[RESOLVED] Mission on Outlook Calendar

Hi,

A little short introduction of myself...
I'm a newbie in programming.
What I'm required to do is to open microsoft outlook calendar 2000 /2003 calendar and to extract those free time slot during "today" ( those time slot without appointment or events) using visual basic express edition or C# express edition without using microsoft exchange server.

When i open the application , under which template should i choose ?
(eg. Windows application , Class Library , Console Application , etc)

P.S: There's alot of qns which is inside my mind which i hopefully you guys can help out because i'm really a starter to begin with...kindly bear with me with my qns...Thanks ~ ^.^

Best Regards,
ClaudeX

Hi,

I did check with some of the forum that come across but i'm using visual basic studio 2005 / express edition 2005 or microsoft visual C# 2005 edition and it seem to be different in what u mention in the link (About How do I automate an Office App using VB 6? )...i'm not too sure i'm right or wrong .. VB is different from Visual basic studio 2005/ express edition right?

sorry if i ask stupid qns...i'm really a newbie...

Hi,

About the link to "http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=406639"
Since i'm trying to get Outlook instead of excel , then will i need to change all Excel to Outlook and also add Outlook reference instead Excel reference
Am i right?

Since there is a "private void btnOpen_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)" in it..
Then i will need to use Windows application so to have a form to create a button and name it as btnOpen ..am i correct?

Sry ...too many qns to ask ...

Erm...anybody there..?

Anybody free to answer my qns or any response ?

Here is the link to the .NET C# automation example:
http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=406639

Its for Excel but similar for Outlook.

Oh...i have check it out and i copy and paste the code inside and replace all "Excel" to "Outlook" and also i add outlook reference instead of excel reference but there's still error going on..

Under the sentence " using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook; " the office is been underline saying error..

the error saying The type or namespace name 'Office' does not exist in the namespace 'Microsoft' (are you missing an assembly reference?)

What does it mean and what's the solution for it?

Erm...in the first place i also not sure whether i done it correctly a not...

Thanks RobDog888 for replying ...

No, you cant do a simple replacement of Excel with Outlook as their objects have different properties, methods etc.

The underlining of Office means you probably dont have the Office PIAs installed. Check the link in my signature of how to install them.

From what i search in the web....it explains that it require office 2003 in order to get it work... http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...ffice.11).aspx

so i guess i have to get M.S office 2003 install in..?

I just installed M.S office 2003 ...and i try out your excel coding to test whether it will work ... but still i get error when running ...

protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) ...it says 'WindowsApplication1.Form1.Dispose(bool)': no suitable method found to override

and another 2 more error going on...

kindly please help out...

No, there are Office 2002 PIAs available but nothing earlier then that.

Probably because the code is for VB.NET 2003 and what version are you running?

I'm running C# 2005 Express edition version.
I try out the early binding in your links http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=406639

and get error from it...

As noted in my code examples, the code is for .NET 2003 which is a different syntax then 2005.

I have two examples so which are you using?

I use the early binding which is the 2nd example... but since u mention it's 2003 and mine is 2005 then what should i do ?

Open up a new C# project and add and name each control as shown in my code. Then add the events by clicking the button to select it and clicking the lightening bolt icon on the property window and doubleclicking the appropraite event. Then paste in just the events code from my example. Add the reference and public moApp object declaration etc. and your good to go.

Wow....Thanks alot....
Later i will go try it...because i going for lunch ...
By the way ... there's a tool inside Outlook which is macro and under that section there is visual basic editor which look like some sort of programming like visual basic ...

Can it be use for getting the data for free time slot as well?

Yes, its the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) IDE. It just depends on your apps needs if it can or should be done in VBA or outside of Outlook like with C# or VB.NET if you are providing a more robust app then what VBA can provide.

Do anybody have the code to display outlook calendar through microsoft visual basic studio 2005 ..?
Just wanna try to see if it works for me...

oh...i heard that VBA is different from Visual basic studio 2005 ... will it work out the same?

