Custom built Outlook Form with Calendar and Scheduling Views

Question

In Outlook Client, I need to fill a Calendar with appointments data from a service and also show busy/free status of attendees in Scheduling View on the same form. I have seen some examples where Form Regions are used to add required functionality but haven't come around any that combines Outlook's Calendar and Scheduling components/views on the same form. Is Form Region the best option for doing this or should I look into something else? Is it possible to do that on a Windows form and use it in Outlook when creating an Appointment item?

Answer 1

Hello,

It looks like you need to develop an Outlook add-in (for example, VSTO based) where you can communicate with service, fill Outlook calendars and show busy/free status of attendees on form regions. See Walkthrough: Creating Your First VSTO Add-In for Outlook to get started quickly.

And yes, Outlook Form Regions is the right way for displaying such information. The Creating Outlook Form Regions section in MSDN contains all the required information. A form region is represented by a user control where you can place your controls (.Net) in Visual Studio, like a windows form. There is no need to create a separate windows form.  

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply, I went through these links already but I can't find a way to show a Calendar or Scheduling in Form Region UI. Can you please point me to an example or give me some guideline to do that myself?

Answer 3

You can use the MonthCalendar control. Also take a look at the following links:

How to generate Calendar in c#.net windows application

how to design a calendar control

You may treat your form region as a regular windows form, so you are free to use any .net controls there.