Professional Outlook® 2007 Programming

Chapter 7. COM Addins and the Outlook User Interface

In this chapter, you learn how to use Outlook COM addins to work with the Outlook user interface. This includes using the CommandBar interface for Outlook Explorers for custom menus and toolbars, the Ribbon interface for Outlook Inspectors, Explorer and Inspector custom task panes, form regions, and custom Views. COM addins are required to work with the Ribbon and custom task panes, as well as to apply business logic to form regions.

These user interface techniques complete the Outlook addin templates that can be used as the foundation for all Outlook COM addin programming. As in the previous chapter, the code for the user interface portions of the addin templates are presented in VB.NET and C#, with variations for VSTO and shared addin templates. The templates are available for download from the Wrox Web site (www.wrox.com) as well as from my own Web site, www.slovaktech.com.

Deployment techniques for the addin templates are covered in Chapter 9.

Working with Menus and Toolbars

Outlook retains the older CommandBar interface for Explorers, while using the Ribbon interface for Inspectors. This doesn't mean that Outlook doesn't support the Ribbon; it actually has more Ribbon support than any other Office application because there are so many possible different Inspector types, such as email, appointments, tasks, and variations of types, such as read and compose Inspectors. There are also a number of different Explorer types, so the ...