Add-in Express™
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Introduction into advanced Outlook regions and advanced task panes
Add-in Express allows creating advanced Outlook regions for Outlook, versions 2000 - 2010, and advanced Office task panes for Excel, Word and PowerPoint, versions 2000 - 2010.
An absolute must-know
Here are the three main points you should be aware of:
- There are application-specific <Manager> components such as ADXOlFormsManager or ADXEcelTaskPanesManager; every <Manager> component provides the Items collection; each <Item>
from the collection binds a <Form>, which is an application-specific descendant of System.Windows.Forms.Form such as ADXOlForm or ADXExcelTaskPane, to the visualization
(Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook) and context (Outlook- only) settings.
- You never create an instance of a <Form> in the way you create an instance of System.Windows.Forms.Form; instead,
the <Manager> creates instances of the <Form> for you; the instances are created either automatically or at your request.
- The Visible property of a <Form> instance is true, when the instance is embedded into a sub-pane of the host window (as specified
by the visualization settings) regardless of the actual visibility of the instance; the Active property of the <Form>
instance is true, when the instance is actually shown on top of all other instances in the same region.
Note. Anywhere on this page, as well as on other pages, a term in angle brackets, such as <Manager>
or <Form> above, specifies a component, class, or class member, the actual name of which is application-dependent.
Every such term is covered on the corresponding page of this manual.
Advanced task panes for Word, Excel and PowerPoint
In Add-in Express terms, an advanced Office task pane is a sub-pane, or a dock, of the main Excel, Word or PowerPoint window that may host native .NET forms.
The screenshot below shows a sample task pane embedded into all available Excel docks.
Advanced Outlook form and view regions
In Add-in Express terms, an advanced Outlook region is a sub-pane, or a dock, of Outlook windows that may host native .NET forms.
There are two types of the advanced regions - Outlook view regions (sub-panes on the Outlook Explorer window) and Outlook form regions
(sub-panes of the Outlook Inspector window).
Outlook view regions are specified in the ExplorerLayout property of the item (= ADXOlFormsCollectionItem). Outlook form regions
are specified in the InspectorLayout property of the item. That is, one ADXOlFormsCollectionItem may show your form in a view and form region.
Note that you must also specify the item's ExplorerItemTypes and/or InspectorItemTypes properties; otherwise, the form (an instance of ADXOlForm)
will never be shown.
Outlook view regions:
- Four regions around the list of mails, tasks, contacts etc. The region names are LeftSubpane, TopSubpane, RightSubpane,
BottomSubpane (see the screenshot below). A restriction: those regions are not available for Calendar folders in Outlook 2010.
- One region below the Navigation Pane - BottomNavigationPane (see the screenshot below)
- One region below the To-Do Bar - BottomTodoBar (see the screenshot below)
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