Visual Basic Q&A

Symptoms
This article demonstrates how to programmatically control Microsoft Outlook using Automation from Visual Basic. The example demonstrates creating contacts, creating appointments, and sending messages by using Microsoft Outlook’s object-model.
Resolution
Follow the steps below to create and run the example. To run the sample, you need an early-bound reference to a Microsoft Outlook type library. The following table lists the file names of the type libraries for the different versions of Microsoft Outlook:
Collapse this tableExpand this table
Outlook versionHow type library appears in references listFilenameOutlook 97″Microsoft Outlook 8.0 Object Library”msoutl8.olbmsoutl8.olb”Microsoft Outlook 98 Object Library”msoutl85.olbOutlook 2000″Microsoft Outlook 9.0 Object Library”msoutl9.olbOutlook 2002″Microsoft Outlook 10.0 Object Library”msoutl.olbOffice Outlook 2003″Microsoft Outlook 11.0 Object Library”msoutl.olb
Building the automation sampleStart Visual Basic, and create a new Standard EXE project.From the Project menu, choose References and select Microsoft Outlook.Add a button to your form.Double-click the button, and then add the following code:

‘ Start Outlook. ‘ If it is already running, you’ll use the same instance…Dim olApp As Outlook.ApplicationSet olApp = CreateObject(“Outlook.Application”)’ Logon. Doesn’t hurt if you are already running and logged on…Dim olNs As Outlook.NameSpaceSet olNs = olApp.GetNamespace(“MAPI”)olNs.Logon ‘ Create and Open a new contact.Dim olItem As Outlook.ContactItemSet olItem = olApp.CreateItem(olContactItem) ‘ Setup Contact information…With olItem.FullName = “James Smith”.Birthday = “9/15/1975″.CompanyName = “Microsoft”.HomeTelephoneNumber = “704-555-8888″.Email1Address = “someone@microsoft.com”.JobTitle = “Developer”.HomeAddress = “111 Main St.” & vbCr & “Charlotte, NC 28226″End With’ Save Contact…olItem.Save’ Create a new appointment.Dim olAppt As Outlook.AppointmentItemSet olAppt = olApp.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)’ Set start time for 2-minutes from now…olAppt.Start = Now() + (2# / 24# / 60#)’ Setup other appointment information…With olAppt.Duration = 60.Subject = “Meeting to discuss plans…”.Body = “Meeting with ” & olItem.FullName & ” to discuss plans.”.Location = “Home Office”.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 1.ReminderSet = TrueEnd With’ Save Appointment…olAppt.Save’ Send a message to your new contact.Dim olMail As Outlook.MailItemSet olMail = olApp.CreateItem(olMailItem) ‘ Fill out & send message…olMail.To = olItem.Email1AddressolMail.Subject = “About our meeting…”olMail.Body = _”Dear ” & olItem.FirstName & “, ” & vbCr & vbCr & vbTab & _”I’ll see you in 2 minutes for our meeting!” & vbCr & vbCr & _”Btw: I’ve added you to my contact list.”olMail.Send’ Clean up…MsgBox “All done…”, vbMsgBoxSetForegroundolNS.LogoffSet olNs = NothingSet olMail = NothingSet olAppt = NothingSet olItem = NothingSet olApp = Nothing Run the project, and click the button to run the code. Once the code runs, you should have a new contact named “James Smith,” an appointment scheduled in two minutes with a reminder to appear in one minute, and have sent a message to someone@microsoft.com. Also, because you added a birthday for your contact (9/15), a recurring event was added for your Outlook Calendar to remind you of the day.
New to Outlook 2002 are the two dialog boxes: one warning you that a program is trying to access e-mail addresses you have stored in Outlook and asking if you want to allow this, and another message to the effect that a program is trying to send e-mail. This feature will protect you from unknowingly being used by a virus that sends e-mail from your system.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
290500?(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290500/) Description of the developer-related e-mail security features in Outlook 2002

Symptoms
This article demonstrates how to create and manipulate Excel by using Automation from Visual Basic.
Resolution
There are two ways to control an Automation server: by using either late binding or early binding. With late binding, methods are not bound until run-time and the Automation server is declared as Object. With early binding, your application knows at design-time the exact type of object it will be communicating with, and can declare its objects as a specific type. This sample uses early binding, which is considered better in most cases because it affords greater performance and better type safety.
To early bind to an Automation server, you need to set a reference to that server’s type library. In Visual Basic, this is done through the References dialog box found under the Project | References menu. For this sample, you will need to add a reference to the type library for Excel before you can run the code. See the steps below on how to add the reference.

Building the Automation SampleStart Visual Basic and create a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is created by default.ClickProject and then click References. The References dialog box appears. Scroll down the list until you find Microsoft Excel object library, and then select the item to add a reference to Excel. If the correct object library for your version of Excel does not appear in the list, make sure that you have your version of Excel properly installed.
NotesIf you are automating Microsoft Office Excel 2007, the type library appears as Microsoft Excel 12.0 Object Library in the References list.If you are automating Microsoft Office Excel 2003, the type library appears as Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library in the References list.If you are automating Microsoft Excel 2002, the type library appears as Microsoft Excel 10.0 Object Library in the References listIf you are automating Microsoft Excel 2000, the type library appears as Microsoft Excel 9.0 Object Library in the References list.If you are automating Microsoft Excel 97, the type library appears as Microsoft Excel 8.0 Object Library in the References listClick OK to close the References dialog box.Add a CommandButton to Form1.In the code window for Form1, insert the following code:

Option ExplicitPrivate Sub Command1_Click()Dim oXL As Excel.ApplicationDim oWB As Excel.WorkbookDim oSheet As Excel.WorksheetDim oRng As Excel.Range’On Error GoTo Err_Handler’ Start Excel and get Application object.Set oXL = CreateObject(“Excel.Application”)oXL.Visible = True’ Get a new workbook.Set oWB = oXL.Workbooks.AddSet oSheet = oWB.ActiveSheet’ Add table headers going cell by cell.oSheet.Cells(1, 1).Value = “First Name”oSheet.Cells(1, 2).Value = “Last Name”oSheet.Cells(1, 3).Value = “Full Name”oSheet.Cells(1, 4).Value = “Salary”‘ Format A1:D1 as bold, vertical alignment = center.With oSheet.Range(“A1″, “D1″).Font.Bold = True.VerticalAlignment = xlVAlignCenterEnd With’ Create an array to set multiple values at once.Dim saNames(5, 2) As StringsaNames(0, 0) = “John”saNames(0, 1) = “Smith”saNames(1, 0) = “Tom”saNames(1, 1) = “Brown”saNames(2, 0) = “Sue”saNames(2, 1) = “Thomas”saNames(3, 0) = “Jane”saNames(3, 1) = “Jones”saNames(4, 0) = “Adam”saNames(4, 1) = “Johnson”‘ Fill A2:B6 with an array of values (First and Last Names).oSheet.Range(“A2″, “B6″).Value = saNames’ Fill C2:C6 with a relative formula (=A2 & ” ” & B2).Set oRng = oSheet.Range(“C2″, “C6″)oRng.Formula = “=A2 & “” “” & B2″‘ Fill D2:D6 with a formula(=RAND()*100000) and apply format.Set oRng = oSheet.Range(“D2″, “D6″)oRng.Formula = “=RAND()*100000″oRng.NumberFormat = “$0.00″‘ AutoFit columns A:D.Set oRng = oSheet.Range(“A1″, “D1″)oRng.EntireColumn.AutoFit’ Manipulate a variable number of columns for Quarterly Sales Data.Call DisplayQuarterlySales(oSheet)’ Make sure Excel is visible and give the user control’ of Microsoft Excel’s lifetime.oXL.Visible = TrueoXL.UserControl = True’ Make sure you release object references.Set oRng = NothingSet oSheet = NothingSet oWB = NothingSet oXL = NothingExit SubErr_Handler:MsgBox Err.Description, vbCritical, “Error: ” & Err.NumberEnd SubPrivate Sub DisplayQuarterlySales(oWS As Excel.Worksheet)Dim oResizeRange As Excel.RangeDim oChart As Excel.ChartDim iNumQtrs As IntegerDim sMsg As StringDim iRet As Integer’ Determine how many quarters to display data for.For iNumQtrs = 4 To 2 Step -1sMsg = “Enter sales data for” & Str(iNumQtrs) & ” quarter(s)?”iRet = MsgBox(sMsg, vbYesNo Or vbQuestion _Or vbMsgBoxSetForeground, “Quarterly Sales”)If iRet = vbYes Then Exit ForNext iNumQtrssMsg = “Displaying data for” & Str(iNumQtrs) & ” quarter(s).”MsgBox sMsg, vbMsgBoxSetForeground, “Quarterly Sales”‘ Starting at E1, fill headers for the number of columns selected.Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range(“E1″, “E1″).Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)oResizeRange.Formula = “=”"Q”" & COLUMN()-4 & CHAR(10) & “”Sales”"”‘ Change the Orientation and WrapText properties for the headers.oResizeRange.Orientation = 38oResizeRange.WrapText = True’ Fill the interior color of the headers.oResizeRange.Interior.ColorIndex = 36′ Fill the columns with a formula and apply a number format.Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range(“E2″, “E6″).Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)oResizeRange.Formula = “=RAND()*100″oResizeRange.NumberFormat = “$0.00″‘ Apply borders to the Sales data and headers.Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range(“E1″, “E6″).Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)oResizeRange.Borders.Weight = xlThin’ Add a Totals formula for the sales data and apply a border.Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range(“E8″, “E8″).Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)oResizeRange.Formula = “=SUM(E2:E6)”With oResizeRange.Borders(xlEdgeBottom).LineStyle = xlDouble.Weight = xlThickEnd With’ Add a Chart for the selected dataSet oResizeRange = oWS.Range(“E2:E6″).Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)Set oChart = oWS.Parent.Charts.AddWith oChart.ChartWizard oResizeRange, xl3DColumn, , xlColumns.SeriesCollection(1).XValues = oWS.Range(“A2″, “A6″)For iRet = 1 To iNumQtrs.SeriesCollection(iRet).Name = “=”"Q” & Str(iRet) & “”"”Next iRet.Location xlLocationAsObject, oWS.NameEnd With’ Move the chart so as not to cover your data.With oWS.Shapes(“Chart 1″).Top = oWS.Rows(10).Top.Left = oWS.Columns(2).LeftEnd With’ Free any references.Set oChart = NothingSet oResizeRange = NothingEnd Sub Press F5 to run the project.

Symptoms
When you compile your ADO project, you receive the following error:

Compile error:User-defined type not definedThis can occur on either a Connection or Command object.
Resolution
You may have referenced one of the following libraries instead of theMicrosoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADODB) type library:Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects Recordset (ADOR) type library.
-or-Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (Multi-dimensional) (ADOMD) type library.

Symptoms
This article describes how to use the Microsoft Outlook 2002 Object Library or the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Object Library to force a Send/Receive action by using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET.
Resolution
To use the Outlook 2002 Object Library or the Outlook 2003 Object Library to force a Send/Receive action in a Visual Basic .NET project, follow these steps: Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project. Under Project Types, click Visual Basic Projects.Under Templates, click Console Application, and then click OK.
By default, Module1.vb is created.Add a reference to either the Outlook 2002 Object Library or the Outlook 2003 Object Library: On the Project menu, click Add Reference.On the COM tab, click Microsoft Outlook 11.0 Object Library if you are using Outlook 2003, or click Microsoft Outlook 10.0 Object Library if you are using Outlook 2002, and then click Select. In the Add References dialog box, click OK to accept your selections. If you receive a prompt to generate wrappers for the libraries that you selected, click Yes.In the code window, replace all the code with:

‘TO DO: If you use the Microsoft Outlook 11.0 Object Library, uncomment the following line.’Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.OutlookModule Module1Sub Main()’ Create an Outlook application.Dim oApp As Outlook._Application = New Outlook.Application’ Create the name space.Dim oNS As Outlook._NameSpace = oApp.GetNamespace(“mapi”)Dim oSyncs As Outlook.SyncObjectsDim oSync As Outlook.SyncObjectTry’ Reference SyncObjects.oSyncs = oNS.SyncObjectsoSync = oSyncs.Item(“All Accounts”)’ Send and receive.oSync.Start()Catch ex As ExceptionConsole.WriteLine(ex.Message)End Try’ Clean up.oSync = NothingoSyncs = NothingoNS = NothingoApp = NothingEnd SubEnd ModulePress F5 to build and run the program.

Symptoms
When you use a package that you created with the Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW) to install a Visual Basic application, you may receive the following error message (or similar) during the installation:

Unable to register MSADO15.TLBThis error message may reference any of the following files:MSADO15.TLBMSADO20.TLBMSADO21.TLBMSADO25.TLB
Resolution
The Package and Deployment Wizard adds the type library (.tlb) file to the package because the type library is referenced in your project. The PDW also erroneously assigns the $(DLLSelfRegister) registration macro to the type library in the Setup.lst file that is created for your installation package.
Most commonly, this problem occurs when your Visual Basic project contains a reference to a version of ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) that is earlier than the latest installed version. The reference for the latest installed version of ADO points to MSADO15.DLL. Earlier version references point to the above-mentioned ADO type library files.