Info needed on developing outlook addins

  • Thread starter Thread starter Farhan Ghafoor
  • Start date Start date
F

Farhan Ghafoor

To enhance my web based services/application further, I want to develop
add-in
for outlook, here is a brief on what it will be like

1) it will have a button somewhere on outlook main toolbar
2) and on mail composing toolbar as well
3) when the button is clicked it will open up a form (or multiple forms) to
take
further input from user.
4) and based on input will compose the email automatically
5) finally queue it up for sending

I am advance level c# developer but am new to office developments, I saw a
lot of
articles on internet on how to do what I need, but before diving into the
coding I would
like to confirm a few general questions (to be on the safe side) and will
appreciate
the replies from everyone in general and office/outlook MVPs in particular.
Please
provide any authentic references if you have them handy.

1) Do we have to pay anything to Microsoft for developing the addin or for
distributing/selling the addin ?

2) Do I have to qualify in some way, or does my technology needs to ?

3) What are the allowable areas of functionality that one can add ?
any limitations that you would like to highlight compared to a standard
win forms app.

4) What are the ground rules for integrating with Outlook?


I am excited and eager to hear back from you guys, please guide.

Thanks,
Farhan
 
Probably all versions of Outlook....yeah I checked www.outlookcode.com
already but if you look at my questions specially #1 & #2 they are not code
related and # 3 can be answered by someone having experience in this field.

Thanks for your reply Jim.

Farhan
 
Bottom list of questions (which jim apparently missed :))
1) If you are developing the addin, no, ms does not get any royalty
payments.
2) not sure what you mean by qualify or for what.
3 & 4) you really need to learn outlook programming then you'll know better
what areas are not programmable and what the ground rules are. Much of this
is also covered in online articles and answers to other peoples questions.
There are too many gotcha's and no-no's that make it difficult to answer
without a specific question about a feature you are attempting to do. (I
suggest a good programming book - sue mosher has one as does ken slovak.)

The features/options in your outline are all doable in outlook- for the most
part, they are all very basic.
-


To enhance my web based services/application further, I want to develop
add-in
for outlook, here is a brief on what it will be like

1) it will have a button somewhere on outlook main toolbar
2) and on mail composing toolbar as well
3) when the button is clicked it will open up a form (or multiple forms) to
take
further input from user.
4) and based on input will compose the email automatically
5) finally queue it up for sending

I am advance level c# developer but am new to office developments, I saw a
lot of
articles on internet on how to do what I need, but before diving into the
coding I would
like to confirm a few general questions (to be on the safe side) and will
appreciate
the replies from everyone in general and office/outlook MVPs in particular.
Please
provide any authentic references if you have them handy.

1) Do we have to pay anything to Microsoft for developing the addin or for
distributing/selling the addin ?

2) Do I have to qualify in some way, or does my technology needs to ?

3) What are the allowable areas of functionality that one can add ?
any limitations that you would like to highlight compared to a standard
win forms app.

4) What are the ground rules for integrating with Outlook?


I am excited and eager to hear back from you guys, please guide.

Thanks,
Farhan
Click to expand...

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/





(posted using Entourage)
 
The reason I was asking about outlook 2003 was if you were just coding
to outlook 2003 you could use VSTO; however, that apparently is not the
case:

1) no royalties to ms
2) no qualification necessary
3) you are only limited by your imagination and the Outlook interop
assembly API
4) as for ground rules, if you mean common issues that come up I would
explore this newsgroup and see. But you should find a beginning
tutorial, code it, and then start working on your own add-in and you
will be sure to have plenty of questions.
Thanks :)
 
First of all thanks a lot for your replies they are indeed very very helpful
to me.

Yes I read a bit about VSTO....I have express version for C#.NET 2005, will
VSTO work in that ?

Thanks again,
Farhan
 
Diane thanks a lot for your attention on my issue.....I appreciate.

for # 2 I mean do I have to be qualified in some way or other like being an
MCP or MVP or any other thing......or does my technology/platform has to be
approved by Microsoft ? like for example using ActiveX needs digital
signatures or like if the hardware drivers are not tested by Microsoft then
you get a warning....I hope I made myself clear.

Regards,
Farhan

Diane Poremsky said:
Bottom list of questions (which jim apparently missed :))
1) If you are developing the addin, no, ms does not get any royalty
payments.
2) not sure what you mean by qualify or for what.
3 & 4) you really need to learn outlook programming then you'll know better
what areas are not programmable and what the ground rules are. Much of this
is also covered in online articles and answers to other peoples questions.
There are too many gotcha's and no-no's that make it difficult to answer
without a specific question about a feature you are attempting to do. (I
suggest a good programming book - sue mosher has one as does ken slovak.)

The features/options in your outline are all doable in outlook- for the most
part, they are all very basic.
-


To enhance my web based services/application further, I want to develop
add-in
for outlook, here is a brief on what it will be like

1) it will have a button somewhere on outlook main toolbar
2) and on mail composing toolbar as well
3) when the button is clicked it will open up a form (or multiple forms) to
take
further input from user.
4) and based on input will compose the email automatically
5) finally queue it up for sending

I am advance level c# developer but am new to office developments, I saw a
lot of
articles on internet on how to do what I need, but before diving into the
coding I would
like to confirm a few general questions (to be on the safe side) and will
appreciate
the replies from everyone in general and office/outlook MVPs in particular.
Please
provide any authentic references if you have them handy.

