How to access user defined fields through VBA

Hi there,

I just started to customize Outlook 2000 a little, fascinating what this
program can do. I created a new form, extending an appointment with two
name fields and an additional begin/end time for each of these names.
What I intended to be the fun part was accessing the data in these
fields from Access. We use some VBA macros here to create tasks in a
public folder from data provided from our ERP database. Creating these
tasks works fine as I don't need any additional fields in these task,
and I know how to access all properties of TaskItem. However, I have no
idea how to access the data in the additional fields. I suppose the form
creates a class that inherites all properties of AppointmentItem. But
how is this class named, and its properties? Is it possible to access
those fields through VBA at all? Or does a later version of Exchange /
Outlook (we're using 2000) offer these features? Btw, if anyone knows
any book etc dealing with this, just give me a hint...

Thanks a lot

Oliver

Hi Oliver,

I believe you will find your user defined fields/attributes in the
UserProperties collection for each particular item. Use the Find method to
set a reference to a particular UserProperty and then you can interrogate all
the object properties of that UserProperty. Here's a code extract from one
of my modules.

Public Sub InitialiseContact(p_Contact As Outlook.ContactItem)

Dim objProperty As Outlook.UserProperty
Dim objCategory As BEWarden.Category
Dim strCategory As String
Dim i As Integer

m_strFullName = p_Contact.FullName
m_strFileAs = p_Contact.FileAs
Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Salutation")
If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
m_strSalutation = "Dear " & p_Contact.FirstName & "," & bewCrLf2
Else
m_strSalutation = "Dear " & objProperty.Value & "," & bewCrLf2
End If
Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Spouse First Name")
If Not (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
m_strSpouseFirstName = objProperty.Value
End If
Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Number Of Dependents")
If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
m_intNumberDependents = 0
Else
m_intNumberDependents = objProperty.Value
End If

Hope this helps. (Incidentally I have long used Access as the engine on a
number of applications linking Access to an ERP via ODBC and then presenting
the analysis via Excel, Word, Project, Outlook etc. magic isn't it?)

Regards,

Rod

"Oliver Gräser" wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I just started to customize Outlook 2000 a little, fascinating what this
> program can do. I created a new form, extending an appointment with two
> name fields and an additional begin/end time for each of these names.
> What I intended to be the fun part was accessing the data in these
> fields from Access. We use some VBA macros here to create tasks in a
> public folder from data provided from our ERP database. Creating these
> tasks works fine as I don't need any additional fields in these task,
> and I know how to access all properties of TaskItem. However, I have no
> idea how to access the data in the additional fields. I suppose the form
> creates a class that inherites all properties of AppointmentItem. But
> how is this class named, and its properties? Is it possible to access
> those fields through VBA at all? Or does a later version of Exchange /
> Outlook (we're using 2000) offer these features? Btw, if anyone knows
> any book etc dealing with this, just give me a hint...
>
> Thanks a lot
>
> Oliver
>

Rod Plastow schrieb:
> Hi Oliver,
>
> I believe you will find your user defined fields/attributes in the
> UserProperties collection for each particular item. Use the Find method to
> set a reference to a particular UserProperty and then you can interrogate all
> the object properties of that UserProperty. Here's a code extract from one
> of my modules.
>
> Public Sub InitialiseContact(p_Contact As Outlook.ContactItem)
>
> Dim objProperty As Outlook.UserProperty
> Dim objCategory As BEWarden.Category
> Dim strCategory As String
> Dim i As Integer
>
> m_strFullName = p_Contact.FullName
> m_strFileAs = p_Contact.FileAs
> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Salutation")
> If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
> m_strSalutation = "Dear " & p_Contact.FirstName & "," & bewCrLf2
> Else
> m_strSalutation = "Dear " & objProperty.Value & "," & bewCrLf2
> End If
> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Spouse First Name")
> If Not (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
> m_strSpouseFirstName = objProperty.Value
> End If
> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Number Of Dependents")
> If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
> m_intNumberDependents = 0
> Else
> m_intNumberDependents = objProperty.Value
> End If
>
> Hope this helps. (Incidentally I have long used Access as the engine on a
> number of applications linking Access to an ERP via ODBC and then presenting
> the analysis via Excel, Word, Project, Outlook etc. magic isn't it?)
>
> Regards,
>
> Rod

Hi Rod,

haven't tried it yet, but yes, it looks just like what I was trying to
do. Thanks a lot for your help, I'll be in the office on Tuesday and
will publish if it works.

