Coding4Fun

Building the Host Application

Let's start by building the host application. This will run on the computer where Outlook is installed and the messages are stored. The application will be written to run in the notification area next to the Windows system clock.

To start, open Visual C# 2008 Express and create a new Windows Application project named WHSMailHost. Rename the default Form1.cs (or .vb) file to frmMain.cs (or .vb). Double-click on the file in the Solution Explorer to bring up the design surface.

In order to get the application to run in the notification area, drag and drop a Notify Icon control from the Toolbox to the design surface. Name it niIcon and then drag over a ContextMenuStrip to the design surface and name it cmsMenu, as shown in Figure 7-2.

Figure 7-2. Form with NotifyIcon and ContextMenuStrip added

Finally, set the properties on the niIcon control as shown in Table 7-1 and Figure 7-3.

Table 7-1. niIcon properties

PROPERTY	VALUE
Text	WHS Mail Host
ContextMenuStrip	cmsMenu
Visible	True

Figure 7-3. niIcon Properties

Right-click on the cmsMenu control, and select Edit Items... to bring up the Items Collection Editor for the context menu, as shown in Figure 7-4.

Figure 7-4. Edit ...