to do fairly quickly and easily.

If the above script cannot be run on your system (as a script), you can try to perform the steps manually by Copy/Pasting the following GIST into a PowerShell window and pressing enter:


Add-Type –assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem";$vscode_url = "https://aka.ms/win32-x64-user-stable";$vscode_output = $env:USERPROFILE + "\downloads\vscode.exe";$node_url = "https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/win-x64/node.exe";$node_output = $env:USERPROFILE + "\downloads\node.exe";$node_install_path = $env:USERPROFILE + "\node";$npm_url = "https://nodejs.org/dist/npm/npm-1.4.9.zip";$npm_output = $env:USERPROFILE + "\downloads\npm.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest –Uri $vscode_url –OutFile $vscode_output
Invoke-WebRequest –Uri $node_url –OutFile $node_output
Invoke-WebRequest –Uri $npm_url –OutFile $npm_output
Start-Process –FilePath $vscode_output –ArgumentList ('/VERYSILENT', '/MERGETASKS=!runcode') –Wait
md $node_install_path
copy $node_output $node_install_path
[io.compression.zipfile]::ExtractToDirectory($npm_output, $node_install_path)
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User) + ";" + $node_install_path, [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)
$env:Path += ";" + $node_install_path
cd $node_install_path
Start-Process –FilePath npm –ArgumentList ('install', '-g', 'npm') –WindowStyle Hidden –Wait
Start-Process –FilePath npm –ArgumentList('install', '-g', 'yo', 'generator-office') –WindowStyle Hidden –Wait
Start-Process –FilePath npm –ArgumentList('install', '-g', 'http-server') –WindowStyle Hidden –Wait
$yo_file = $node_install_path + "\yo.ps1"
ren $yo_file "yo.ps1.old"

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modes_gist.ps1

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This GIST is a “minified” version of the script on GitHib (no comments, no output and some lines are combined). So if you run this GIST, you will need to do give it time to complete as there is no feedback.

 

 

How to Fix IntelliSense in VSCode for OfficeJS

David E. CraigLeave a comment

I spent the better part of this morning trying to figure out why a new Yeoman generated Outlook add-in was not working with IntelliSense in VSCode. I would type “Office.” and nothing would appear. I would press CTRL+{SPACE} and still nothing.

After a lot of digging and comparing projects that did work to those that did not, I found that the @types were missing. So I then installed @types/office-js:

npm install @types/office-js

Once I did this, viola! IntelliSense started working like a charm. From my experience this has happened to me a few different times, in these given scenarios:

  • Moving an OfficeJS project from VS2017 to VSCode
  • Moving a Script Lab project to VSCode
  • Creating a blank OfficeJS project from scratch with just two files (manifest and webpage).

In my continued research I found that the way VSCode handles types is through NPM and you need to have data type definition files to get it all to work, that is why you need to install both NPM and the OfficeJS @types to get this to work. Per this page:  https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/languages/javascript

Automatic Type Acquisition (ATA) uses npm, the Node.js package manager, to install and manage Type Declaration (typings) files. To ensure that Automatic Type Acquisition works properly, first ensure that you have npm installed on your machine.

Secondly to that, for OfficeJS development, make sure you have @types/office-js.

Getting Started as an OfficeJS Developer

David E. Craig1 Comment

At the MVP Summit 2018, I have had a number of conversations with various MVP’s that there really should be more documentation on how to get started with OfficeJS from scratch. Like web developer – from scratch.

So, this blog post is my attempt to get you started as if you have little to no web developer experience. The hope is that once you have read this and studied the linked content you will be able to:

  • Write HTML and JavaScript
  • Understand what JQuery is and how to use it
  • Setup your VSCode environment
  • Identify the key parts of an add-in (source code files)
  • Begin writing, and debugging your own code.

To get started, if you are completely new to web development (or even a little rusty and need a refresher), you might want to read the following articles/tutorials. If you already know this stuff, then you can move on:

 

NOTE: From these links you need to come away with an understanding of these basic fundamental concepts that are used heavily in OfficeJS:

  1. How JavaScript and HTML work together
  2. The HTML DOM model
  3. How to write HTML and define controls (buttons, text boxes, etc.) with an id
  4. How to use JQuery(*) to get a reference to a control on the HTML page and then manipulate it with JavaScript.

(*) JQuery is simply a library that, for simplicity sake, makes it easy for you to access and manipulate HTML controls via the DOM. You access it with a “$” character. This is why you might see so many “$”‘s in the sample/example code out there.

Once you know the basics of creating a web page, and manipulating it, you can then begin by setting up VSCode and learning how to code OfficeJS solutions. As for development environments, there are many out there, and many are nearly the same, but I suggest VSCode because it is simply a better environment to learn “webby” development. Especially if you are on a Mac. With that said, you will want to:

  1. Setup and configure VSCode
  2. Start learning Office from the new quick start and tutorials on docs.office.com.
  3. You can also stick to the basics (no development environment needed) if you install and use Script Lab.

NOTE: A fundamental concept you need to come away with after working through the tutorials is to understand the “parts” of an add-in. I think the best way to understand the PARTS of an add-in:

  • All you really need for an OfficeJS solution are two files. A manifest and an HTML file.

