Distinguishing Standalone Products From
Host-Required Products
Office Compatible 97 products
are divided into two broad categories: standalone products and
host-required products. Although customers frequently use several
products together, a standalone product can be constructively
used by itself, even when no other application is running. For
example, Microsoft Word is a standalone application, and although
it gains power (via OLE & other integration technologies)
when products such as Excel and Access are also running, it can
be used alone to create a rich variety of documents.
On the other hand, a
host-required application cannot be run alone. Instead, it
depends on core functionality which is provided by its host, so
the host must be running at all times. For example, a Word add-in
is a host-required product. The add-in cannot be used by itself,
but within Word, it gains the power to do its job.
Standalone and host-required
products are further divided into several sub-categories, which
are governed by different Office Compatible 97 testing
requirements.