1) Do we have to pay anything to Microsoft for developing the addin or for
distributing/selling the addin ?

2) Do I have to qualify in some way, or does my technology needs to ?

3) What are the allowable areas of functionality that one can add ?
any limitations that you would like to highlight compared to a standard
win forms app.

4) What are the ground rules for integrating with Outlook?


I am excited and eager to hear back from you guys, please guide.

Thanks,
Farhan
Click to expand...

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/





(posted using Entourage)
Click to expand...
 
Farhan,

Anybody can develop an Outlook add-in - no credentials required. If you want
your product to be listed on Office Marketplace then you would need to
submit it to Microsoft, but otherwise there is no approval process.

Dave

Farhan Ghafoor said:
Diane thanks a lot for your attention on my issue.....I appreciate.

for # 2 I mean do I have to be qualified in some way or other like being
an
MCP or MVP or any other thing......or does my technology/platform has to
be
approved by Microsoft ? like for example using ActiveX needs digital
signatures or like if the hardware drivers are not tested by Microsoft
then
you get a warning....I hope I made myself clear.

Regards,
Farhan

Diane Poremsky said:
Bottom list of questions (which jim apparently missed :))
1) If you are developing the addin, no, ms does not get any royalty
payments.
2) not sure what you mean by qualify or for what.
3 & 4) you really need to learn outlook programming then you'll know better
what areas are not programmable and what the ground rules are. Much of this
is also covered in online articles and answers to other peoples
questions.
There are too many gotcha's and no-no's that make it difficult to answer
without a specific question about a feature you are attempting to do. (I
suggest a good programming book - sue mosher has one as does ken slovak.)

The features/options in your outline are all doable in outlook- for the most
part, they are all very basic.
-


To enhance my web based services/application further, I want to develop
add-in
for outlook, here is a brief on what it will be like

1) it will have a button somewhere on outlook main toolbar
2) and on mail composing toolbar as well
3) when the button is clicked it will open up a form (or multiple
forms) to
take
further input from user.
4) and based on input will compose the email automatically
5) finally queue it up for sending

I am advance level c# developer but am new to office developments, I
saw a
lot of
articles on internet on how to do what I need, but before diving into the
coding I would
like to confirm a few general questions (to be on the safe side) and will
appreciate
the replies from everyone in general and office/outlook MVPs in particular.
Please
provide any authentic references if you have them handy.

1) Do we have to pay anything to Microsoft for developing the addin or for
distributing/selling the addin ?

2) Do I have to qualify in some way, or does my technology needs to ?

3) What are the allowable areas of functionality that one can add ?
any limitations that you would like to highlight compared to a standard
win forms app.

4) What are the ground rules for integrating with Outlook?


I am excited and eager to hear back from you guys, please guide.

Thanks,
Farhan
Click to expand...

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/





(posted using Entourage)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Terrific Dave.....!!! thanks for all your support.

Regards,
Farhan

Dave Kane said:
Farhan,

Anybody can develop an Outlook add-in - no credentials required. If you want
your product to be listed on Office Marketplace then you would need to
submit it to Microsoft, but otherwise there is no approval process.

Dave

Farhan Ghafoor said:
Diane thanks a lot for your attention on my issue.....I appreciate.

for # 2 I mean do I have to be qualified in some way or other like being
an
MCP or MVP or any other thing......or does my technology/platform has to
be
approved by Microsoft ? like for example using ActiveX needs digital
signatures or like if the hardware drivers are not tested by Microsoft
then
you get a warning....I hope I made myself clear.

Regards,
Farhan

Diane Poremsky said:
Bottom list of questions (which jim apparently missed :))
1) If you are developing the addin, no, ms does not get any royalty
payments.
2) not sure what you mean by qualify or for what.
3 & 4) you really need to learn outlook programming then you'll know better
what areas are not programmable and what the ground rules are. Much of this
is also covered in online articles and answers to other peoples
questions.
There are too many gotcha's and no-no's that make it difficult to answer
without a specific question about a feature you are attempting to do. (I
suggest a good programming book - sue mosher has one as does ken slovak.)

The features/options in your outline are all doable in outlook- for the most
part, they are all very basic.
-


On 12/29/05 11:35 AM, in article (e-mail address removed),

To enhance my web based services/application further, I want to develop
add-in
for outlook, here is a brief on what it will be like

1) it will have a button somewhere on outlook main toolbar
2) and on mail composing toolbar as well
3) when the button is clicked it will open up a form (or multiple
forms) to
take
further input from user.
4) and based on input will compose the email automatically
5) finally queue it up for sending

I am advance level c# developer but am new to office developments, I
saw a
lot of
articles on internet on how to do what I need, but before diving into the
coding I would
like to confirm a few general questions (to be on the safe side) and will
appreciate
the replies from everyone in general and office/outlook MVPs in particular.
Please
provide any authentic references if you have them handy.

1) Do we have to pay anything to Microsoft for developing the addin
Click to expand...
or
for
distributing/selling the addin ?

2) Do I have to qualify in some way, or does my technology needs to ?

3) What are the allowable areas of functionality that one can add ?
any limitations that you would like to highlight compared to a standard
win forms app.

4) What are the ground rules for integrating with Outlook?


I am excited and eager to hear back from you guys, please guide.

Thanks,
Farhan




--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/





(posted using Entourage)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
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