Outlook 2003 Plugin from visual studio 2008

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob S
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Bob S

I have been working on generating Outlook 2003 add-ins from Visual Studio 2008.
I built the project using the File->new-Project and selected
Visual C#->office->2003->Outlook 2003 Add-in. Using pieces from a Microsoft
sample which displays all the button faces available and then tracking down
the changes needed since VS 2005 VSTO Beta, I got a working Add-in. The
Solution has the Add-in project and a setup project. Building both produces
two outputs. The setup project has both a .MSI and a setup.exe file. If I
use F5 to run, Outlook is started and the plugin installed and it works fine.
I can use tools->options "Other" Tab, "Advanced" button, "Com Add-in"
button to remove the plugin and all is good.

Here is where things start to go amiss. Starting with the plugin not
installed, If I
run the setup.exe or do an install in the MSI file, the Add-in shows up in the
Com Add-in section that I can use to delete it. However, It I try to set
the check box it shows the message "Not Loaded. A runtime error occurred
during loading of the COM Add-in". The event log shows the following for
that time stamp:

The description for Event ID ( 1033 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be
found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or
message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able
to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and
Support for details. The following information is part of the event:
ShowButtonFacesSetup, 1.0.0, 1033, 0, (NULL), , .

I seem to be close, but no cigar. I generated a test key (.snk file) with
Visual Studio and it added it into the project.

Can someone give me some pointers on what I need to do to install from the
MSI file or point to to appropriate documentation to get past this problem?

Thank you for your time.
 
I have been working on generating Outlook 2003 add-ins from Visual Studio2008.
I built the project using the File->new-Project and selected
Visual C#->office->2003->Outlook 2003 Add-in.  Using pieces from a Microsoft
sample which displays all the button faces available and then tracking down
the changes needed since VS 2005 VSTO Beta, I got a working Add-in.  The
Solution has the Add-in project and a setup project.  Building both produces
two outputs.  The setup project has both a .MSI and a setup.exe file.  If I
use F5 to run, Outlook is started and the plugin installed and it works fine.
 I can use tools->options "Other"  Tab,  "Advanced" button, "Com Add-in"
button to remove the plugin and all is good.

Here is where things start to go amiss.  Starting with the plugin not
installed, If I
run the setup.exe or do an install in the MSI file, the Add-in shows up in the
Com Add-in section that I can use to delete it.  However, It I try to set
the check box it shows the message "Not Loaded. A runtime error occurred
during loading of the COM Add-in".  The event log shows the following for
that time stamp:

The description for Event ID ( 1033 ) in Source ( MsiInstaller ) cannot be
found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry informationor
message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able
to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and
Support for details. The following information is part of the event:
ShowButtonFacesSetup, 1.0.0, 1033, 0, (NULL), , .

I seem to be close, but no cigar.  I generated a test key (.snk file) with
Visual Studio and it added it into the project.

Can someone give me some pointers on what I need to do to install from the
MSI file or point to to appropriate documentation to get past this problem?

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...

Hard to say, but I doubt it is the MSI. That's an error for custom
installers,
and I doubt it has much to do with Outlook. I've written a few, the
problems
generally come down to one of two things:

1. Security : The plugin needs to be trusted for Outlook to load it
properly.
2. Runtime : The Office runtime DLL's need to be installed.

If both of those are ok, I'd look at the installer only then. I'll bet
it is #1, particularly
if the thing works in the debugger. Take a look here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6exya3kf.aspx

Matt
 
Hi Matt,
The Document you referenced helped a lot and had pointers to other docents.
The document that did the trick was a step by step showing the arcane
incantation to get the security descriptors set up correctly.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332052.aspx
Click to expand...

When I used to write these things regularly, my favorite site was
outlookcode.com.
You might refer there, they have some great examples and tutorials.

Matt
 
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