Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Dennis T Cheung — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 06:11:00 GMT

So... uh... how much longer is it before you can write an "Make Outlook work like Entourage for the love of God" Add-in?

[.NET]Outlook Addin - using C#

おがわみつぎのBLOG — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 10:53:00 GMT

[.NET]Outlook Addin - using C#

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

milbertus — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:40:00 GMT

Can't you just debug your add in by attaching to Outlook.exe? I've done similar things when playing around with a Word add in, and it worked very well. When I stopped debugging (Shift+F5), VS only unloaded my add in, and didn't kill Word (which is a big plus, especially in your case with an Outlook add in).

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Dan Crevier — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 15:53:00 GMT

Just setting a breakpoint on the hello world dialog and attaching to Outlook didn't seem to do it, but I haven't tried much yet.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Omar Shahine — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 18:54:00 GMT

To debug you do this:

1) Right click on your project and select properties
2) Select Configuration Properties -> Debugging
3) Set Debug Mode to Program
4) Click Apply
5) Set start application to path to Outlook.

Make sure Outlook isn't running. Now hit F5 to build and debug. Now your break points will get hit etc.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Ron Cicotte — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 22:37:00 GMT

I've been working on an Outlook Add-in to process payments and all was going well for a few days. I wish I had come across this page sooner though because you discuss the issues succinctly what took me several days to uncover. The problem is that suddenly I cannot debug my add-in. It simply ignores the breakpoints. I have rebuilt; re-installed; re-registered everything I can think of and still cannot get it to recognize my code. It seems as though my symbols are not being loaded though I can't for the life of me figure out what changed.

My addin is really quite sweet and will be a great app if I can only get my debug environment working again. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

-ron

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Dan Crevier — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 06:34:00 GMT

Glad you found it useful. I don't have any great suggestions for your debugging problems. If you figure it out, please post here so we can all learn from it. Also, let us know when your blog is up and your product is out! :-)

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Ron Cicotte — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 14:21:00 GMT

I have successfully created your version of C# "Hello World" and am able to debug it and have the following observations:

1. I am using a new installation of .NET and Office Pro with latest updates on a new machine.

2. When I created the demo app and added the reference to Outlook 11 library I got a second instance of the Office.dll which caused ambiguous results. This is because the template generated by VS.NET uses the Office.dll in the Frameworks 1.1 directory while the PIA Outlook.dll is in the GAC. I removed the "Office" reference installed by the .NET template.

3. The reference to "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application" is incorrect in the version of Outlook.dll I used in the new installation. Instead it is called "interop.Outlook" in the Outlook 11 object library. I used the object browser to verify this. I simply replaced "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application" with "Outlook.Application" when declaring the applicationObject and casting the application in the OnConnection method. It appears that there is more than one version of the Outlook 11 library with the same version number (9.2). Both machines are running XP Pro and both installed Office 2003 from the MSDN DVD though one could have been from a different issue. I am going to re-install Office 2003 and see if I get a new version of the Outlook.dll

4. When I compiled the app I got an error saying that "Exception" in the catch is ambiguous. There is an Outlook.Exception object so you need to specify "System.Exception" in the catch statements. I tried "Outlook.Exception" and got an error saying that the catch Exception must be derived from System.

I still have no idea why the debugger failed but am now going to copy my files into the new project directory and see if the debugger still works. I will keep you posted.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Dan Crevier — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 17:47:00 GMT

Thanks for the info. When I first was setting things up, I ended up with multiple conflicting references too, but when I stepped through them a second time to test things out for my post, I didn't. I wonder what the difference was.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Ron Cicotte — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:19:00 GMT

I've re-installed Office 2k3 and VS 2k3 on my old machine and still have the same problem even when I start totally from scratch. Something is seriously wrong here. Apparently there is something cached somewhere that is telling the VS debugger that my COM code is somewhere other than where it is.

Evan after re-installing both When i run Outlook alone the button is created and functions correctly. When i quit Outlook and start it the button is there but does not function. If I start it using the debugger it doesn't function and the breakpoints don't get hit. The "?" is displayed at the breakpoint indicating that the code is not loaded. If I un-install the Add-in and restart with the debugger the button is not created and Outlook does not see my code at all.

Do you have any idea where VS configuration parameters are stored? Clearly they are stored somewhere in the registry and not cleared during un-install because it remembered my projects after re-installing. I think I will need a full removal of VS.NET unless I can figure out why it cannot wire-up the interop and load my symbols. I could use my new computer but it is a portable and not intended for development.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Ron Cicotte — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 22:28:00 GMT

Another point. The outlook PIA installed on the old machine after the re-install is still the one named "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook". I must have used an early version of Office 2k3 on that machine. The re-installed Office 2k3 on the new machine using the same DVD (April MSDN) now uses the same name for the Outlook.dll. The debugger still works on that machine after the re-install so it's not related to the dll. I have verified that every debug parameter is identical on both machines. I think my only solution is to remove .NET entirely including any registry settings and re-install. Any advice on where I can look for instructions on how to safely accomplish this?

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Dan Crevier — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 23:17:00 GMT

Unfortunately, I have no clue...

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Ron Cicotte — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 20:54:00 GMT

Dan,

I solved the problem but had to call Microsoft and use one of my MSDN support calls to do it.

It turns out there is a bug in Outlook Add-in manager that prevents debugging of add-ins if any add-ins are currently in the "disabled" state. The following is a copy of my email to the MS rep that handled the case:

Zach,

Problem solved! Apparently the “Resiliency” key has an effect on the debugger for all add-ins not just the one affected by the Outlook request to be disabled. Deleting this key has solved the issue. Please tell me that this will be added as a bug and made available to other developers. My suggestion for a Problem Description would be:

”.NET debug fails with Office PIA after disabling Add-in COM dll.”

