Programmatically creating auto-format rule in Outlook

Posted on by Pranav
1

Here is the code snippet…

private void AutoFormat()
{
      try
      {
            AutoFormatRule afr;
            TableView tv;
            tv = applicationObject.ActiveExplorer().CurrentView;
            MessageBox.Show(tv.AutoFormatRules.Count.ToString());
            for (int i=1;i<=tv.AutoFormatRules.Count;i++)
            {
                  AutoFormatRule rl =  tv.AutoFormatRules[i];
                  if(rl.Name=="TestAFRule")
                  {
                        tv.AutoFormatRules.Remove(i);
                        MessageBox.Show("Deleted" + rl.Name);
                  }
            }
            afr = tv.AutoFormatRules.Add("TestAFRule");
            afr.Font.Color = OlColor.olColorRed;
            afr.Enabled = true;
            tv.Save();
            tv.Apply();
            MessageBox.Show("Done");
      }
      catch(System.Exception ex)
      {
            MessageBox.Show("Err:" + ex.Message);
      }
}

 

Is VSTO still alive?

Posted on by Pranav
Reply

Yes… you read it right!

Many people talk about Azure, HTML5, SilverLight, WindowsPhone 7, SharePoint etc. How many are talking about VSTO? Compared to other technologies, people who on talk on VSTO might be very less. But, the fact is that VSTO will exist and grow as long as there is a product called Microsoft Office exist!

Many people suggested me to retire from VSTO and choose some other technology as there is not much focus on it. But, VSTO is installed in my mind without ‘Uninstall’ option. Though I work on other technologies like Mobile Apps, ASP.NET etc., I always explore more about VSTO and love to get updates of it.

Actually, VSTO is not that bad as people think. It has very good features which address some issues which can’t be solved by other technologies. Some of the new features on Office 2010 like Backstage View, Ribbon Enhancements, Programmability refinements etc extends the programmability and make it ease.

When I have started working on VSTO, it is not shown in web search results (Bing or Google) until it is typed correctly. But now,  we have got many Video and Text Tutorials, Blogs, MSDN Library, exclusive forums to each office application and lot many. There is a lot of development in VSTO since last two years compared to before.

I thought to write a post on this after reading Ridi’s post – Is VSTO Dead?. Thanks Ridi!

Ridi recently spoke at Microsoft Innovation Roadtrip  and delivered several points on why Office programming is still valuable to give another benefits in organization productivity. He has shared few presentation decks on VSTO. Here is the Live Spaces link for it – http://bit.ly/lgXTk9

You can find Screen Casts, Tutorials and some downloadable content about VSTO 2010 here.

Happy Coding!