Outlook views: How to create a custom view for calendar, task, mail items

This is the second article of the Outlook 2013 add-in development in VS 2012 for beginners series that examines Outlook views and covers the following aspects:

• What are Outlook views?
• How to enumerate and access views for a folder
• Built-in vs. custom views
• How to create a custom Outlook view
• How to remove a custom Outlook view
• Useful events

What are Outlook views?

Outlook views allow you to group, sort and view all the different types of Outlook data within the View panel of the Outlook Explorer window. Outlook comes with a few built-in views for each Outlook item type (mail, task, calendar, etc.) which can be accessed via the View tab.

Outlook supports six View objects. These objects inherit from the Outlook View object and represent different ways of displaying data in Outlook. These objects are:

• TableView – Allows you to view data in a simple table/grid layout.
• IconView – Shows data as icons in a similar fashion as the Windows Explorer icon view.
• BusinessCardView – This view is synonymous with the Outlook Contacts folder. It allows you to view data as a collection of business cards.
• CalendarView – This is the default view used by the Outlook Calendar, but you can also use it to view other data.
• CardView – Allows you to view data as a series of cards.
• TimelineView – Shows data in a linear time line, similar to the Outlook Journal folder.

How to enumerate and access views for a folder

In order to enumerate through the views collection of a particular Outlook folder, you can use the following code:

C# code example

Outlook._Explorer currExplorer = null;
Outlook.MAPIFolder currFolder = null;
Outlook.Views views = null;
Outlook.View view = null;
 
try
{
    currExplorer = OutlookApp.ActiveExplorer();
    currFolder = currExplorer.CurrentFolder;
    views = currFolder.Views;
 
    for (int i = 1; i <= views.Count; i++)
    {
        view = views[i];
        Console.WriteLine(view.Name);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(view);
    }                
}
finally
{
    if (views != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(views);
    if (currFolder != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currFolder);
    if (currExplorer != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currExplorer);
}

The View object exposes methods and properties common to all views. If you need to access properties specific to a certain type of view for example the AllowInCellEditing property of the TableView object, you need to cast the View object to a TableView object. To save any properties that changed, you need to call the Apply method as illustrated below:

C# code example

Outlook._Explorer currExplorer = null;
Outlook.MAPIFolder currFolder = null;
Outlook.View view = null;
Outlook.TableView tableView = null;
 
try
{
    currExplorer = OutlookApp.ActiveExplorer();
    currFolder = currExplorer.CurrentFolder;
    view = currFolder.CurrentView;
 
    if (view.ViewType == Outlook.OlViewType.olTableView)
    {
        tableView = view as Outlook.TableView;
	 tableView.AllowInCellEditing = true;
        tableView.Apply();
    }
}
finally
{
    if (view != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(view);
    if (currFolder != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currFolder);
    if (currExplorer != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currExplorer);
}

Built-in vs. custom Outlook views

Whilst enumerating through all the views in a folder, you might need to determine which views are custom user created views and which are standard built-in views. The View object exposes the Standard property which you can use to easily distinguish between a custom and a standard Outlook view, for example:

C# code example

Outlook._Explorer currExplorer = null;
Outlook.MAPIFolder currFolder = null;
Outlook.Views views = null;
Outlook.View view = null;
 
try
{
    currExplorer = OutlookApp.ActiveExplorer();
    currFolder = currExplorer.CurrentFolder;
    views = currFolder.Views;
 
    for (int i = 1; i <= views.Count; i++)
    {
        view = views[i];
        if (view.Standard)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(view.Name + " is a built-in view");
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine(view.Name + " is a custom view");
        }
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(view);
    }
}
finally
{
    if (views != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(views);
    if (currFolder != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currFolder);
    if (currExplorer != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currExplorer);
}

How to create a custom Outlook view

You can create your own custom view using the Outlook object model. In the following code listing, I’ve added a user property to a calendar folder, created a new TableView for the folder and added the custom property to the view.

C# code example

Outlook.Explorer currExplorer = null;
Outlook.MAPIFolder currFolder = null;
Outlook.Views views = null;
Outlook.TableView tableView = null;
Outlook.ViewFields viewFields = null;
Outlook.ViewField viewField = null;
Outlook.ColumnFormat columnFormat = null;
 
Outlook.UserDefinedProperties userProperties = null;
Outlook.UserDefinedProperty billableProperty = null;
 
try
{
    currExplorer = OutlookApp.ActiveExplorer();
    currFolder = currExplorer.CurrentFolder;
 