Conditions: After receiving the following error message from Outlook :

“Outlook experienced a serious error the last time the add-in ["your addin name"] was opened. Would you like to disable this

add-in? To reactivate this add-in, click About Microsoft Office Outlook in the Help menu, then click Disabled Items”

If you select yes to have Outlook disable this add-in you will be unable to debug any add-ins until this add-in is either enabled or the “Resiliency” key for this add-in is removed from the registry.

Steps to recreate the Problem.

Create a com add-in http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302901
Open Outlook using the debug option
After loading the addin exit outlook using the debugger to stop debugging
Open outlook outside of Visual Studio IDE. The following error message appears:
“Outlook experienced a serious error the last time the add-in ["MyAddin1"] was opened. Would you like to disable this add-in? To reactivate this add-in, click About Microsoft Office Outlook in the Help menu, then click Disabled Items”

Select yes to disable the add-in
Close Outlook and return to the IDE
Uninstall the Addin.
Create a second Add-in and install it.
Attempting to debug the second add-in will result in the application starting but breakpoints will not be invoked.

Actually attempting to debug the first add-in will also fail but this scenario more closely approximates the confusion I encountered.

You may expect that since you “Uninstalled” the first add-in that there would be nothing remaining to prohibit installation and debugging of other add-ins even though the first add-in did cause an unexpected problem with debugging other add-ins. This is not the case. The first add-in must either be enabled using the Office Outlook Help menu as noted above or you must remove the addin entry at the following location in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Resiliency\DisabledItems.

Any entry at this location will

Even if the first add-in is uninstalled debugging will not work until the first add-in is either enabled using the Outlook Help menu or the entry in the Resiliency key is removed.

Thank you for helping me resolve this issue. I spent 3 days trying to figure this out because I didn’t pay close enough attention to the notice at the time the add-in was first disabled. That’s my fault. But the fact that the debugger does not work for other add-ins if any add-in is in the disabled state is something I don’t think would be anticipated by most developers.

____________________________
Ron Cicotte
Data Architect/Application Developer
Email: ron.cicotte@summerstreet.net
Tel: (781) 820-1355
Web: http://www.summerstreet.com

Debugging Outlook Add-ins doesn't work if you have disabled add-ins

Dan Crevier's Blog — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 00:38:00 GMT

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

B.J. — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 14:56:00 GMT

I found your Blog while Googling. The example works great. Thanks for sharing. I am new to c# and I only have Office 2k on my pc. The one problem that I ran into was this error:

Cannot implicitly convert type 'Office.CommandBars' to 'Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBars'

It turns out that my references were to Office 10.0 and Outlook 9.0. I changed to Office 9.0 and replaced "Microsoft.Office.Core" with "Office" a few places in the code and it works super.

Now I'm off to explore the Outlook object model to try to get this application to do some useful things...

Outlook COM Add-ins and security prompts

Dan Crevier's Blog — Sat, 03 Apr 2004 08:56:00 GMT

Creating Managed Outlook Buttons with Icons

Omar Shahine's WebLog — Sat, 17 Apr 2004 06:53:00 GMT

re: Programming for Outlook using managed code is hard

Omar Shahine's WebLog — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 17:58:00 GMT

Hello World Outlook Add-In

William.Blog() — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 15:40:00 GMT

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Shelly — Tue, 25 May 2004 10:38:00 GMT

Your Artciles and Comments helped me finish my paper today, many thanks !

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Scott Allen — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 03:50:00 GMT

I've found invoking System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch() during OnConnect is an easier way to have the debugger ready before any interesting code executes. I think programming an AddIn from .NET could be much easier than it is: http://odetocode.com/Blogs/scott/archive/2004/07/04/294.aspx.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Rob — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 01:05:00 GMT

Am I barking up the wrong tree with Outlook Add-ins? I need to present a custom set of folders and display my app records (i.e. DB records) in the same list-view area where e-mails are displayed. Essentially, use the Outlook UI for my data with some drag/drop interaction with Outlook. Are Outlook Add-ins the key? Or do I simulate a MAPI server?

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

Dan Crevier — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 03:22:00 GMT

To be honest, I'm not sure how to do it. I think the only way to do it through an add-in would be to create Outlook items corresponding to each of your database records. That probably wouldn't be a good way to go.

re: Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C#

TristanK — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 09:19:00 GMT

I think the comment above this one might be considered comment spam :)

I was starting to pull tufts of hair out - for some reason, any Extensibility project for Office that I started on my Work machine would fail miserably as soon as it got near a CommandBar - catching the exception gave me "Object reference not set to an instance of the object".

Based on random experimentation after reading the comments here, I removed the default "Office" reference (put there by the Wizard) from the project references (leaving just Outlook and Microsoft.Office.Core listed) , and *blammo*, it now works!

So thanks for helping, I hope this helps someone!

Creating Managed Outlook Buttons with Icons

shahine.com/omar/ — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 09:16:00 GMT

GWS Application: Part 1

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Almost ready to write some code to call Groove Web Services now.
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Almost ready to write some code to call Groove Web Services now.
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Outlook add-in in C#

Mikel Berger — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 01:11:19 GMT

Here's a couple links to get started on an Outlook plugin for Google Calendar. Hello Word Outlook Add-In using C# Google Calendar Data API...

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Re: Outlook

Channel 9 — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:31:08 GMT

I've blogged about this a bit. See

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