[2005] - Display Shared Outlook Calendar in Application

[nolim8ts]

Hi All,

I've tried finding articles relating to this question without success. I would like to display a shared outlook calendar within my application which allows the normal functions of an outlook calendar. Any suggestions / links would be much appreciated.

[RobDog888]

AFAIK there is no Outlook control like that for use in VB. You will have to recreate it probably using the Outlook Object Model.

[nolim8ts]

Thanks for the reply. I found a team calendar form that mimics an outlook calendar but it was written in C# and converting it to VB would take forever. Does anyone know of anything similar which has been written in VB?

[RobDog888]

There are free utilities and sites that have code converters.

http://tangiblesoftwaresolutions.com is one that offers a free unlimited time trial version.

[nolim8ts]

Cheers for the link. The project has been converted but when I make changes, the following error message is displayed.

Code generation for property 'CalendarItems' failed. Error was: 'Type 'CalendarLibrary.CalendarItem' In Assembly 'CalendarLibrary, Version = 1.0.3071.26008, Culture = neutral, PublicTokenKey = null' is not marked as serializable.

I looked around google and found an article on 'codeproject' which I downloaded and built but I have no idea how to use it.

[RobDog888]

Sounds like the serializable attribute is missing from for the class that contains the CalendarItems property.

[nolim8ts]

Any suggestions on how to fix it? Would I have have to go back to the source code, add the attribute and re-compile?

[RobDog888]

Lets start at the beginning.

Before you converted the C# code you tested it and it compiled and ran? what version is the C# code for and what version of VS are you using?

[nolim8ts]

The project compiled and ran under C# but I get the same error message in the C# Project (e.g When I change the name of the Form). Not sure what you mean by C# Version but I found v2.0.50727. Visual Studio 2008 is being used for this project.

[RobDog888]

Can you post the link to the project? If it gave an error before you converted it then there is a problem with the original code, not the conversion.

Ps, if you dont change the name of the form does it work?

[nolim8ts]

Link to the file is Here

The form works as expected after it has been compiled. Changing a control name etc then compiling / saving will display that serialization error.

[chris128]

I'm sure there will be a better way (so ive probably wasted the last 25 mins of my life) but here is one way you could extract the existing appointments from the calendar:

'make sure you include this if you are going to try and use this example
Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop
 
'I just copied and pasted my entire form so this is just the standard windows form class declaration
Public Class Form1
 
'Declare the outlook objects we are going to use
    Dim app As Outlook.Application
    Dim calendarcontents As Outlook.MAPIFolder
 
'Im just using the Form Load event to fill the datagridview
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
 
        app = New Outlook.Application
        
        'Log in to Outlook profile, this must already exist on the PC
        app.Session.Logon("Outlook_Profile_Name_Here", "Password_Here", False, True)
        
        'Get the default calendar for this outlook profile
        calendarcontents = app.Session.GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderCalendar)
 
        'Loop through all items in the calendar and add them to my datagridview control
        For i As Integer = 1 To calendarcontents.Items.Count
            appointmentgrid.Rows.Add()
            appointmentgrid.Rows(i - 1).Cells("starttime").Value = calendarcontents.Items(i).Start
            appointmentgrid.Rows(i - 1).Cells("endtime").Value = calendarcontents.Items(i).End
            appointmentgrid.Rows(i - 1).Cells("title").Value = calendarcontents.Items(i).subject
        Next
 
    End Sub
End Class

In that example I am just adding the start time, end time and subject/title to a DataGrideView control. I'm sure if you really ran out of options you could just create your own calendar and then possibly use the methods I have used above to add existing appointmets to it. Also, in my example I am just getting the default mailbox's calender folder, you could specify a specific mailbox's calendar using the \\mailboxname\calendar format.
If you search google you will find a way to add appointments as well so you could just use your DIY calendar control to add appointments as well.

Note - I added a reference to the Outlook 11.0 Object Library and obviously Outlook needs to be installed on the machine that this would run from or the code will not work. At the end of the day, if you have to resort to this method you might decide its easier to just let the users use Outlook to add appointments instead of doing it through your app as I can see it being quite a bit of work.
Like I said though, someone else will probably have a better solution

[nolim8ts]

Hi chris128,

That would work perfectly but is it possible to update the datagrid based on a certain date. Also, the calendar in question is actually located in a public folder and relies on NT security permissions for access.

[chris128]

erm yeah you could use the method I described above to loop through all of the calendar appointment items but add an IF statement in that basicaly says if the start date is equal to the date that the user has selected then show the details of the appointment in the datagrid and if not, then hide the details. Hope that makes sense.

To access the shared calendar in a public folder I believe you would just use the FolderPath property and point it to "\\Public Folders\foldername\calendarname"

[RobDog888]

You have to transverse the Public folders one level at a time and not use the full path all at once. Also, that is the default public folder name which of course could be named differently.

[chris128]

You have to transverse the Public folders one level at a time and not use the full path all at once. Also, that is the default public folder name which of course could be named differently.

oh right, I didnt know you could only traverse one folder at a time... how odd.

[RobDog888]

Yea, it makes for a pain in coding but you'd figure they would have given some kind of functionality like Explorer can go directly to a complete path. In Outlook you have the GetFolderFromID but you'd have to know/store the .EntryID first of that public folder.

Although you can go like so...

oApp.Session.Folders.Item(0).Folders.Item(0).Folders.Item(0).Name

etc. to drill down the folder path if you know where you need to go.

[nolim8ts]

Using "oApp.Session.Folders.Item" could cause some grief because the directory structure could be changed at any given time. Is it possible to scan exchange / outlook for what calendars a user has permission to access and then place them in a drop down list?

After selecting one of the calendars, the contents will be displayed.

P.S - How did you go with the link that I posted RobDog888?

[RobDog888]

It runs for me but my conversion utility is on my other system so I'll try converting it tomorrow (just stopped by for a quick visit).

If you only changed the control name in the Calendar.cs class then it wil break as the control name is referenced throughout the entire project. You need to change it everywhere to keep it working.

[RobDog888]

Using "oApp.Session.Folders.Item" could cause some grief because the directory structure could be changed at any given time. Is it possible to scan exchange / outlook for what calendars a user has permission to access and then place them in a drop down list?

After selecting one of the calendars, the contents will be displayed.

P.S - How did you go with the link that I posted RobDog888?

This was only in reference to drilling down the public folders as th first three folders do not get renamed once they are set.

[nolim8ts]

Hi RobDog888,

Any luck in converting the file?