List of powertoys from the test team for 2008
The end of the year means it is time to recap the powertoys the test team created during 2008. While not as many as last year, we still managed to produce a handful of addins. We have (maybe not obviously) been much more busy testing and such and it shows with our output for the last year. Still, there are really nice addins we released, and here's the list:
OneNote Favorites addin: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2008/03/03/a-new-onenote-favorites-powertoy.aspx This one integrates with IE and is really slick. I use it everywhere almost daily. Thanks to Shu Chen.
Sudoku! It's listed as beta, but no one has reported any problems: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2008/06/30/sudoku-addin-for-onenote-beta-is-available.aspx. Thanks to Carlos Rivera for this one. OneNote becomes a gaming platform.
I need to mention the shared source Object Model at www.codeplex.com/onom. Not a lot of movement there over the past year, frankly, but feel free to hop in and contribute. Carlos used it for the Sudoku addin.
A Calendar/Planner Agenda Maker: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2008/10/07/a-calendar-planner-powertoy-for-onenote.aspx . I really need a better name for this.
Embedded File Finder: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2008/12/22/a-new-powertoy-nee-test-tool-used-to-find-onenote-pages-with-embedded-files.aspx. This was a test tool that I released to people who need this type of search functionality.
(This is tenuous stretch. Ani interned with us last year.) Double hyperlinking powertoy: https://tabletpcstudent.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/double-hyperlink/. This addin makes it easier to link newly created pages to existing pages.
And lets stretch the definition of powertoy past the breaking point: the OneNote Karaoke Machine at https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2008/04/24/onenote-as-a-karaoke-machine-no-powertoy-needed.aspx. Nothing to install, nothing to set up!
A question/request that comes up on the discussion group now and then is "macro" ability for OneNote. While that is not possible, writing powertoys is possible, and not too much harder than macros. If you want to write your own addins, here's a list of stuff you may want (it's all free, by the way):
The OneNote XML Schema documentation: schema reference. Probably about half the bugs I encounter when creating my powertoys could have been prevented with a deeper understanding of what is in here while I was writing them.
Visual Studio Express: The home page is here. I use the C# edition. The only limitation is not being able to build setup projects. The text file importer is an example of a powertoy which doesn't need a setup program.
And that's about it. If you want to create addins with toolbar buttons, Dan Escapa's article here has a much needed PDF or XPS file with the information for setting it up.
Questions, comments, concerns and criticisms always welcome,
John