Opening Custom Meeting Request from Explorer Menu

[PS]

All

Wanted to know if we can do this (either in Outlook 2003 or Outlook
2007). If we I click on the menu in explorer - lets say "Tools" for
example - then (I know i can do this) create a menu item there - lets
say Custom <Company Name> Meeting Request.

Now lets say when I click that on that option in the menu - can i open
a calender item from there (which can then be programmed for specfic
GUI elements (such as dropdown etc) which need to be selected if that
custom meeting is opened up.

So basically 2 questiosn i had about the concept.

1. Clicking Tools-->Custom <Company Name> Meeting Request opens a
meeting request inspector (as regular one but also has required
programmed GUI elemtns)

2. Those GUI elements only show up when the above option is selected.
If i click on calender and then opena regular meeting request - those
specific meeting GUI elements dont show up on a regular meeting
request.

I may be implementing this on either Office version (2003 or 2007) -
chance of it being higher in Office 2007.

Any ideas / suggestions if this can be done / not done / gotchas etc
would be very helpful.

Thanks

 

[PS]

Also forgot to mention - doing all the above using VSTO 2005 and C#)

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

What you're describing is a published Outlook form. Launch it programmatically by using the Add method on the target folder's Items collection.

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

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

 

[PS]

Sue

Thanks so much for the reply.

As I mentioned above - there were 2 aspects to this project

1. Launching the customized Meeting Request (from Tools --> Custom AAA
Meeting Request.
As per your post - this can be done by launching a published
Outlook Form programtically.

2. Having custom DropDown fields (pulling data from a Data Source
(mostly SQL). and then when the user has updated the required info
(all the required dropdown values) - these values need to be submitted
back to a database for reporting purposes

After your suggestion, I read some links on Published Outlook Forms
and it seems you can program only in VBScript.

My only concern is that can it handle all the complexities needed.
Please excuse me for my inexperience - I have been working with VSTO
and C# for some time now but never had exposure to using Published
Outlook forms programtically.

So any info you (or anybody) shares will be really helpful.

Thanks
Pratik

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You either have to write VBScript behind the published form or, if you're building an add-in, manipulate the UI on the published form's controls when the item opens in its own window (i.e. start with the Inspectors.NewInspector event). The standard Outlook form controls are all part of the MSForms library.

For submission, you'd handle the Write event for the item. (Send doesn't fire for meeting requests, at least not at the form level. I've never tried to sink it from an add-in.) That gets complicated, because you need a wrapper class to handle the possibility of having multiple items open at one time. This sample should give you an idea of what's involved with working with Outlook Inspector and item objects in C#

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

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

 

[PS]

Thank you so much Sue for all the info you have shared. It definitely
gives me an insight into the approach I need to take. I will
definitely start looking into this more - launching Outlook form
controls programtically through addin.

You mentioned about the sample in your post - but I dont see any link
in there. Am I missing something.?

Thanks once again for all the help

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Sorry, here's the link I meant to add -- http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=797

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

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