Outlook application with VBA - converting to VB.NET

[Guest]

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about a thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we can password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level of security

We plan to use VB.NET to create an executable file which we will distribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I've seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will not work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a copy of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if we don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it

Thanks
Ernie

 

[CJ Taylor]

what version of VB.NET do you have?

describe more this executable that your going to distribute, you should have
no problems....

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about a

thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we can
password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level of
security.

We plan to use VB.NET to create an executable file which we will

distribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I've
seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will not
work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a copy
of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if we
don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it?

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Ernie,
Are you staying with Outlook 2000 or can you upgrade to Outlook 2003?

Is this an in house app or do you sell it? (do you need to support multiple
versions of Outlook).

I would consider creating a properly constructed COM Add-In in VB.NET that
uses the PIA for Outlook 2003. As an Outlook 2003 Add-In will avoid the
security prompt.

For a list of articles on using Outlook from .NET see:

http://www.microeye.com/resources/res_outlookvsnet.htm

For a plethora of automating Outlook with VBA, VB6, and VBScript see:
http://www.outlookcode.com/

To avoid the Outlook security prompts its generally easiest to create a
properly constructed COM-Addin for Outlook 2003. There are other methods
available for other versions of Outlook...

See:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...dc_ol2003_ta/html/odc_olsecnotescomaddins.asp

Further info can be found at:
http://www.slipstick.com/dev/ol2003problems.htm
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/admin.htm

The links I gave have samples of creating add-ins.

Both of these are good articles to start with:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnout2k2/html/odc_oladdinvbnet.asp

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302896

Also, be certain you have explicitly installed the Outlook PIAs!

Hope this helps
Jay

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about a

thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we can
password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level of
security.

We plan to use VB.NET to create an executable file which we will

distribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I've
seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will not
work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a copy
of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if we
don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it?

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Ernie,
Additional info, the ItemsCB is a good reference VB6 addin.

http://www.microeye.com/resources/itemsCB.htm

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...n-us/odc_OL2003_ta/html/odc_OLWhatsNew2k3.asp

Hope this helps
Jay

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about a

thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we can
password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level of
security.

We plan to use VB.NET to create an executable file which we will

distribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I've
seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will not
work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a copy
of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if we
don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it?

 

[Howard Kaikow]

If you want security.
Purchase VB 6 and use VB 6 to automate Outlook.
You then compile the VB 6 code into a DLL which is referenced by the
remaining code in Outlook.
You should be able to redesign the Outlook code so a minimal amount is all
that is exposed, the rest of the code gets called in the class you created
in VB 6. And password protect the code that remains in the VBA project.

Check at www.pricegrabber.com to see who claims to still be selling VB 6.
Recently, at least www.atomicpark.com and www.vbxtras.com were still selling
the critter

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about a

thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we can
password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level of
security.

We plan to use VB.NET to create an executable file which we will

distribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I've
seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will not
work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a copy
of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if we
don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the various replies; some additional information
- this is an in-house application; it will not be sol
- we will be using Outlook 2000 for the near future; migration to a newer version of MS-Office is some time in the future. Probably tied into the purchase of new computer systems. Any support of multiple versions will be limited to the conversion / installation period. However we don't anticipate much support being required since we probably won't be accepting very much in the way of change requests (yeah, famous last words!
- Since I have to go thru a central purchasing department to obtain software, I'm not sure that we will be able to obtain VB 6.0. I will check into that, though - that did look like the best solution for us at this particular point.

Thanks
Erni

----- Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook] wrote: ----

Ernie
Are you staying with Outlook 2000 or can you upgrade to Outlook 2003

Is this an in house app or do you sell it? (do you need to support multipl
versions of Outlook)

I would consider creating a properly constructed COM Add-In in VB.NET tha
uses the PIA for Outlook 2003. As an Outlook 2003 Add-In will avoid th
security prompt

For a list of articles on using Outlook from .NET see

http://www.microeye.com/resources/res_outlookvsnet.ht

For a plethora of automating Outlook with VBA, VB6, and VBScript see
http://www.outlookcode.com

To avoid the Outlook security prompts its generally easiest to create
properly constructed COM-Addin for Outlook 2003. There are other method
available for other versions of Outlook..

See
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...odc_ol2003_ta/html/odc_olsecnotescomaddins.as

Further info can be found at
http://www.slipstick.com/dev/ol2003problems.ht
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/admin.ht

The links I gave have samples of creating add-ins

Both of these are good articles to start with
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnout2k2/html/odc_oladdinvbnet.as

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=30289

Also, be certain you have explicitly installed the Outlook PIAs

Hope this help
Ja

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about

thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we ca
password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level o
securitydistribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I'v
seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will no
work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a cop
of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if w
don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it

 

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Ernie,

- Since I have to go thru a central purchasing department
to obtain software, I'm not sure that we will be able
to obtain VB 6.0.

Seeing as you have a license for VB.NET, you have a license to VB6.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/previous/downgrade.aspx

It may cost you a small fee ($20 US) for media.

that did look like the best solution for us at this particular point.

?? Its easier to write a COM add-in in VB6 for Outlook, then it is in
VB.NET, however both are doable. With Outlook 2000, you have a greater
chance of getting the Security prompt from your application. Which can be
addressed by the links I gave earlier or Redemption. For information on
Redemption see the regular Outlook development groups...

Hope this helps
Jay

Thanks for the various replies; some additional information:
- this is an in-house application; it will not be sold
- we will be using Outlook 2000 for the near future; migration to a newer

version of MS-Office is some time in the future. Probably tied into the
purchase of new computer systems. Any support of multiple versions will be
limited to the conversion / installation period. However we don't
anticipate much support being required since we probably won't be accepting
very much in the way of change requests (yeah, famous last words!)

- Since I have to go thru a central purchasing department to obtain

software, I'm not sure that we will be able to obtain VB 6.0. I will check
into that, though - that did look like the best solution for us at this
particular point.

Thanks,
Ernie

----- Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook] wrote: -----

Ernie,
Are you staying with Outlook 2000 or can you upgrade to Outlook 2003?

Is this an in house app or do you sell it? (do you need to support multiple
versions of Outlook).

I would consider creating a properly constructed COM Add-In in VB.NET that
uses the PIA for Outlook 2003. As an Outlook 2003 Add-In will avoid the
security prompt.

For a list of articles on using Outlook from .NET see:

http://www.microeye.com/resources/res_outlookvsnet.htm

For a plethora of automating Outlook with VBA, VB6, and VBScript see:
http://www.outlookcode.com/

To avoid the Outlook security prompts its generally easiest to create a
properly constructed COM-Addin for Outlook 2003. There are other methods
available for other versions of Outlook...

See:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...dc_ol2003_ta/html/odc_olsecnotescomaddins.asp

Further info can be found at:
http://www.slipstick.com/dev/ol2003problems.htm
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/admin.htm

The links I gave have samples of creating add-ins.

Both of these are good articles to start with:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnout2k2/html/odc_oladdinvbnet.asp

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302896

Also, be certain you have explicitly installed the Outlook PIAs!

Hope this helps
Jay

We have an Outlook 2000 VBA application - 8 user forms, and about a

thousand lines of code - that we wish to distribute. We know that we can
password-protect the code, but that does not give us the desired level of
security.distribute to our users. We have tested this, and it works. However, I've
seen some references on various newsgroups indicating that this will not
work, and we need to use Visual Studio .NET instead. We do not have a copy
of Visual Studio .NET; it's expensive and we'd rather not purchase it if we
don't need it. Can someone clarifiy whether we do or do not need it?

Ernie