Custom Button to display on in Contacts view?

[Rich Roller]

I was told by a MS employee in a private newsgroup to ask my question in
this public group...

Is there an easy way to have a custom button display just for certain item
types/forms, e.g. Contacts, ideally without complicated VB programming.

More specifically, I created a custom button (method: Customize Toolbar,
drag button to tool bar) that is relavent only to Contacts. The problem is
that this button now shows up for other item types like Message,
Appointment, etc which is confusing to users and undesirable.

I got a tip from an Ken Slovak in public VBA newsgroup which gave me some
clues on how to approach this via VB (see below) but I just wanted to check
here to make sure there isn't another way to do this with less or no
programming.

I'd also like to avoid having to make a custom form and distribute/install
it for each appropriate user. I realize that's what you all do "for a
living" but it's not my preferred choice.

In my dreams, I would just edit properties of the custom button I just
created and click to display on Contacts only... I don't see such a
mechanism but anything similar would be awesome!

Thanks.

-Rich

If you handle the NewInspector event of the Inspectors collection and you

are only interested in creating your button for contacts the first step is

to check for contacts when that event fires. That's the code that uses

Inspector.CurrentItem.Class = olContact. If it's anything but a contact
you

don't instantiate the Inspector wrapper.

Code for creating buttons in Inspectors using a wrapper and collection and

creating the actual buttons in the class is available for both VB 6 and
C#.

The C# example is at http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=797 and

the VB 6 code is at

http://www.slovaktech.com/code_samples.htm#InspectorWrapper. That should
get

you started.


Ken Slovak

[MVP - Outlook]

http://www.slovaktech.com

Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

A toolbar button? No, it takes code to detect what kind of folder the user is looking at and display/hide the button appropriately. Ken gave you the right answer.

A button on a custom form? Yes, but you said you didn't want a custom form.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

I was told by a MS employee in a private newsgroup to ask my question in
this public group...

Is there an easy way to have a custom button display just for certain item
types/forms, e.g. Contacts, ideally without complicated VB programming.

More specifically, I created a custom button (method: Customize Toolbar,
drag button to tool bar) that is relavent only to Contacts. The problem is
that this button now shows up for other item types like Message,
Appointment, etc which is confusing to users and undesirable.

I got a tip from an Ken Slovak in public VBA newsgroup which gave me some
clues on how to approach this via VB (see below) but I just wanted to check
here to make sure there isn't another way to do this with less or no
programming.

I'd also like to avoid having to make a custom form and distribute/install
it for each appropriate user. I realize that's what you all do "for a
living" but it's not my preferred choice.

In my dreams, I would just edit properties of the custom button I just
created and click to display on Contacts only... I don't see such a
mechanism but anything similar would be awesome!

Thanks.

-Rich

If you handle the NewInspector event of the Inspectors collection and you

are only interested in creating your button for contacts the first step is

to check for contacts when that event fires. That's the code that uses

Inspector.CurrentItem.Class = olContact. If it's anything but a contact
you

don't instantiate the Inspector wrapper.

Code for creating buttons in Inspectors using a wrapper and collection and

creating the actual buttons in the class is available for both VB 6 and
C#.

The C# example is at http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=797 and

the VB 6 code is at

http://www.slovaktech.com/code_samples.htm#InspectorWrapper. That should
get

you started.

--

Ken Slovak

[MVP - Outlook]

http://www.slovaktech.com

Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

 

[Rich Roller]

Sue,

Thanks for confirming that the only way to do this is with code.

I'm not sure I understand what question your 2nd reply is to.

-Rich

A toolbar button? No, it takes code to detect what kind of folder the user
is looking at and display/hide the button appropriately. Ken gave you the
right answer.

A button on a custom form? Yes, but you said you didn't want a custom form.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

I was told by a MS employee in a private newsgroup to ask my question in
this public group...

Is there an easy way to have a custom button display just for certain item
types/forms, e.g. Contacts, ideally without complicated VB programming.

More specifically, I created a custom button (method: Customize Toolbar,
drag button to tool bar) that is relavent only to Contacts. The problem
is
that this button now shows up for other item types like Message,
Appointment, etc which is confusing to users and undesirable.

I got a tip from an Ken Slovak in public VBA newsgroup which gave me some
clues on how to approach this via VB (see below) but I just wanted to
check
here to make sure there isn't another way to do this with less or no
programming.

I'd also like to avoid having to make a custom form and distribute/install
it for each appropriate user. I realize that's what you all do "for a
living" but it's not my preferred choice.

In my dreams, I would just edit properties of the custom button I just
created and click to display on Contacts only... I don't see such a
mechanism but anything similar would be awesome!

Thanks.

-Rich

If you handle the NewInspector event of the Inspectors collection and you

are only interested in creating your button for contacts the first step
is

to check for contacts when that event fires. That's the code that uses

Inspector.CurrentItem.Class = olContact. If it's anything but a contact
you

don't instantiate the Inspector wrapper.

Code for creating buttons in Inspectors using a wrapper and collection
and

creating the actual buttons in the class is available for both VB 6 and
C#.

The C# example is at http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=797
and

the VB 6 code is at

http://www.slovaktech.com/code_samples.htm#InspectorWrapper. That should
get

you started.


Ken Slovak

[MVP - Outlook]

http://www.slovaktech.com

Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

A "custom button" could mean either a toolbar button or a button on a custom form.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Rich Roller]

Ah, I see now what you meant. I've been focusing on a custom toolbar
button.

If I want to improve on this method, I guess I'll give a shot to figuring
out Ken Slovak's suggestion.

There isn't any pre-made code you know of for displaying buttons only if
view/form=xxxx? (e.g. Contacts)

-Rich


A "custom button" could mean either a toolbar button or a button on a custom
form.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I thought Ken already explained how to do that with an Inspector wrapper class. The technique for an Explorer wrapper class would be similar, except that you'd use the FolderSwitch event and the DefaultItemType property instead of NewInspector and Class.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers