Deployment of custom form using "setup.exe"

[pkelley]

I've made an Outlook 2007 Add-In using Visual Studio 2005, C#, and VSTO SE.

My Add-In uses a FormRegion that is displayed when the user presses my
button in the "Show" area of the Ribbon UI for AppointmentItem. In the
developer environment, this works perfectly!

My intention is to have a "setup.exe" that is executed by each user on their
machine.

I followed the instructions found here to create my "setup.exe":
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332051.aspx

I executed my "setup.exe" on a test machine running Outlook 2007, and there
were NO errors during install. So far, so good.

I ran the test machine's Outlook 2007, and selected "New Appointment", but
my FormRegion (with it's corresponding button in "Show") was not there.

I then successfully ran "Add/Remove Programs" and uninstalled my Outlook
2007 AddIn from the test machine. That worked just fine.

So here's what I need to know: THE STEPS - What are THE STEPS to include my
FormRegion (i.e. custom form) into my "setup.exe" using Visual Studio 2005
and VSTO SE?

I've followed a lot of links on "www.outlookcode.com" and other web-sites,
but the exact steps still elude me.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Basically, you need (a) to ensure that the add-in's setup package includes
the form region manifest and registry entries that tell Outlook how and when
to load the region and (b) to meet all the requirements (many, many of them)
for deploying a VSTO add-in in general, including prerequisites and granted
trust for CAS security.

b) is covered in the article you cited, but you might also want to step
through the walkthroughs at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332052.aspx.

a) is covered at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa942741.aspx

The best place to ask about VSTO add-in deployment issues is in the VSTO
forum at http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsto/threads/, where
Microsoft support engineers are experienced in walking developers through
common problems.

 

[pkelley]

Thank you for responding Sue.

Yes, I've previously visited the documented links you mentioned (both 'a'
and 'b'), and strangely enough, I found the

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsto/threads

link shortly after posting my question here. So, it looks like I'm going
down the path you were suggesting.

I will come back and post what I learn once I know more.

Thanks again.

 

[pkelley]

I compared the output I saw in REGEDIT under
HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Office->Outlook on the development box to the
REGEDIT output I saw on the test machine. I noticed that the value on my
development box for:
HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Office->Outlook->FormRegions->IPM.Appointment
was missing from the test machine.

I visited the "setup.exe" project in Visual Studio 2005, and
1. selected "View->Registry"
2. browsed down the HKCU path to the Outlook key
3. Created the key "FormRegions"
4. Created the key "IPM.Appointment"
5. For "Name" I added "odbcForm" and for "Value" I added
"[TARGETDIR]odbcManifest.xml"
6. Closed the "Registry" view.
7. Rebuilt my AddIn project.
8. Did a "Publish" of the AddIn Project.
9. Rebuilt my "setup.exe" project.
10. 'ZIP'ped the files up and 'FTP'ed the ZIP file up to the test
machine. Ran "setup.exe" and it worked!

So, I withdraw my question, and thank you for spending the time to evaluate
what was wrong!

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Right, that's one of the issues in (a), near the end of that article.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

I compared the output I saw in REGEDIT under
HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Office->Outlook on the development box to the
REGEDIT output I saw on the test machine. I noticed that the value on my
development box for:
HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Office->Outlook->FormRegions->IPM.Appointment
was missing from the test machine.

I visited the "setup.exe" project in Visual Studio 2005, and
1. selected "View->Registry"
2. browsed down the HKCU path to the Outlook key
3. Created the key "FormRegions"
4. Created the key "IPM.Appointment"
5. For "Name" I added "odbcForm" and for "Value" I added
"[TARGETDIR]odbcManifest.xml"
6. Closed the "Registry" view.
7. Rebuilt my AddIn project.
8. Did a "Publish" of the AddIn Project.
9. Rebuilt my "setup.exe" project.
10. 'ZIP'ped the files up and 'FTP'ed the ZIP file up to the test
machine. Ran "setup.exe" and it worked!

So, I withdraw my question, and thank you for spending the time to
evaluate
what was wrong!

Thank you for responding Sue.

Yes, I've previously visited the documented links you mentioned (both 'a'
and 'b'), and strangely enough, I found the

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsto/threads

link shortly after posting my question here. So, it looks like I'm going
down the path you were suggesting.

I will come back and post what I learn once I know more.

Thanks again.