If you're using the .NET packaging API to develop code that reads and writes Open XML documents, this is great news: there is now a comprehensive set of code snippets available that can help you get started quickly. There were just published yesterday, and you can download them right here.

These snippets come in both C# and VB versions, and cover a variety of common development chores for working with Open XML, including:

• retrieving a part
• reading/writing spreadsheet cells (numeric or string values)
• reading comments, deleting comments by user
• adding custom XML parts
• removing macros
• adding/reordering slides in a presentation
• retrieving hiddine worksheets, or hidden rows/columns
• reading/writing headers and footers
• working with document properties (application/core/custom)
• accepting revisions
• exporting charts, setting recalc options, and much more

(More specific details on the snippets can be found in the documentation that comes with the snippets.)

Thanks to Kevin Boske's group for getting these out so soon after the release of the public Beta 2 for the 2007 Microsoft Office System. Developers working on the Windows platform now have a set of free tools for working with Open XML: Office 2007 Beta 2, the WinFX February CTP (which includes the .NET 3.0 packaging API), and these snippets.

Download the snippets and try them out. If you're new to working with VS code snippets, there's an MSDN article on "How to Manage Code Snippets" that will show you how to install and use them. And if you have any questions or comments about using the snippets, post them right here.