What is VSTA?

Understanding automation : Which automation environments are supported? : What is VSTA?

What is VSTA?

The successor to VBA, Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) is based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. In CorelDRAW, the VSTA feature supports the .NET framework and enables development in two programming languages: Visual Basic .NET and Visual C#.

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Most of the code examples provided in this documentation are written in VBA.

The VSTA Editor in CorelDRAW is an integrated development environment (IDE) that lets you create VSTA solutions for the software.

How does VSTA compare with VBA?

Both VSTA and VBA allow you to create powerful macro solutions. With VSTA, you use the VSTA Editor as an IDE, and you use Visual Basic .NET or Visual C# as a programming language. With VBA, you use the Macro Editor as an IDE, and you use VBA as a programming language.

If you want to perform any of the following tasks, you can use either VSTA or VBA:

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customize or extend the features of the software

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interact with other applications that use Visual Basic 6 — or with other compatible components that are external to the software

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interact with Web-based services

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customize the IDE with add-ins

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create macro projects — with multi-threading support, if desired

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access macro projects programmatically

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generate macro code dynamically

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store macro code in a pre-compiled format

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hide macro code from other macro authors

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debug macro projects

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create customized user interfaces for macro projects

However, if you want to perform any of the following tasks, you must use VSTA:

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access the .NET framework natively — to support using Managed Add-in Framework (MAF), referencing .NET assemblies directly, running customized code on the Common Language Runtime (CLR), enforcing .NET security policies, or creating user interfaces by using .NET WinForms

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fully customize the IDE

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create macro projects that are certified to run on Windows Vista

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create macro projects that support 64-bit processors

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create macro projects that support server-side customizations

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create macro projects that support all data types, including BigDecimal and

Int64

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create macro projects and macro assemblies that persist without the use of structured storage

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open and modify macro projects in Visual Studio

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compile macro projects to DLL assemblies

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run macro projects out of process

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run macro projects without causing the host application to stop execution at errors or breakpoints

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isolate macro projects from one another; run macro projects independently, and stop them during runtime without affecting other running projects

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author macros within managed code

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prevent servers from running customized user interfaces for macro projects