To understand the anatomy of an add-in, you can read this post where I describe the most basic add-in you can create. Here is a simplified explanation to get your started:

  • The Manifest – an XML file that defines to Office your add-in. It defines things like the name, a unique id (GUID), the platform and app it supports, and most importantly your Ribbon (text, icons, etc), and what happens when you click those buttons. Specifically, it tell Office where to navigate when that button is clicked. Then this XML file is what gets “installed” in your Office app. Office reads it, places the button(s) on the Ribbon which loads the defined web page when clicked.
  • The HTML file – this contains “script” tags which point to all your code, supporting libraries (like JQuery) which similar to VBA/VSTO references. The HTML page also contains your Task Pane user interface (buttons, etc.).
  • The JavaScript file – This is your code, which will contain an Office.initialize() function that Office locates and executes when the HTML page is loaded. This can be a separate file or like the most basic add-in an inline script tag in your HTML file.

The entire load and run process for an add-in works like this:

  • The Manifest is loaded by Office and adds a button to the ribbon.
  • When the button is clicked, the HTML file specified in the manifest is loaded in the task pane.
  • When the HTML file is loaded, all the script tags (references and your own JS file) are loaded.
  • Once all the scripts are loaded, Office locates the Office.initialize() function and executes it.
  • It is in this code block that you can initialize your controls, like buttons on the HTML page, and what happens when the user clicks them.

Once you have your VSCode development environment setup for Office, and you are ready to start your first project, follow these steps I outlined for using the Yeoman generator.

I hope this is enough to get even the most novice non-web developer going. If you have any questions, please post them below. If there is any additional content you would like to see, please let me know.

The last thing I will leave you with is to answer an interesting question that arose this week:

Why would I learn to develop in OfficeJS? I am not interested in just making a web widget for Excel.

I think this is a common misconception. Office 365 Web Add-ins (OfficeJS) are at all not like Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets for Office. They are actually quite powerful and there are many useful scenarios. Here are a few:

  • Integration with internal applications like CRM
  • Document tagging, or placing metadata on parts of the document, possibly linked with internal systems, controls or processes
  • Document building, either interactively through a task pane or dialog or from predefined rules
  • Advanced content editing, identifying and replacing specific content based on more complex rules than simple search/replace
  • Sending data from the document for more complex analysis and/or manipulation via back-end services and then updating the document with the results.

Once you delve a bit more into the object model and the capabilities, you will learn that you do not always have to open a task pane. You can open a dialog instead. Or, you can have no user interface at all, just have a button click on the ribbon perform work against the document like a macro used to do.

And here is another thought: Office is used by one-billion people world-wide across each of the supported platforms of Windows, Mac, web, iOS, and Android. The goal of these add-ins is to support the same code base (mostly) across all of these different platforms. You really can write-once/run-anywhere. You can build an add-in and then place it in the Microsoft Store and have it reach a huge audience. Do you need more of a reason to get started?

Happy coding.

Updated Outlook Web Add-in Sample

David E. CraigLeave a comment

I will be presenting a demo at the MVP Summit 2018 for Outlook and also helping with some labs in Excel on the OfficeJS platform. In preparation, I updated my Outlook Sample on my GitHub. This sample was created in VSCode via a Yeoman template.

What the add-in does is a check of all users on the To/CC/BCC line, splits apart any groups (or groups in groups) and then checks to see if any of the user emails are external to your domain. If any external users are found it prompts you with dialog asking if you are sure you want to send:

Outlook Blocking Add-in

The updated add-in demonstrates:

  • The OnSend event
  • The use of dialogs
  • And the newly added ExpandDL function for Exchange Web Services through the makeEwsRequestAsync() call.

In this sample, I am using both of my libraries:

  • easyEws – to help with the ExpandDL call. Updated in a previous post.
  • OfficeJS.dialogs – to display the dialog you see above.

I also had to create a set of asynchronous functions and asynchronous recursive function calls to perform this work – which got a tad complex. For now all the code is in the function-file.js, but to help with splitting out all recipients and groups I might build this into a new library. For example, here is the function to recursively call itself asynchronously (splitting groups in groups in groups in groups…):


/**
* Splits a group and calls the completed function
*/
function splitGroupsAndFindExternalsRecursivelyAsync() {
if(groups.length == 0) {
// if no groups stop
completedCallback();
} else {
/** @type {string} */
var group = groups.pop();
// call expandGroup to get users
easyEws.expandGroup(group, function(groupUsers) {
groupUsers.forEach(function(groupUser, index){
if(groupUser.MailboxType() == "PublicDL") {
groups.push(groupUser);
} else {
/** @type {string} */
var emailDomain = getDomain(groupUser.Address());
if(emailDomain != domain) {
externals.push(groupUser.Address());
}
}
}); // groupUsers.forEach
splitGroupsAndFindExternalsRecursivelyAsync(); // recursive
}, function(error) {
console.log(error);
// just fail
completedCallback();
}); // easyEws.expandGroup
} // end-if
}

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splitGroupsAndFindExternalsRecursivelyAsync.js

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Anyway, I will be demonstrating this add-in and the functionality required at the MVP Summit. So if you are attending, I hope to see you there.

Outlook Email Reporting Sample

David E. CraigLeave a comment

I just posted a new Outlook sample on GitHub. I have created something very similar to this sample for a couple of customers now and have been using this as a template. What this sample does is place a button on the Ribbon for users to report suspicious email to the administrator. The user will get the option to select why they think it is suspicious as well as provide a comment. When they click Send, it will email the administrator. The email address which receives this notification is configured in the URL for the add-in page via the manifest XML.

Anyway, I wanted to share this basic sample with the community so others can use this to quickly implement similar solutions in their environment.

All the details for configuring the add-in are in the README.md. Here is the link the new sample: https://github.com/davecra/Outlook.ReportAddin. I also created this in VS Code.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for other samples you would like to see.