.Net Add-in does not work with Outlook 2002 and 2000

[Osi]

Our Dev team has developed a COM that is to be used with Outlook 2003,
2002 and 2000. The code works well with the Outlook 2003 version, but
does not show at all in the other two versions(OL 2000,2002). We have
tried
developing the code using the "Building Outlook 2002 Add-ins with
Visual Basic .NET" method. The COM code that was working was converted
from VB6 to .Net. The regsitry references for the add-in are being
imported using the
Installer.(again this works fine in 2003). What else are we missing
that we are not
doing. Any suggestions?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Did you install the PIAs for the appropriate Office version on the client machines?

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Rog]

Which version of the OOM are you using ?
Perhaps if are using the 11.xxxx version and trying to access a
property/method not exposed in Outloook 2000 or Outlook 2002 you are
generating an exception that may not be caught and is causing your
add-in to not work.
Rog

 

[Osi]

Rog & Sue Mosher:
We compile the code using 9.xxx version. Also all the interops are
located in the application directory. Should i be adding references to
specific Office versions inside the GAC? The Office assembly in the
working windows 2003 machine has 2 office assemblies, one without a
vesion and one with a version of 11.xx. Im assuming that since i have
the one with 11.x on my 2003 office that is why it works.
Does the .Net redistributable have the necessary tools to get the
version specific assemblies? I am in charge of running the Wise
installation for the application, should i be adding them though Wise?
I am new to all of this, and its quite overwhelming to take in all at
once. Thanks for help so far
Gustavo

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You need to install the PIAs for the appropriate version of Office on each client machine. this is separate from the .NET Framework installation. I haven't work with the Wise tool.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Osi]

Downloaded and installed the necessary Outlook.dll Interop Assemblies
from the OfficeXP PIA redistribuatable to the GAC using the gacutil.exe
Still have no menus or controls showing afterward when i launch Outlook
2000 or 2002........

 

[Rog]

The OfficeXP PIAs are not supposed to work pre OUtlook 2003.
that is not to say that won't work, but some methods/properties that are
exposed in the PIA will not work on Outlook 2000/2002
Rog

 

[Osi]

I contacted a company that facilitates the installation of Interops and
other .Net addins. They say that they have a Office2000 PIA and works
with Outlook, but it still has many bugs so they are not at the
redistribution stage. But from my research everything states otherwise,
that there is no such thing. If there is a office 2000 PIA where is it?
MSDN has nothing related to such a thing.

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

See if the information about rebuilding the PIA for Outlook 2002 to use with
Outlook helps. It's at
http://www.microeye.com/resources/res_outlookvsnet.htm

 

[Osi]

I thought I had replied, found out the problem. As it turns out, the
interop that was needed was the Extensibility.dll file. This file is
not redistributed with the .Net framework or the XP PIAs redist. Also I
had to edit a few registry keys. The only thing that i had to to was
because the extensibility is an interop needed with .net, i just
installed it using the gacutil.exe and added regsitery value though a
..bat file. Seems to be working for all OL versions 2000,2002,2003. Also
we did recompile our plugin from a 2000 machine so that we can access
it. So all of these things got our plug in to work.