    // Create User Property
    userProperties = currFolder.UserDefinedProperties;
    billableProperty = userProperties.Add("Billable", Outlook.OlUserPropertyType.olYesNo);
 
    views = currFolder.Views;
    views.Remove("My Custom View");
 
    tableView = (Outlook.TableView)views.Add("My Custom View",
        Outlook.OlViewType.olTableView,
        Outlook.OlViewSaveOption.olViewSaveOptionThisFolderEveryone);
    viewFields = tableView.ViewFields;
    viewField = viewFields.Add("Billable");
    columnFormat = viewField.ColumnFormat;
    columnFormat.Align = Outlook.OlAlign.olAlignCenter;
 
    tableView.Save();
    tableView.Apply();
}
finally
{
    if (userProperties != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(userProperties);
    if (billableProperty != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(billableProperty);
    if (viewFields != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(viewFields);
    if (viewField != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(viewField);
    if (columnFormat != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(columnFormat);
    if (tableView != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(tableView);
    if (views != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(views);
    if (currFolder != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currFolder);
    if (currExplorer != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currExplorer);
}

How to remove a custom Outlook view

To remove a custom view, you need to use the Remove method on the views collection. Be careful though, if you try to remove one of the built-in Outlook views an error will be thrown. To delete the custom view we’ve created previously, use the following code:

C# code example

Outlook.Explorer currExplorer = null;
Outlook.MAPIFolder currFolder = null;
Outlook.Views views = null;
 
try
{
    currExplorer = OutlookApp.ActiveExplorer();
    currFolder = currExplorer.CurrentFolder;
    views = currFolder.Views;
    views.Remove("My Custom View");              
}
finally
{
    if (views != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(views);
    if (currFolder != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currFolder);
    if (currExplorer != null)
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currExplorer);
}

Useful events

ViewAdd and ViewRemove events

The Views object exposes two events for handling the removal and addition of views. To declare view handlers for the events use the following code:

views.ViewAdd += views_ViewAdd;
views.ViewRemove += views_ViewRemove;

Both of the events have a parameter that contains a reference to the View being added or removed. The code for the event handlers could be similar to the following:

void views_ViewRemove(Outlook.View View)
{
    Console.WriteLine(View.Name);
}
 
void views_ViewAdd(Outlook.View View)
{
    Console.WriteLine(View.Name);
}

BeforeViewSwitch and ViewSwitch events

These two events are similar in the fact that both are triggered when a view changes in the Outlook Explorer. However, as the BeforeViewSwitch event’s name suggests this event occur before the view is changed.

To access these two events, you first need to add an Outlook Events component to the AddinModule designer surface. In this components’ list of events generate an event handler for the event by double-clicking next to its name in the properties window.

private void adxOutlookEvents_ExplorerBeforeViewSwitch(object sender,
    ADXOlExplorerBeforeViewSwitchEventArgs e)
{
    string newView = e.NewView.ToString();
 
    if (!newView.Equals("My Custom View"))
    {
	e.Cancel = true;
    }
}

In the above code, I get a reference to the new view the Outlook Explorer is switching to and if it is a standard view, I cancel the event. Thus preventing the user from switching to any standard built-in Outlook view from a custom view.

The ExplorerViewSwitch event occurs after the user changed the view and has a parameter which contains a reference to the Outlook Explorer in which the event occurred. In the following code I use the explorer parameter to get a reference to the active Outlook Explorer and the currently active view.

private void adxOutlookEvents_ExplorerViewSwitch(object sender, object explorer)
{
    Outlook.Explorer currExplorer = null;
    Outlook.View currView = null;
 
    try
    {
        currExplorer = explorer as Outlook.Explorer;
        currView = currExplorer.CurrentView as Outlook.View;
        Console.WriteLine(currView.Name);                
    }
    finally
    {
        if (currView != null)
            Marshal.ReleaseComObject(currView);
    }
}

Thank you for reading. Until next time, keep coding!

Available downloads:

This sample was created using Add-in Express for Office and .net:

C# Outlook add-in

Outlook 2013 add-in development in Visual Studio 2012 for beginners

• Part 1: Outlook add-in development: Outlook Application and base objects
• Part 2: Creating custom Outlook views
• Part 3: Creating custom Outlook forms
• Part 4: Outlook UI – Explorer and Inspector Windows. What is customizable?
• Part 5: Customizing Outlook main menu, context menus and Backstage view
• Part 6: Creating custom Outlook ribbons and toolbars
• Part 7: Advanced view regions for Outlook 2013 – 2003
• Part 8: Advanced form regions for Outlook 2013 – 2003
• Part 9: Working with Outlook Accounts, Stores, Folders and Items
• Part 10: Working with Outlook calendar
• Part 11: Working with Outlook tasks

You may also be interested in:

• Custom Outlook view regions: To-Do bar, Navigation and Reading pane
• Create custom Outlook views and forms with advanced regions
• Video: How to create and control advanced Outlook regions