Yes, its a completely different language.

Give it a try and post where you may get stuck. ;)

T.T

I dun even know VB that well so i dun think i can do it for VBA...

By the way ,right now i need to try to link the Visual basic studio 2005 with M.S outlook 2003, which i dun know how... any advise ?


I got an error while trying to compile it....
Dim abc As New Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders
TextBox1.Text = abc.olFolderCalendar()

Any idea what's is it and any solution to this?

Post the rest of your code as it will make it easier.

I use windows application template and double click it and go to form1.vb

and here's the code

vb Code:

Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim abc As New Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders
        TextBox1.Text = abc.olFolderCalendar()
    End Sub
End Class

i got add a reference of M.S outlook as well as M.S office library , but still end up getting that error....

I thought you wanted it in C#?

Well you are probably going to need a class level Outlook.Application object variable so all procedures can interact with Outlook.

Then it looks like you are wanting to display something in a textbox but you can not do it that way. What is it to be displayed?

vb Code:

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;
 
Public Class Form1
 
    Private moApp As Outlook.Application
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        'For demo as you should provide error handling for any items existing etc.
        Textbox1.Text = MyCalendar.Items(1).Subject.ToString()
    End Sub
End Class

I can use either C# or visual basic to do it... but it seems like visual basic is much more suitable in handling it so i guess i will stick to visual basic ...

Erm..about the code, is it for displaying M.S outlook calendar?

I try it out in VB and got some errors
I add outlook and office library reference as always...

Error1:'Imports' statements must precede any declarations.
Error2:Type 'Outlook.Application' is not defined.
Error3:Type 'Outlook.MAPIFolder' is not defined.
Error4:Name 'Outlook' is not declared.

can you post the relevant code?

Thanks

I use the VB code given by RobDog888

Any idea on solving it?

Sounds like you didnt paste the code into your form otherwise it wouldnt generate the Imports error as it is the first line of coe in my example.

Do you have the Interop installed?

You can not just open/display the Calendar without just opening Outlook like you do manually. So what is it that you actually want?

Actually what i wanted is to have to able to display microsoft outlook 2003 calendar of the free time slot (meaning those time without appointment or events)

Example: i have an appointment from 1pm to 3pm .. then it will display the rest of the time; "your available free time is from: 3pm to 11pm"

But firstly i need to be able to link to my outlook right?

Thanks .. i was able to import after installing the Interop .
Didn;t realise it was not installed in the first place. ^.^

Now under as the design form , i created 23 checkbox, a monthly calendar,
and a textbox.

Using your code and i change the code to..

vb Code:

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook
 
Public Class Form1
    Private moApp As New Outlook.Application
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        TextBox1.Text = MyCalendar.Items(1).start.ToString
    End Sub

After i run ,the textbox display out the date and time.

Right now what i wanted is that...
1)It will only link to "today" time slot
2)Those timing which is free and available will be checked ( those checkbox)

Ok now we are getting somewhere knowing what you exactly need.

The next step is to "filter" the .Items collection which is a collection of appointmentitems in the default calendar for a specific date/time range. Then loop through the filtered items and check the appropriate checkboxes.

Im not sure what you want in the textbox1 control though.

vb Code:

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook 
 
Public Class Form1
 
    Private moApp As New Outlook.Application
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
 
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        Dim MyItems As Outlook.Items
        Dim sToday As String
        sToday = "[Start] >= """ & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 12:00:00"""
        sToday = sToday & " AND [Start] <= """ & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 23:59:59"""
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)
        
        TextBox1.Text = MyItems.Count.ToString & " Items for Today" '?
        'You can do this part: Loop through the items checking for if you should check the checkboxes or not.
 
