Hello,

I have been given the task of creating a way to easily share Outlook
2007 contact lists within our organization.
We have thought about using Exchange 2010 but implementing it with our
network layout is currently not possible.

So I have written a script which will export our contact database from a
MySQL server to a .csv file which can then be imported into Outlook. The
problem is that this solution requires a few steps with the
Import/Export tool and we think that it would be too complicated for our
users.
I have looked into the possibility of interfacing VB.NET with Outlook
and I should be able to write a plugin to automatically sync contacts
lists. The tool would contact a PHP script running on a webserver which
will retrieve the requested information from a MySQL database. Updates
done on the server will be applied to the contact lists of every Outlook
2007 user.

But before I start this project I would like to know if someone knows of
an existing open source product which can do this?
Something that would allow multiple users to connect to a central
database to retrieve contact lists.

I have looked around but could only find expensive plugins which would
solve the issue. Unfortunately purchasing the licenses would be too
expensive for over 200 systems.

Please reply on list since I never check this email account.
Thanks,
John

Unfortunately you didn't define the parameters for "expensive" so the
following may or may not be within an acceptable spectrum in terms of "site
license" costs.

Just for the sake of info - ContactGenie QuickPort may possibly be of
interest (providing data is first exported from MySQL to one of the CQP
supported file types).
http://www.contactgenie.com/quickport_4_outlook.htm


Karl
--
____________________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - QuickPort/DataPort/Exporter/Toolkit/Duplicate Contact Mgr
"Contact import/export/data management tools for Outlook '2000/2010"
http://www.contactgenie.com


"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4bebd1f2$0$6876$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> I have been given the task of creating a way to easily share Outlook 2007
> contact lists within our organization.
> We have thought about using Exchange 2010 but implementing it with our
> network layout is currently not possible.
>
> So I have written a script which will export our contact database from a
> MySQL server to a .csv file which can then be imported into Outlook. The
> problem is that this solution requires a few steps with the Import/Export
> tool and we think that it would be too complicated for our users.
> I have looked into the possibility of interfacing VB.NET with Outlook and
> I should be able to write a plugin to automatically sync contacts lists.
> The tool would contact a PHP script running on a webserver which will
> retrieve the requested information from a MySQL database. Updates done on
> the server will be applied to the contact lists of every Outlook 2007
> user.
>
> But before I start this project I would like to know if someone knows of
> an existing open source product which can do this?
> Something that would allow multiple users to connect to a central
> database to retrieve contact lists.
>
> I have looked around but could only find expensive plugins which would
> solve the issue. Unfortunately purchasing the licenses would be too
> expensive for over 200 systems.
>
> Please reply on list since I never check this email account.
> Thanks,
> John

One option is to use a web service to expose the data in the format that
Outlook
expects to see for Sharepoint data. The article at
http://blogs.msdn.com/pcreehan/archi...look-2007.aspx
explains how to do that for calendar data. Something similar can be done for
contacts.

See http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=25 for other approaches,
including some third-party tools.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54



"John" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have been given the task of creating a way to easily share Outlook
> 2007 contact lists within our organization.
> We have thought about using Exchange 2010 but implementing it with our
> network layout is currently not possible.
>
> So I have written a script which will export our contact database from a
> MySQL server to a .csv file which can then be imported into Outlook. The
> problem is that this solution requires a few steps with the
> Import/Export tool and we think that it would be too complicated for our
> users.
> I have looked into the possibility of interfacing VB.NET with Outlook
> and I should be able to write a plugin to automatically sync contacts
> lists. The tool would contact a PHP script running on a webserver which
> will retrieve the requested information from a MySQL database. Updates
> done on the server will be applied to the contact lists of every Outlook
> 2007 user.
>
> But before I start this project I would like to know if someone knows of
> an existing open source product which can do this?
> Something that would allow multiple users to connect to a central
> database to retrieve contact lists.
>
> I have looked around but could only find expensive plugins which would
> solve the issue. Unfortunately purchasing the licenses would be too
> expensive for over 200 systems.
>
> Please reply on list since I never check this email account.
> Thanks,
> John
> .
>