Btw, I think you're right about 'magic':-) I think Microsoft's
developers must sometimes be really frustrated about how few people know
what great things you can do with their products.

In article <e5MFap1hGHA.4776@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl>, Oliver_Gräser wrote:
> Is it possible to access
> those fields through VBA at all? Or does a later version of Exchange /
> Outlook (we're using 2000) offer these features? Btw, if anyone knows
> any book etc dealing with this, just give me a hint...
>
> Thanks a lot
>
The primary resources for all things Outlook and Exchange are
www.outlookcode.com and www.slipstick.com

OutlookCode.com :: Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Developers, and Power Users
search c code and forums a articles login password Remember me You will
need to and log in if you want to download the source code for the
Microsoft Outlook Programming ...
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx - 38 KB


Import and Exporting Data from Custom Microsoft Outlook Forms
5/15/2006
How to import or export data from custom Microsoft Outlook fields and
forms via Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel and text files
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/customimport.htm - 23 KB

Import and Exporting Data from Custom Microsoft Outlook Forms
5/10/2006
How to import or export data from custom Microsoft Outlook fields and
forms via Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel and text files
http://www.outlookcode.com/archive0/d/customimport.htm - 24 KB

Slipstick Systems Outlook and Exchange Utility Rating
Listing of new utilities and other resources for Microsoft Outlook and
Microsoft Exchange
http://www.slipstick.com/contest/listings.aspx - 29 KB


To set up subcategories 1/19/2006
How to use subcategories in Microsoft Outlook
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/subcats.htm - 17 KB

Visual Basic and VBA Coding in Microsoft Outlook 5/10/2006
Resources for writing Visual Basic for Applications macros and Visual
Basic programs for Microsoft Outlook
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/vb.htm - 44 KB

--
Hollis Paul
Mukilteo, WA USA

Hi Rod,

I tested it and it worked out fine, thanks a lot. However it lead me to
another problem: If I want to create an Item which is an instance of my
modified task, I use MAPIfolder.Items.Add("IPM.Task.MyTaskName"), that's
what my office help file told me to do. However, just an ordinary task
is created. I wondered if I have to pass the MessageClass as an Object,
but I don't know how to obtain that object - all I know is the String
representation. Do you have an idea?

Cheers,

Oliver


Rod Plastow schrieb:
> Hi Oliver,
>
> I believe you will find your user defined fields/attributes in the
> UserProperties collection for each particular item. Use the Find method to
> set a reference to a particular UserProperty and then you can interrogate all
> the object properties of that UserProperty. Here's a code extract from one
> of my modules.
>
> Public Sub InitialiseContact(p_Contact As Outlook.ContactItem)
>
> Dim objProperty As Outlook.UserProperty
> Dim objCategory As BEWarden.Category
> Dim strCategory As String
> Dim i As Integer
>
> m_strFullName = p_Contact.FullName
> m_strFileAs = p_Contact.FileAs
> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Salutation")
> If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
> m_strSalutation = "Dear " & p_Contact.FirstName & "," & bewCrLf2
> Else
> m_strSalutation = "Dear " & objProperty.Value & "," & bewCrLf2
> End If
> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Spouse First Name")
> If Not (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
> m_strSpouseFirstName = objProperty.Value
> End If
> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Number Of Dependents")
> If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
> m_intNumberDependents = 0
> Else
> m_intNumberDependents = objProperty.Value
> End If
>
> Hope this helps. (Incidentally I have long used Access as the engine on a
> number of applications linking Access to an ERP via ODBC and then presenting
> the analysis via Excel, Word, Project, Outlook etc. magic isn't it?)
>
> Regards,
>
> Rod
>
> "Oliver Gräser" wrote:
>
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I just started to customize Outlook 2000 a little, fascinating what this
>> program can do. I created a new form, extending an appointment with two
>> name fields and an additional begin/end time for each of these names.
>> What I intended to be the fun part was accessing the data in these
>> fields from Access. We use some VBA macros here to create tasks in a
>> public folder from data provided from our ERP database. Creating these
>> tasks works fine as I don't need any additional fields in these task,
>> and I know how to access all properties of TaskItem. However, I have no
>> idea how to access the data in the additional fields. I suppose the form
>> creates a class that inherites all properties of AppointmentItem. But
>> how is this class named, and its properties? Is it possible to access
>> those fields through VBA at all? Or does a later version of Exchange /
>> Outlook (we're using 2000) offer these features? Btw, if anyone knows
>> any book etc dealing with this, just give me a hint...
>>
>> Thanks a lot
>>
>> Oliver
>>

