How to Customize Outlook Calender 2003....

[Guest]

Hello Friends,

I am very new to Outlook Customization and i am just gonna to start
customize outlook calendar to meet the requirements. i just wants a general
ques:

1) first of all can i write macros in java or i have to use VB?

2) could i change any part of outlook? for that i has to know the name of
particular panel, listbox, menu name right? so from where i can get all this
info.

3)if i want to add some buttons and on click that button want to perform
some task. i can add buttton any where in outlook?

From these question you must know that i am completelty new to outlook
customization. any help you can do regarding this i will apreciate it.

Thanks and Regards,
Paresh

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

1) Neither. "Macros" refers specifically to code written in the VBA environment inside Outlook, for personal use.

2) No, the entire UI is not customizable. The Help file in VBA provides guidance on what is possible. You can also ask specific questions here about what you would like to do.

3) You can add buttons to any toolbar or menu exposed through the Explorer.CommandBars or Inspector.CommandBars collection for the main window and individual item window, respectively.

 

[Guest]

hey thanks for replying...

i m using the same book you have specified here.
this book is great i m learning fast.
my basic reuirement is to add button in calender "find conference room"
which will again display the specification abt the conf room like time and
date to book, projector, computer, video, phone is needed or not and after
tht user click find now and it should display all the conf rooms which meets
this requirements.and again if user double click on particular conf room it
should book for him in specified time. and if conf room is not free should
not be display and if none conf rooms available then it should display some
reccomend conf room which are nearer to the time specified by user.

any good suggestion over this issue?

Thanks and regards,
Paresh

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Much of what you want is built in to Exchange 2007+Outlook 2007. For Outlook 2003, though, your first task is to decide how you are going to store all that information that Outlook itself doesn't expose directly -- projector, computer, video, phone is needed or not and after. One solution might be maintain a list of conference rooms and their capabilities in a public folder.

Also, you need to start thinking about what kind of add-in you want to build, because you are going to have to build a dialog to show the user the conference rooms meeting their requirements. This is not a project suitable for VBA.

If you have all the capabilities of each room in a public folder, you can search that for matching rooms using the MAPIFolder.Recipients.Add method, then use the Recipient.FreeBusy method to check the availability of qualified rooms.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Guest]

This is not a project suitable for VBA.

Thanks u have given me some idea to do the task.

I think we can build a simple form in which checkboxes will be there for
selection of phone,pc,vedio etc and one button to find now. on clicking
button we should dispaly all the conf rooms those r free (by readig public
folder as you said) on the same box in list view and on double cliking list
view item we can book tht conf room for user. isnt it prety simple?

Just the problem for me is i want to add button tht will display above
dialog box in following location:

Tools -> forms -> Design Forms -> appointments --> scheduling
(beside the start time and meeting end time)

button name will be "find conf room" on clicking this button it will show
above dialog with checkboxes and one button "find now". what u think will it
work? how i can add button on specified location?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

That's not possible with a custom form. If you want to add a button to the toolbar, you need to build an add-in. On a custom form, you can add buttons only to customizable pages, such as the P.2 page on the appointment form.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Guest]

hey,
There is nothing in P.2 then how the user would knows. i want to add buttom
on the place where it should be visible directly. Ok could you suggest me to
do this thing so i would proceed in tht direction. but wherever i will add
that buttton, after clicking on button that dialog box i could generate or
not??

I think its becoming more complecated for me...at present i am reading your
books "Handling user inputs and feedback.

Thanks again for replying,

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Again, to meet your goals, you need to build an add-in, and yes, it's more complicated. You can't do it with just a custom form and VBA code, which are what my book covers. See http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=36 and http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=42

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Guest]

Thanks a lot...i will refer it...and get back on this after i will be done
some work on it...

 

[Guest]

Is there any link from where i can get the source code of your book?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

All the sample code from my Outlook programming books is available from my web site (see link below), using the "get the code" link on any page.

 

[Guest]

Hi sue,
Its of to make the find conference room form in following location:

Tools -> forms -> Design Forms -> appointments --> P.2

Now i have designed the form also there. Question is how to rename P.2 to
"Find Conference Room" and how to published this changes bcz i am making
changes and its not getting affected and again i seeing P.2 to be clear.

Paresh

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

In design mode, there is a Form | Rename Page command. The command to publish is on the toolbar and also available on the Tools | Forms menu.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Guest]

Hey sue,
I did the same thing what u said..but then also its not saving.its not
giving any error but after tht i am goin to same location and again that P.2
name its sawing and whole form cleared.

Tools -> forms -> Design Forms -> appointments --> P.2

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Please be specific: What is not saving? What do you mean by "that P.2 name its sawing and whole form cleared"?

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Guest]

Sue,

Now i got wht is happening. after publishing it is storing tht form in
outlook folder. and i can see it from there. but i want that form permanently
with appointment and scheduling tab when i click File -> appointment. each
time i have to choose the form from tht location so its loading tht form with
these two tabs.

Thanks sue...you r being very helpful to me. i gonna to start object models
now in yr book.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Sounds like you just need to make the form the default for the folder. See http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=39

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

 

[Guest]

hey sue,
You r simply a great. Its working now fine. Now the thing is i have to
update this in 1000s of machines. is there any progrmatic way to do this task
so that i should not do this manually. and outlook is stored on server only
for all user. I mean to say local installation is not there.
should i write more here?

Regards,
Paresh

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Grant a user's Windows account owner access to all mailboxes, and then use CDO 1.21 to log onto each mailbox with a dynamic profile and then set the default form for a folder. See http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=1303. Much more information on CDO, including dynamic profile logins, at http://www.cdolive.com

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

hey sue,
You r simply a great. Its working now fine. Now the thing is i have to
update this in 1000s of machines. is there any progrmatic way to do this task
so that i should not do this manually. and outlook is stored on server only
for all user. I mean to say local installation is not there.

 

[Guest]

Thanks a lot sue,
I think this will be last que to complete my project.
See i have made the form to meet my requirements at location Tools -> forms
-> Design Forms -> appointments --> P.2
and rename it to "Find Conference Room". I am having code also ready for the
buttons and checkboxes present there. but i dont know how to add code for
this form? mean to say "Find Now" button is there on clicking that button it
fetches the data from public folder and displaying into List box in the same
form.

Could you please tell me just how to add code for this form?

Thanks and Regards,
Paresh