outlook auto-install

[Peter]

hello Team,

I want to inquire here, of anyone of you ever encountered the following
problem with OL2003:
On our network pc's are all equipped with OL2003 STANDARD installation.
On these pc's macro's are going to run, using the vbaproject.otm file.
In the standard installation using vba is not selected in the setup, but
should when needed automatically load the software from the network
server.
The first time -and in some cases even repeatedly after the first time-
Outlook crashes when it recognizes the macro-file. After that a repair
is run and then the macro's are recognized and work just fine.
Just to see if the problem occurs on the standard installation we have
installed on one pc where this problem continued to occur a complete
installation. No problem whatsoever. Now we know that we have to do a
full installation to avoid the problem. But why does the standard
installation not work ? Is this a known problem that is solved in a
service pack ?
Who can provide me with some info on this, please ?

Greetings
Peter

 

[Guest]

Deploying .otm files is not officially supported by Microsoft, and is not
generally recommended. You should code this solution as a COM Add-In, which
are far easier to deploy.

See this link for more information:

OL2002: Code Does Not Work After You Distribute a VBA Project:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290780/EN-US/

 

[Peter]

Hello Eric,

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate this very much.
Personally I want to follow directly your advice to use a COM add-in.
But it is company-policy to use the OTM file.
The problem I encounter is not the issue of starting the macro for the
first time. The problem is, that if i use the standard installation of
OL2003 the first time the macrofile is installed on a PC the software
that should interpret the macros does not seem to load automatically
from the server while during setup it was configured this way. This
situation keeps returning on some pc's and we understand now that we can
solve this problem by installing Outlook again and selecting the
Complete Installation.
But the question remains: is this a known Outlook 2003 bug?
Is it solved in a Service Pack ?

Greetings
Peter

 

[Guest]

It sounds like you are telling me that VBA functionality is not getting
auto-installed if during setup the option for "Visual Basic For Applications"
under the "Office Shared Features" section is set for "Installed on first
use".

Which begs the question - what user action initiates the attempt to install
this feature? I'm confused by your statement "the software that should
interpret the macros does not seem to load automatically from the server".
Which software is this?

From my understanding, if VBA isn't installed for ANY Office application
(you can't selectively install VBA for individual Office apps AFAIK) as soon
as a user clicks any option in the Macro menu, this will attempt to
auto-install VBA. If auto-install fails, there could be an issue with your
shared installation source, network connectivty, etc.

Simply installing the .otm file won't automatically trigger the auto-install
- you have to open the VBA Editor or change Macro security settings.

To recap:

- deploy the .otm files
- click an option in the Macro menu
- if VBA isn't installed, auto-install should trigger if this was selected
- after installation, run a macro

If I'm still missing the mark, let me know.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

PMJI, but I think this is the known issue that code in an installed
VBAProject.OTM file (as opposed to one that the user worked on) doesn't load
automatically. The user must go into the VBA environment first. This is one
of the many reasons why VBA code is not suitable for enterprisewide
deployment.

Note that reinstalling Outlook will not change this behavior.

The company policy is creating more problems than it solves and will likely
lead to considerable tech support calls down the road as users get into the
VBA code and change it and wonder why it no longer works as it did
originally. It's time to tell them that it's just plain wrong.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Peter]

hello Eric (or anyone who recognizes the problem)

Thank your for replying to my message.
The error occurs on some pc's after the macro file is installed for the
first time. Selecting an item in the macro-menu produces the problem.
Then we run a repair and the problem seems to be fixed.
On some pc's however after a few days the problem occurs again but not
when a macro-menuitem is selected (this is no longer necessary of
course) but as soon as outlook starts and wants to open the macrofile.
This file is not corrupt as it runs on other pc's.
After removing the macrofile, outlook starts up correctly.
After a repair, however, outlook can start up again with the macrofile.

greetings,
Peter