    End Sub
 
End Class

I got an error after trying it out.

vb Code:

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook
 
Public Class Form1
    Private moApp As New Outlook.Application
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        Dim MyItems As Outlook.Items
        Dim sToday As String
        sToday = "[Start] >= """ & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 12:00:00"""
        sToday = sToday & " AND [Start] <= """ & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 23:59:59"""
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        TextBox1.Text = sToday
        MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)
        TextBox1.Text = MyItems.Count.ToString & " Items for Today"

It can compile and run but it return to underlined codes(line 13) which says...

MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)

COMException was unhandled
Type Mismatch or the value "6/14/2007 12:00:00" in the condition is not valid.

Any idea what does it mean and what's the solution for it?

Ah sorry, was doing it from the reply box.

Should be 12 hour time with AM/PM on it.

" 12:00:00 AM"""

and

" 11:59:59 PM"""

Oh ok...i put AM and PM like u say

But still it return the same error saying

COMException was unhandled
Type mismatch or the value "6/14/2007 12:00:00 AM" in the condition is not valid.

Do a console.writeline(sToday ) at line 10.5 and post the string.

You mean between the line 10 and 11, i add console.writeline(sToday )
which will become ...

Code:

---

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook

Public Class Form1
    Private moApp As New Outlook.Application
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        Dim MyItems As Outlook.Items
        Dim sToday As String
        sToday = "[Start] >= """ & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 12:00:00 AM"""
        sToday = sToday & " AND [Start] <= """ & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 23:59:59 PM"""
        Console.WriteLine(sToday)
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        TextBox1.Text = sToday
        MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)
        TextBox1.Text = MyItems.Count.ToString & " Items for Today"
    End Sub

---

But then it return saying the same error.

In your Output window (Ctl+Alt+O) and copy/paste its output in a post. I want to see the restrict string that is being passed.

ok.. here it is..

[Start] >= "6/14/2007 12:00:00 AM" AND [Start] <= "6/14/2007 23:59:59 PM"

Ah, ok now I remember. Its been a bit since I did restrictions.

It should look like this...

[Start] >= '6/14/2007 12:00:00 AM' AND [Start] <= '6/14/2007 23:59:59 PM'

Ok...i modify it till i get the output that u want but then the Error is still there...

vb Code:

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook
Public Class Form1
    Private moApp As New Outlook.Application
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        Dim MyItems As Outlook.Items
        Dim sToday As String
        sToday = "[Start] >= '" & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 12:00:00 AM'"
        sToday = sToday & " AND [Start] <= '" & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 23:59:59 PM'"
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        Console.WriteLine(sToday)
        MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)
        TextBox1.Text = MyItems.Count.ToString & " Items for Today" '?
    End Sub
End Class

Ah! What is your date format? MM/DD/YYYY ?

You mean the outlook Calendar appointment start time format?
Fri 6/15/2007

But if i use #28, i was able to have this format display out........
6/12/2007 12:00:00 PM

So i suppose it should be MM/DD/YYYY ?

Its got to be the time format. I cut off the seconds and it works fine.

([Start] >= '6/14/2007 12:00 AM') AND ([Start] < '6/15/2007 12:00 AM')

Code:

---

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook

Public Class Form1

        Private moApp As Outlook.Application

        Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
                moApp = DirectCast(CreateObject("Outlook.Application"), Outlook.Application)
                Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
                Dim MyItems As Outlook.Items
                Dim sToday As String
                sToday = "([Start] >= '" & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 12:00 AM')"
                sToday = sToday & " AND ([Start] < '" & DateTime.Today.AddDays(1).ToShortDateString() & " 12:00 AM')"
                MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
                Console.WriteLine(sToday)
                MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)
                TextBox1.Text = MyItems.Count.ToString & " Items for Today"        '?
        End Sub

End Class

---

Yipee.... it work out fine for me too...Thanks...
Didn't know it's the "seconds" who created error...

