Disappearing Outlook Panels?

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Disappearing Outlook Panels?
Outlook panel AdxServiceCP AdxServiceTP 
Neil Shepherd




Posts: 29
Joined: 2016-04-27
Hi Guys,

We've recently been working on a plugin for Outlook that adds a panel to the right hand side of the main window. All works fine except that, occasionally when Outlook opens, the panel shows either 'AdxServiceTP' or 'AdxServiceCP' in the panel's title area. I've tried rebuilding the code with the latest release of Add-In Express (v802-b4371) but it doesn't look to have solved the problem

On my dev machine unregistering, rebuilding and re-registering (through Visual Studio) does the trick but any ideas what the problem is (as the only option on non-development machines is to uninstall and re-install which isn't a practical solution)? I haven't managed to identify the circumstances that cause it to happen - so far there doesn't look to be any sort of pattern.

Thanks

Neil
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 05:00:02 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Hello Neil,

Neil Shepherd writes:
All works fine except that, occasionally when Outlook opens, the panel shows either 'AdxServiceTP' or 'AdxServiceCP' in the panel's title area.


Does your form show up in this case?

Do you execute lengthy code when the your is being constructed or loaded?

Please check that all of the Add-in Express references in your project point to version 8.2.4371.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 05:22:15 Top
Neil Shepherd




Posts: 29
Joined: 2016-04-27
Hi Andrei,

When the 'AdxServiceTP'/'AdxServiceCP' title appears the form doesn't appear at all - just a blank space.

I've just gone through the code and checked versions (as I installed the update) and everything is using v8.2.4371.

At startup the form does load a (local) config file and checks for online updates (by trying to connect to a remote server) in the AddInInitialize routine so it could be the online check that's slowing things down. Is there a preferred/better place/point/event to put checks like this?

Thanks

Neil
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 05:34:46 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Thank you, Neil.

Neil Shepherd writes:
At startup the form does load a (local) config file and checks for online updates (by trying to connect to a remote server) in the AddInInitialize routine so it could be the online check that's slowing things down. Is there a preferred/better place/point/event to put checks like this?


We recommend to execute such a request on a background thread.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 05:43:35 Top
Neil Shepherd




Posts: 29
Joined: 2016-04-27
Thanks Andrei.

I'll give that a try and see if it solves the problem

Neil =:)
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 06:28:32 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Waiting for your results.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 06:40:23 Top
Neil Shepherd




Posts: 29
Joined: 2016-04-27
Hi Andrei,

Not good news.

Tried the simple option of initially removing the remote check completely and after two builds the panel went back to being blank with the title 'AdxServiceCTP'.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Neil
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 07:10:20 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Could you please create a new empty add-in showing a pane in the same region as your real add-in? Would the new add-in produce the same issue?


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 07:46:24 Top
Neil Shepherd




Posts: 29
Joined: 2016-04-27
Hi Andrei,

I think I have it fixed. The panel was hosting a form with a webbrowser control on it and this was attempting to login to a website as part of the form's OnLoad event. Taking what you said earlier about startup time (and shifting code into background threads) I shifted a chunk of the code from the OnLoad event into a timer and...seems to work.

Hopefully this'll sort it out but, as the problem was so 'unpredictable' in the first place then I'll leave the ticket open for a couple of days to confirm whether it has actually done the trick. If it hasn't then I'll look to create an empty add-in like you suggest and see if that has the same problems.

Thanks for your help so far, it's much appreciated

Neil
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 08:24:55 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18793
Joined: 2006-05-11
Yes, keep an eye on it.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 24 Aug, 2016 09:05:02 Top