Develop, Document and Publish Your .NET® Scripting Projects in MS Office
Inference™ for .NET comprises a software solution platform that enables you to use the .NET dynamic scripting languages (IronPython, IronRuby, Managed Jscript, Dynamic VB) within the familiar Microsoft Excel and Word environment. Inference for .NET allows you to assemble dynamic documents (document mashups) containing your data, .NET assemblies, .NET language scripts, and text annotations (commentary). When executed, such dynamic documents run scripting commands and generate results documents that contain textual, numerical and graphic output of scripting commands in addition to formatted text annotations. For example, you can write scripts in IronPython, IronRuby or managed Jscript to automate repetitive tasks involving data access, collection, preparation, analysis and reporting in Excel or Word.
Inference provides a framework for literate programming with .NET dynamic scripting languages, which results in more efficient production of source code and software documentation. Dynamic documents are easily and rapidly assembled by end-users without assistance from IT and represent do-it-yourself composite applications for focused technical and business applications.
Inference for .NET simplifies end-user development of Office Business Applications
Creating Office Business Applications conventionally requires C# or VB.NET programmers, IT support and corresponding long lead times. Inference for .NET allows non-professional developers to assemble, configure and customize applications (end-user/do-it-yourself/situational applications) needed for specific business purposes (long-tail software). Inference for .NET allows you to easily access the full power of the .NET framework from within the Word and Excel environment without resorting to C# or VB.NET. Inference for .NET allows domain users to directly capture and codify their specific knowledge and requirements, and share them with others using higher productivity dynamic scripting languages. And, Inference for .NET additionally provides Inference Studio, an integrated development environment, which makes it easy to assemble, edit and debug your .NET dynamic language scripts. Users of Inference for .NET cite benefits that include assured delivery of the right functionality, flexibility to respond to changing requirements, and high quality and usability of applications produced.
Inference for .NET enables composite applications in Microsoft Excel and Word
Inference for .NET provides the framework for combining existing MS Office features with .NET functions into new applications that solve specific business problems. Such new applications have features analogous to Web 2.0 data and enterprise mashups and rich internet applications, except that they are hosted in Microsoft Office rather than in a web browser. For example, Inference for .NET executes .NET dynamic language scripts running in Word and Excel to yield results documents in a manner analogous to Microsoft Silverlight running .NET dynamic language scripts in a browser to yield result web pages.
Inference for .NET allows you to select the scripting language appropriate for the job
Microsoft provides two principal tools for building Office Business Applications: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and C# in conjunction with Visual Studio for Office (VSTO). Unfortunately, the capabilities of VBA code are too limited and the learning curve for C#/VSTO is too steep for non-professional developers. Inference for .NET totally removes these shortcomings. As a non-programmer you can select from the full spectrum of easy-to-learn .NET dynamic scripting languages with supporting libraries that are right for the job and appropriate for your skill level.