Now i left with 23 checkbox to loop.
Erm...Sry to ask this silly qns...how do i loop them?
I only learn the basic of Do & For loop which appiles to numbers..
Don't have any idea of looping checkbox which is on time-based of checkbox.

Oh... I created a button which is meant for "refresh".
That is because the user will require to get their new info with the refresh button instead of closing and opening again.
Is it possible to refresh the whole thing with the refresh button?

Yes. What you want to do then is create a procedure for you to call from either the Form_Load and the refresh button click events so you dont have to write it twice.

Outlook should be created if its not already running and remain open as long as you have your program open. Also, if Outlook was already open when you started your app you will want to leave it running when you app closes. ;)

To set your checkboxes you will want to put the code in your "refresh" procedure too.

Just loop through the items and set each checkbox accordingly.

Code:

---

Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 to 23
    'Parse the time out of the Start property and eval if for each checkbox.
    'MyItems.Items(x). Start
    'Select Case start time hour
        'Case 12
            Checkbox0.Checked = True
        'Case 1
            Checkbox1.Checked = True
        'Case 2
        '...
    'End Select
Next

---

As for your....
'Parse the time out of the Start property and eval if for each checkbox.
'MyItems.Items(x). Start
'Select Case start time hour

I'm not really sure what it meant..

I did as what u say and have all the checkbox0.checked = true till checkbox23.checked = true
and i got all checkbox checked ...
Maybe it's because i didn't understand your comment on that which result all checked.Sorry...

About the Refresh button, i could like to have it click and refreshed/update everything but i do not know how...

Any idea...?

Its was psuedocode as that way you can see the logic needed so you could write your code to go in there. ;)

Oh...ok...

About the refresh button, i will just copy all the code required and paste to the code for the button so when i click it will overwrite the data again, is it possible?

About the looping of the checkbox, i still do not know how to loop it correctly.
Checkbox1 = 00 : 00 till... CheckBox24 = 23 : 00
i have to link it to "today" appointment and check which timing to match with which checkbox which is confusing to me...
So i decided to create a ListBox to display the free time slot available...

The end time of the 1st appointment = start time of the free time slot ,while
The start time of the 2nd appointment = end time of the free time slot.
But i will encounter a problem which is that i will miss out all the free time slot before "start time of the very 1st appointment"... and also after "end time of the last appointment"

How do i make the listbox to display the (end time for 1st appointment while the next line is the start time of 2nd appointment)= free timing in-between.
It think it lies with the sequences of the appointment which i can't figure how to handle.

is there any way to solve it?

I dont see why you are switching the control/code as what I gave you in #43 is almost all the code you need. You only need to parse the time from the appointment item to determine if you need to check that hour or not.

I will help you get there but its better if you try to write the code yourself first so you can learn more. ;)

Hmm.... i guess it's better to display the code out...

here's the code..

vb Code:

Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook
 
Public Class Form1
 
    Private moApp As Outlook.Application
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        moApp = DirectCast(CreateObject("Outlook.Application"), Outlook.Application)
        Dim MyCalendar As Outlook.MAPIFolder
        Dim MyItems As Outlook.Items
        Dim sToday As String
        Dim dateAndTimeDate As Date
        dateAndTimeDate = Now
        Dim todaysDate As Date = Today
        TextBox2.Text = Today
        sToday = "([Start] >= '" & DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString() & " 00:00AM')"
        sToday = sToday & " AND ([Start] < '" & DateTime.Today.AddDays(1).ToShortDateString() & " 00:00AM')"
        MyCalendar = moApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
        Console.WriteLine(sToday)
        MyItems = MyCalendar.Items.Restrict(sToday)
        TextBox1.Text = MyItems.Count.ToString & " Items for Today" '?
        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 1 To MyItems.Count
            ListBox1.Items.Add("Start Time:" & MyItems.Item(i).start.ToString())
            ListBox1.Items.Add("End Time:" & MyItems.Item(i).End.ToString())
 
        Next
       
 
    End Sub

Right now there's no more checkbox as i deleted it, instead i create Listbox to display out the timing straight.
Although it can display out the appointment start time and end time but the sequence is not there as in the earliest time is not display out 1st.
Eg. 1st appointment i implent is at 2pm, 2nd appointment i implemt is at 10am.

