installer building

[Jeremy]

Hi

I have a strange problem. I have an outlook addin built in vb.net (for
office XP outlook) and the installer that VS builds is fine.

however, I want to add this outlook component to a larger install that
is built using installshield developer.

I realise that some black magic goes on in the registry to make
outlook understand but I cannot find the bit that does the trick. Does
anybody know which bits I should use?

and another thing that has been bothering me. adding buttons to
outlook (or other ms apps) is fine but how come there is no facility
to remove those buttons when the user uninstalls the addin? e.g. if
you're doing an upgrade.

Thanks in advance

Jeremy

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Why not just do the entire installation package using InstallShield? It
understands .NET packages.

If you create your Outlook buttons/toolbars as Temporary = True then there
should be no reason they should exist once Outlook is shut down. Updates
should always be done with all applications closed.

 

[Jeremy]

Hi

Yes InstallShield does understand .NET and my "big" installer does use
InstallShield

Its just that when you create an Extension project in VS.NET it puts
together an InstallShield Express project and its in here that the
registry is changed.
Just adding this .NET dll to another IS project does not create the
extra registry information.

I tried the HKLM\software\microsoft\office\outlook\addins\<root
namespace>.<class that implements Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2>
which is added in IS express but that is not enough. maybe it changes
the .net entry subtly too?

On the Temporary toolbar idea. That is what I have done but if your
users move the buttons about (as they do) then next time they run the
app the buttons are back to where they were! A small problem in the
grand scheme of things.

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Have you tried scanning your project in InstallShield for .NET attributes
and setting the properties of the included files? I can't really help more
with this, I avoid .NET programming for Outlook.

You can save your toolbar/button positions on the Explorer or Inspector
Close events to a file or the registry and restore the positions when you
create them again the next time. Save properties such as .Left, .Top,
..RowIndex, .Position, .Height, .Width.