RE: COM AddIN Not loading

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From: Luc P Maes (LucPMaes_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 03/15/05 

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 08:49:06 -0800

Well, yes I can provide more info.

But just for clarity the addin is developed using the "shared add-in"
project type in VS.NET and it works perfectly well. The installer (setup
project generated) works too... or more specifically it does on some and it
doesn't on other machines.... quite irritating especially when noting that
the same versions of office are installed...

As a matter of fact I believe I found the problem (or more precisely how to
get rid of the symptom because it doesn't make any sense to me).

Indeed, in one of the classes there is a declaration of an private object
reference to an external com object... the object exists on all machines (and
is by the way installed by the setup package...) but if I remove that line
the addin loads on all machines (at least all where tested and where it
didn't work before...).

The weird thing is that it is not an error that is happening at run time but
the addin itself is never launched, or more precisely the "Connect" object is
never created (did put some old style tracing messages to track down issue.)

Sounds to me like a flaw in outlook.... I can survive for now but this kind
of thing gives me a strange feeling.... like a Damoclés sword above my
head... when will the next strange thing happen? (for the time being I had to
drop to extra functionality by removing the local reference (but the same
object is used elsewhere....?) and it is not great but if I have to...

Sorry if this message sounds a bit unclear and crazy but this situation
truly is... I believe it should be tracked in MS bug db but I have no clue
how to report this kind of thing.
Cheers
Luc

"Eric Legault [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:

> Do you have any more detailed information on the design of your add-in? The
> main things to check are whether you have the proper registry keys and that
> your add-in is registered.
>
> Also, for .NET you need to ensure that .NET programmability support (the
> Office PIA's) are installed via Office setup.
>
> See these links for more info:
>
> Information about designing Office XP add-ins and Office 2003 add-ins by
> using the .NET Framework:
> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=840585
>
> Developing COM Add-ins for Microsoft Outlook:
> http://www.outlookcode.com/d/comaddins.htm
>
> --
> Eric Legault - B.A, MCP, MCSD, Outlook MVP
> --------------------------------------------------
> {Private e-mails ignored}
> Job: http://www.imaginets.com
> Blog: http://blogs.officezealot.com/legault/
>
> "Luc P Maes" wrote:
>
> > Sounds like addIn loading problem are common in the forum but I have so far
> > not foudn anything that could help me.
> >
> > I have developped an outllok AddIn using visual studio .Net and it works
> > perfectly well.
> >
> > The issue is that when I deploy it, using the Setup pacxkage created using
> > VS.Net, the addin loads properly, on some other machines not....!
> >
> > The same version of office is used (outlook 2003) and as far as I can see
> > the registry key entries related to my addin are the same...
> >
> > Anyone with a clue would be a true saviour.... (indeed the tool is ready and
> > functionning, waiting to be deployed but...)
> >
> > Cheers
> > Luc

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