VS2008 OL2007 add-in with ClickOnce : Does not load

[Glenn]

I have created a one-liner vanilla hello-world C# Outlook add-in using
VS2008 and published it using default settings. Copied everything in
\Publish folder to CD and installed on several machines (none with
VS2008).

In all cases, the setup downloads .Net 3.5 and Visual Studio Tools
runtime. I also manually install the Office 2007 PIA (why aren't
these available in the prerequisites???) manually.

In all cases (both XP and Vista boxes running Ol2007), Outlook starts
up and disables my add-in. Under tools/trust center/Add-ins/COM add-
ins it is unchecked with an error "Not loaded. A runtime error
ocurred during the loading of the COM add-in."

I have been doing research for a couple days now - but most
information seems to be related to establishing trust when using
VS2005/MSI. Not much on VS2008/ClickOnce.

So:

What else do I have to do (apparently undocumented) to get this to
work?
And why are the PIAs (and any other manual steps) not included in the
automatic prereq-checking?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Is this a VSTO addin or a shared addin? If a VSTO addin did you review the
deployment guide/walkthrough for VSTO addins? The reference for it is at the
MSDN VSTO forum.

 

[Glenn]

Is this a VSTO addin or a shared addin? If a VSTO addin did you review the
deployment guide/walkthrough for VSTO addins? The reference for it is at the
MSDN VSTO forum.

My understanding (nothing is obvious in documentation) is that the
"VSTO" is integrated into VS2008.

I selected "File / New / Project" , then "Other Languages / C# /
Outlook Add-in".

I didn't change anything except to put a messagebox in the
ThisAddIn_Startup().

So.. I believe this is a VSTO add-in, but who knows? That is not part
of the lingo, apparently, in VS2008.

I have looked at several walk-thrus. Most are targeted towards VS2005
users, who apparently have to jump through hoops for prerequisites and
security setup. Small notes in these pages indicate the VS2008
programmers don't have to do any of these things because ClickOnce
will take care of everything.

And... I have not found an answer as to why the PIA's are not
available as pre-requisites, as I'm sure they'll turn out to be.
Apparently they were in VS2005.

Thanks for the quick response. If you actually know of some solid
VS2008 documentation that would cover my problem, please provide a
link as I have not found any.

-glenn

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

I haven't gotten into the deployment wonders of VS 2008 yet. It is a VSTO
addin though.

I'd post this in the MSDN VSTO forum rather than here. The VSTO team answers
questions there so you're more likely to get a knowledgeable answer.

FWIW, the deployment guide and product ID's and all the other deployment
stuff you need wasn't released until about 4 or 5 months after the release
of Office 2007 and VSTO 2005 SE, so the VSTO team isn't known for timely
documentation or information that's easily available.

 

[Glenn]

I haven't gotten into the deployment wonders of VS 2008 yet. It is a VSTO
addin though.

I'd post this in the MSDN VSTO forum rather than here. The VSTO team answers
questions there so you're more likely to get a knowledgeable answer.

FWIW, the deployment guide and product ID's and all the other deployment
stuff you need wasn't released until about 4 or 5 months after the release
of Office 2007 and VSTO 2005 SE, so the VSTO team isn't known for timely
documentation or information that's easily available.

Ken,

Thanks again for your timely reply. I will move over to MSDN
forums.

-glenn