Custom outlook grids

[Jeff]

I'm not sure of the right terminology to describe what I'm trying to do.
Here's the long way:

I want to develop an add-in that will create an entry in the Outlook "tree"
called "XYZ Customers" (or similar). When the user clicks on it, I want it
to show a list of customers in the "grid pane", but I want the list to come
directly from our database. When a user double clicks on a customer, I want
to launch a custom, non-Outlook form that allows the user to edit the
customer record.

Essentially, I want to have Outlook act a viewer application for a portion
of our business application's database. What API or technology do I need to
research in order to accomplish this? I couldn't figure it out in the
Outlook object model documentation.

PS - Please don't simply suggest buying an existing product that does
this...my company wants to develop this.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

You can use any grid control for that, the ones that come with Visual Studio
or a 3rd party control. MSHFlex is one grid that comes with Visual Studio 6
for example. The grid would have to be shown in your own form and you would
have to populate it using a database connection such as a bound grid control
and data source or a recordset from something like an ADO connection to the
database.

You would then have to handle the double-click event in the grid control and
open another custom form with whatever information you want from the
database for that record.

You would also need to create a custom treeview view of whatever folders you
wanted to show so you could handle a selection event in the treeview and
open your custom form with the grid control.

What technologies you used would depend on if you are about using a .NET
language and what versions of Outlook you would need to support.

Something like that is certainly doable. I've done it many times for COM
addins. I personally use VB 6 technology because it's easier to support
multiple versions of Outlook with one build and code base than using .NET
languages and doesn't require installation of the Framework.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks for the information. It seems like you're describing a separate
application that interfaces with Outlook... I may not have made it clear
that I want to add an entry to the Outlook tree, and then show a list of
customers within the Outlook window, using the same pane where Outlook's
inbox, contacts, etc appear...not a separate 'pop-up' form. The only time I
want to pop up a custom form is when the user goes to edit a customer in the
list (or add a new one).

If I am the one mis-understanding, could you explain how I can "hook in" a
custom form so that it appears inside the "viewer" pane (the main
information window on the right side of the Outlook window)?

Thanks!
Jeff

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

You cannot do what you want, the method I presented is an alternative.

The folder list is not accessible to code, it only shows folders. The
PickFolder dialog is not customizable either in what it shows or how it
works. The preview/reading pane is not accessible to code and will only
display the selected item in the current Explorer. So what you want to do
isn't something that can be done.