OL97: How to Programmatically Import Outlook Items from Access

MORE INFORMATION

Outlook 97's Import and Export feature does not allow you to import or export information in user-defined fields (or properties). To import information into these fields, you need to create a programming solution that uses Automation to convert the information.

The following example code specifically converts information from Microsoft Access into newly created Outlook Contacts, using Data Access Objects (DAO 3.5). With modifications, you can use this code as a basis for creating other types of Outlook items, such as appointments, notes, tasks, and such.

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Programming Considerations

• The code example below uses the Northwind database included with Microsoft Office 97. If you installed Office to a location other than the default, be sure to change the path to the database in the code.
• You need to set references to DAO 3.5 and the Outlook 8.0 Object Library.
• The fields types used in this example are text, in both Access and Outlook. To convert other types of fields, you must modify the code appropriately.
• The contacts are automatically placed in Outlook's default Contact folder, which is at the same level as the Inbox that receives incoming mail.
• The CreateItem method used in this example creates a new Outlook contact using the default form for the default contact folder. If you created a custom Outlook Contact form, you must set the MessageClass field for each item to the name of your custom form.
• If you programmatically set a contact's e-mail address field, the e-mail addresses do not automatically resolve.

For more information about programmatically resolving e-mail addresses, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Example Code

   Sub ExportAccessContactsToOutlook()

   'Set up DAO Objects:
   Dim oDataBase As Object
   Dim rst As Object
   Set oDataBase = OpenDatabase _
     ("c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb")
   Set rst = oDataBase.OpenRecordset("Customers")

   'Set up Outlook Objects:
   Dim olns As Object               ' Outlook Namespace
   Dim cf As Object                 ' Contact folder
   Dim c As Object                  ' Contact Item
   Dim Prop As Object               ' User property
   Dim ol As New Outlook.Application
   Set olns = ol.GetNamespace("MAPI")
   Set cf = olns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts)

   With rst
      .MoveFirst
      ' Loop through the Access records
      Do While Not .EOF
         ' Create a new Contact item
         Set c = ol.CreateItem(olContactItem)
         ' Specify which Outlook form to use:
         ' Change "IPM.Contact" to "IPM.Contact.<formname>" if you've
         ' created a custom Contact form in Outlook.
         c.MessageClass = "IPM.Contact"
         ' Create all built-in Outlook fields
         If ![CompanyName] <> "" Then c.CompanyName = ![CompanyName]
         If ![ContactName] <> "" Then c.FullName = ![ContactName]
         ' Create the first user property (UserField1)
         Set Prop = c.UserProperties.Add("UserField1", olText)
         ' Set its value
         If ![CustomerID] <> "" Then Prop = ![CustomerID]
         ' Create the second user property (UserField2)
         Set Prop = c.UserProperties.Add("UserField2", olText)
         ' Set it's value, and so on....
         If ![Region] <> "" Then Prop = ![Region]
         ' Save the contact
         c.Save
         .MoveNext
      Loop
   End With
   End Sub