Items Command Bar

CODE SAMPLES

Items Command Bar

The Items Command Bar provides toolbar buttons for the creation of new Outlook items. You can click on the icon to launch a new Message, Post, Task, or any other item based on a standard Outlook form. The Items Command Bar makes it easy to create a new Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation wrapped in an Outlook HTML "envelope".

Choose Form allows you to select from any available forms library. Within each folder, the drop-down list displays the forms available in that folder's form library.

The Items Command Bar shown was written in Visual Basic 6.0 and compiled as a COM Add-in for Outlook 2000. The source code and the ItemsCB.dll are available for download. This simple project is a great way to investigate the potential COM Add-ins offer to leverage and expand Outlook's capabilities. Items Command Bar also demonstrates how to use the Windows Installer object library to programmatically install Collaboration Data Objects 1.21 (CDO).

An additional feature is the ability to post Office 2000 document items directly to an Outlook folder. For more information, see Building Applications with Microsoft Outlook 2000 Technical Reference or Building Applications with Microsoft Outlook 2002 where you will find additional code samples and an in-depth look at the nuts and bolts of COM Add-ins.

When it comes to e-mail, small (and fast) is beautiful.