forms question

[Eric]

We have a customer which uses a form for Outlook written by another company
in 16bit VC++. This old form can still be used in Outlook. We need to change
some things and re-write the form for 32bit. The old form has a .cfg file,
an .EXE and two icons (different sizes). The old form is practically only a
template to write mails in a standard way (mandatory subject line, mandatory
custom message type selected from a list, etc.). Our new form should replace
the old form. When viewing messages created with the old form and the new
form is installed, then they must display correctly with the new form, so we
can only increment the version number. The old form has a custom message
class similar to IPM.INTERPOL.AlertMessage. The new form must work on
Outlook 2000 and Outlook XP. On the internet I only found information about
how to customize existing forms graphically.
Questions:
- Where do I find information about how to write code for this and object
models, etc.? Can you provide any internet links or know of an SDK?
- In what language should we write it? VBA? C#.NET? What would you
recommend?
- General recommendations?

Eric

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You would need to use Extended MAPI and C++ or Delphi to create such a custom form. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/mapi.htm for links to resources and sample code.

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

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

 

[Eric]

Thank you for your feedback so far. Your answer has helped a lot. Since then
I've studied samples and I've read a lot.

Could you tell me in short how to create such a project? I mean like:
- new Visual Studio 2005 project (project type "ATL project"??? what options
to select there [Executable, non-attributed]???)
- implement class xy with the functions zz....
- write a cfg file
.....
q2: Is there a documentation about the syntax of the necessary cfg file? I
haven't found one.

Eric

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

That's a topic way beyond my expertise and the scope of this newsgroup. The page I suggested earlier has links to sample projects and discussion lists that would be appropriate.

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

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