how to use the CommandBars Collection

[lostwings]

I wanted to use com add-in to add one menu for the outlook 2003. The thing is
that it seems that I cannot create the CommandBars Collection object
successfully. Following is the code snippet.


Imports Microsoft.Office

Public Sub OnConnection(ByVal application As Object, ByVal connectMode As
Extensibility.ext_ConnectMode, ByVal addInInst As Object, ByRef custom As
System.Array) Implements Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnConnection

oApp = CType(application, Microsoft.Office.Interop.outlook.Application)
Dim myCommandBars As Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBars
myCommandBars = oApp.ActiveExplorer.CommandBars

end sub


I omit some exception catch statement above. The compiler alwasy report
error as "CommandBars is ambiguous in the namespace 'Microsoft.office.core'
". Why is that, and how can I fix this error?

thanks in advance.

 

[Jim B]

Hey what's up...

I've come across the same basic problem but with an Excel 2003 add-in. I
created a shared add-in as an "other project type" under extensibility as a
shared add-in with excel as the app it should be used for. I struggled with
it for a while when it wasn't working and discovered I needed an update to
make it work.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 shared add-in support update(KB908002).

Once I installed the update everything was fine.

If it helps here's a sample of the class code I used to make it work after I
installed the update. This code adds a button to the standard toolbar of
excel. You should be able to take the basic idea and extrapolate it for
your own use.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imports Microsoft.Office.Core
Imports Extensibility
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

<GuidAttribute("7B208F7B-3DEA-4BA1-BBEB-10D2D9070EDF"),
ProgIdAttribute("MyAddin1.Connect")> _
Public Class Connect

Implements Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2
Dim WithEvents MyButton As CommandBarButton
Dim applicationObject As Object
Dim addInInstance As Object

Public Sub OnBeginShutdown(ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnBeginShutdown
MyButton.Delete()
MyButton = Nothing
End Sub

Public Sub OnAddInsUpdate(ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnAddInsUpdate
End Sub

Public Sub OnStartupComplete(ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnStartupComplete
MyButton = applicationObject.CommandBars("Standard").Controls.Add(1)
MyButton.Caption = "My Button"
MyButton.Style = MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption
MyButton.Tag = "My Button"
MyButton.OnAction = "!<MyAddin1.Connect>"

End Sub

Public Sub OnDisconnection(ByVal RemoveMode As
Extensibility.ext_DisconnectMode, ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnDisconnection
End Sub

Public Sub OnConnection(ByVal application As Object, ByVal connectMode As
Extensibility.ext_ConnectMode, ByVal addInInst As Object, ByRef custom As
System.Array) Implements Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnConnection
applicationObject = application
addInInstance = addInInst
End Sub
Private Sub MyButton_Click(ByVal Ctrl As
Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBarButton, _
ByRef CancelDefault As Boolean) Handles MyButton.Click

msgbox("This works")

End Sub
End Class