Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming: Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators

841 Pages·2007·12.73 MB·English

by  Sue Mosher

Microsoft® Outlook 2007
Programming:
Jumpstart for Administrators
and Power Users
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Microsoft® Outlook 2007
Programming:
Jumpstart for Administrators
and Power Users
Sue Mosher
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Digital Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Digital Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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ISBN: 978-1-55558-346-0
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Contents
Introduction xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 What You Can Do with Outlook 2007 1
1.1 Why program with Outlook? 2
1.2 Outlook programming tools 2
1.3 How to start 9
1.4 Key Outlook programming components 11
1.5 Showing developer commands 11
1.6 Summary 13
Part I Basic Outlook VBA Design
2 The VBA Design Environment 15
2.1 VBA: The basics 15
2.2 VBA windows 18
2.3 Getting help in VBA 24
2.4 Working with VBA projects 26
2.5 Summary 29
3 Building Your First VBA Form 31
3.1 Understanding Outlook birthdays and anniversaries 31
3.2 Step 1: What controls do you need? 32
3.3 Step 2: Create the form 33
3.4 Step 3: Add user input controls 36
3.5 Step 4: Add command buttons 38
v
vi Contents
3.6 Step 5: Plan the next development stage 45
3.7 More on VBA form controls 45
3.8 Summary 55
Part II Basic Outlook Form Design
4 Introducing Outlook Forms 57
4.1 Understanding the two types of custom forms 57
4.2 Starting the forms designer 59
4.3 The six standard Outlook forms 60
4.4 When to use which form 74
4.5 Working in the forms designer 76
4.6 Saving forms and ending a design session 78
4.7 Creating your first custom contact form 81
4.8 Summary 94
5 Introducing Form Regions 95
5.1 Understanding form regions 95
5.2 Controls for form regions 97
5.3 Creating your first form region 100
5.4 Registering and deploying form regions 103
5.5 Limitations of form regions 110
5.6 Other ideas for form regions 110
5.7 Summary 111
6 Extending Form Design with Fields and Controls 113
6.1 Understanding fields versus controls 113
6.2 Creating user-defined fields 114
6.3 Adding and removing fields on Outlook forms 122
6.4 Using form controls 128
6.5 Laying out compose and read pages 137
6.6 Summary 139
Part III Writing VBA and VBScript Code
7 Outlook Code Basics 141
7.1 Understanding when VBA code runs 141
7.2 Writing VBA code 152
Contents vii
7.3 Writing VBScript code for Outlook forms 159
7.4 Referring to Outlook item properties 168
7.5 Writing other Outlook automation code 171
7.6 Summary 175
8 Code Grammar 101 177
8.1 Option Explicit 177
8.2 Declaring variables and constants 179
8.3 Writing procedures 188
8.4 Working with expressions and functions 198
8.5 Working with strings 200
8.6 Working with dates and times 206
8.7 Using arrays, dictionaries, and the Split() and Join() functions 216
8.8 Controlling program flow 222
8.9 Providing feedback 234
8.10 Getting user input 240
8.11 Working with files and other objects 249
8.12 Summary 258
9 Handling Errors, Testing, and Debugging 261
9.1 Understanding errors 261
9.2 Testing and debugging in VBA 269
9.3 Debugging Outlook form VBScript code 277
9.4 Summary 287
Part IV Fundamental Outlook Coding Techniques
10 Outlook Programming Basics 289
10.1 Introducing the Outlook object model 289
10.2 Outlook object and collection code techniques 295
10.3 Understanding Outlook security 302
10.4 Summary 312
11 Responding to Outlook Events in VBA 313
11.1 Application object events 314
11.2 Writing handlers for other object events 329
11.3 Explorers and Explorer events 333
viii Contents
11.4 Inspectors and Inspector events 338
11.5 Folders, Folder, and Items events 343
11.6 Processing incoming mail 347
11.7 Using the Application.Reminder and Reminders events 356
11.8 Summary 369
12 Coding Key Custom Form Scenarios 371
12.1 Working with Outlook item events 371
12.2 Responding to user input on forms 377
12.3 Handling form and control state issues 391
12.4 Summary 400
13 Working with Stores, Explorers, and Folders 401
13.1 Information store concepts 401
13.2 Information store techniques 403
13.3 Working with Explorers 410
13.4 Accessing folders 412
13.5 Working with folders 434
13.6 Summary 442
14 Using PropertyAccessor and StorageItem 445
14.1 Using the PropertyAccessor object 446
14.2 Using the StorageItem object 458
14.3 Summary 462
15 Working with Inspectors and Items 463
15.1 Working with Inspectors 464
15.2 Creating items 467
15.3 Accessing items 474
15.4 Using the Table object 484
15.5 Using Item methods 492
15.6 Summary 500
16 Searching for Outlook Items 501
16.1 Introduction to Outlook search methods 501
16.2 Building search strings 503
Contents ix
16.3 Using Items.Find and Items.Restrict 521
16.4 Using Table search techniques 525
16.5 Using Explorer.Search 527
16.6 Using Application.AdvancedSearch 530
16.7 Summary 541
17 Working with Item Bodies 543
17.1 Basic item body techniques 543
17.2 Parsing text from a message body 545
17.3 Adding text to an item 547
17.4 Creating a formatted message 551
17.5 Using WordEditor 554
17.6 Working with Outlook signatures 563
17.7 Summary 568
18 Working with Recipients and Address Lists 569
18.1 Key recipient and address list objects 570
18.2 Understanding address lists 571
18.3 Working with item recipients 577
18.4 Reading Recipient and AddressEntry information 584
18.5 Reading free/busy information 588
18.6 Showing the Select Names dialog 594
18.7 Summary 601
19 Working with Attachments 603
19.1 Understanding Outlook attachments 603
19.2 Adding attachments to Outlook items 606
19.3 Working with attachments on existing items 608
19.4 Summary 618
20 Common Item Techniques 619
20.1 Using custom message forms 620
20.2 Working with voting buttons and other custom actions 626
20.3 Sending a message with a specific account 637
20.4 Creating a meeting request 639
20.5 Assigning a task 641