Message display out (1st row = start time : 2pm)
(2nd row = end time : 4pm)
(3rd row = start time : 10am)
(4th row = end time : 11am)

what i need is the earliest appointment to be display out first.
Can that be done? any solution?

But if i use checkbox , which display 1 hour apart. Problem encounter is that the outlook appointment can start or end 30mins.
Erm.. as in start time 4 30pm to 6 30pm.Then the checkbox(1 hour) will not be accurate, which is why i have no choice but to change it to listbox and display out the exact time.

Ok good point. You could also use a CheckedListbox control too. :)

Erm...i want to try doing it with listbox first before trying out on checklistbox, because i'm new to checklistbox control, probably need some time to explore it.

So right now i use listbox and it work out fine that it display the free time slot as i used the timing of the appointment to display.

It's about the same as #48,but i face some problems

The sequence is not there as in the earliest time is not display out 1st.
Eg. 1st appointment i input is at 2pm, 2nd appointment i input is at 10am.

Message display out (1st row = start time : 2pm)
(2nd row = end time : 4pm)
(3rd row = start time : 10am)
(4th row = end time : 11am)

what i need is the earliest appointment to be display out first.
which will become...

Message display out (1st row = start time : 10am)
(2nd row = end time : 11am)
(3rd row = start time : 2pm)
(4th row = end time : 4pm)


Can that be done? any solution?

I wouldnt use separate listitems to display a start and stop time. Just use a single one with start/stop time in it.


To order a items collection, either restricted or not, just use the .Sort method.

Code:

---

MyItems.Sort "[Start]"

---

Wow....it works!!You're the Yoda!!!

But then i encounter another problem which is that if i have 2 appointment which is like
Start time = 2pm
End time = 3pm
Start time = 3pm
End time = 4pm

I try using if else to remove the 1st appointment end time and 2nd appointment start time so that it will become

Start time = 2pm
End time = 4pm

But it gives me error, saying that "Array index out of bounds."

vb Code:

If (MyItems.Item(i).start.ToString() = MyItems.Item(i).End.ToString()) Then End if

Any ideas?

When you remove an item from a collection the index position becomes invalid. Remove and then either reinitialize the loop or just simply loop backwards as the lower items wont change when you remove the higher item.

Oh...ok..i figure it out how to loop and i manage to make those appointment with high importance checked too... but then problems lies that the appointment end time is checked but start time is not.
The checklistbox i used display both the start time and end time in order as in first line is ("checkbox" "Start time :") while the next line goes ("checkbox" "End time :")

here's the code...

vb Code:

For i = 1 To MyItems.Count
            If MyItems.Item(i).importance = Outlook.OlImportance.olImportanceHigh Then
                CheckedListBox1.SetItemCheckState(i, CheckState.Checked)
            End If
        Next

Is there anything wrong with the code ? any idea?

That doesnt l0ook like the code for the start/end time. ;)MyItems.Item(i).End.ToString())

But how do i checked a string?
I got an error saying SetItemCheckState is not a member of string...

Any solution?

Where is the string part coming into this?

Try using

CheckedListBox1.SetItemChecked(i, True)

Ya ..i did try before...

There is no error in the code in #55 and i think it is about the same as your code mention but the outcome is the same which is the checkbox of the checklistbox is been checked wrongly.

For example: i got 3 appointment.

1st appointment got importance high
2nd appointment is normal
3rd appointment got importance high

What it displayed out:

End time of 1st appointment is been checked
End time of 2nd appointment is been checked
while the rest is unchecked.

So i was wondering what is wrong.

The loop only checks high importance items only. ;)