how can I create activity associations in outlook from within a VSTO 2005 outlook add-in?

Question

Hi,
  I've learned how to create contact, tasks and appointments from an outlook add-in project with Visual Studio 2005 (release candidate).
For example I create a contact and an appointment in this way:

(...)

// create a contact and save it Outlook.ContactItem newContact = MyContactFolder.Items.Add(    Outlook.OlItemType.olContactItem) as Outlook.ContactItem; newContact.FirstName = firstName; newContact.LastName = lastName; newContact.Email1Address = email1Address newContact.CustomerID = customerID; newContact.PrimaryTelephoneNumber = primaryTelephoneNumber; newContact.Save(); // create an appointment and save it Outlook.AppointmentItem newEvent =    MyCalendar.Items.Add(       Outlook.OlItemType.olAppointmentItem)       as Outlook.AppointmentItem; newEvent.Start = newEventStart; newEvent.End = newEventEnd; newEvent.Subject = newEventSubject; newEvent.Body = newEventBody; newEvent.UserProperties.Add(    "ID",    Outlook.OlUserPropertyType.olText,    null,    null); newEvent.UserProperties["ID"].Value = eventID; newEvent.Save();

This works fine and I see the new contact and the new appointment in Outlook. Arrived at this point, I would like to see the appointment in the "Activities" pane of the contact. What am I supposed to do via code ?

thanks,

       Marco

Answer 1

Hi Marco

I believe this is done on a cross search based on the information stored within the Contact, IE an email address used to send an email to or from is used to list within the activities window and this looks like it is done dynamically, if you are creating an appointment then a contact it might be worth swapping this around and making sure you use the email address as a common element.

Regards

Answer 2

Thanks for your indication, I've been able to solve the problem.

For an appointment I use the following code:

Outlook.AppointmentItem appointment = (...) // code to get the appointment Outlook.ContactItem contact = (...) // code to get the contact appointment.RequiredAttendees = contact; // this shows the contact in the appointment inspector appointment.Links.Add(contact); // this shows the appointment in the contact activities

It's unbelievable the power we have with .NET on Outlook.

thanks again !