Where is the MyTaskName form published? Show your complete code statement, please.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Oliver Gräser" <oliver.graeser@uni-konstanz.de> wrote in message news:OG2DAnniGHA.4572@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi Rod,
>
> I tested it and it worked out fine, thanks a lot. However it lead me to
> another problem: If I want to create an Item which is an instance of my
> modified task, I use MAPIfolder.Items.Add("IPM.Task.MyTaskName"), that's
> what my office help file told me to do. However, just an ordinary task
> is created. I wondered if I have to pass the MessageClass as an Object,
> but I don't know how to obtain that object - all I know is the String
> representation. Do you have an idea?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Oliver
>
>
> Rod Plastow schrieb:
>> Hi Oliver,
>>
>> I believe you will find your user defined fields/attributes in the
>> UserProperties collection for each particular item. Use the Find method to
>> set a reference to a particular UserProperty and then you can interrogate all
>> the object properties of that UserProperty. Here's a code extract from one
>> of my modules.
>>
>> Public Sub InitialiseContact(p_Contact As Outlook.ContactItem)
>>
>> Dim objProperty As Outlook.UserProperty
>> Dim objCategory As BEWarden.Category
>> Dim strCategory As String
>> Dim i As Integer
>>
>> m_strFullName = p_Contact.FullName
>> m_strFileAs = p_Contact.FileAs
>> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Salutation")
>> If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
>> m_strSalutation = "Dear " & p_Contact.FirstName & "," & bewCrLf2
>> Else
>> m_strSalutation = "Dear " & objProperty.Value & "," & bewCrLf2
>> End If
>> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Spouse First Name")
>> If Not (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
>> m_strSpouseFirstName = objProperty.Value
>> End If
>> Set objProperty = p_Contact.UserProperties.Find("Number Of Dependents")
>> If (objProperty Is Nothing) Then
>> m_intNumberDependents = 0
>> Else
>> m_intNumberDependents = objProperty.Value
>> End If
>>
>> Hope this helps. (Incidentally I have long used Access as the engine on a
>> number of applications linking Access to an ERP via ODBC and then presenting
>> the analysis via Excel, Word, Project, Outlook etc. magic isn't it?)
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Rod
>>
>> "Oliver Gräser" wrote:
>>
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> I just started to customize Outlook 2000 a little, fascinating what this
>>> program can do. I created a new form, extending an appointment with two
>>> name fields and an additional begin/end time for each of these names.
>>> What I intended to be the fun part was accessing the data in these
>>> fields from Access. We use some VBA macros here to create tasks in a
>>> public folder from data provided from our ERP database. Creating these
>>> tasks works fine as I don't need any additional fields in these task,
>>> and I know how to access all properties of TaskItem. However, I have no
>>> idea how to access the data in the additional fields. I suppose the form
>>> creates a class that inherites all properties of AppointmentItem. But
>>> how is this class named, and its properties? Is it possible to access
>>> those fields through VBA at all? Or does a later version of Exchange /
>>> Outlook (we're using 2000) offer these features? Btw, if anyone knows
>>> any book etc dealing with this, just give me a hint...
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot
>>>
>>> Oliver
>>>

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] schrieb:
> Where is the MyTaskName form published? Show your complete code statement, please.
>
Hi Sue,

many thanks for replying to this hidden message:-) I'm very sorry, it
turned out to be a typo in the MessageClass String, I hadn't expected
that Access would just ignore that the Argument referred to a
non-existing form.

Thanks a lot

Oliver