Open Outlook 2013 New Appointment window at Client side with Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook C#

Question

I am trying to open Outlook 2013 New Appointment window at Client side with ASP.Net c# application. my code is working fine its a simple button. when i click the button from client machine this application open the outlook window on server/host machine but not on Client Machine.

what can i use to open Outlook Appointment window on client machine by using ASP.Net C#.

I am using following code:

    private void OpenOutlookAppt() {

     Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application app = null;
     Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.AppointmentItem appt = null;
     app = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application();

     appt = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.AppointmentItem)app.CreateItem(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlItemType.olAppointmentItem);

        appt.Subject = "Customer Review";
        appt.MeetingStatus = Outlook.OlMeetingStatus.olMeeting;
        appt.Location = "36/2021";
        appt.Start = Convert.ToDateTime("3/30/2016 01:30:00 PM");
        appt.End = Convert.ToDateTime("3/30/2016 02:30:00 PM");
        Outlook.Recipient recipRequired =
            appt.Recipients.Add("abc@domain.com");
        recipRequired.Type =
            (int)Outlook.OlMeetingRecipientType.olRequired;
        Outlook.Recipient recipOptional =
            appt.Recipients.Add("abc@domain.com");
        recipOptional.Type =
            (int)Outlook.OlMeetingRecipientType.olOptional;
        Outlook.Recipient recipConf =
           appt.Recipients.Add("Conf Room 36/2021 (14) AV");
        recipConf.Type =
            (int)Outlook.OlMeetingRecipientType.olResource;
        appt.Recipients.ResolveAll();
        appt.Display(true); }

Thanks

Answer 1

Your code runs on the server under IIS, so of course you end up using Outlook on the server machine. And Outlook cannot be used in a service (such as IIS).

Your options are:

1. Client side Java Script. IE only. Your site must be trusted to be able to create COM objects ("Outlook.Applicatuion").

2. Create an iCal (ICS) file on the server. When the end user opens it, saving it will create an appointment in Outlook.

Answer 2

I think the best way to achieve this is by generating an ICS file on the server for the web user to download and open.

The ICS file format is quite simple:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
STATUS:TENTATIVE
DTSTART:20160330T013000Z
DTEND:20160330T023000Z
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Customer Review
LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Conf Room 36/2021  (14) AV 
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Customer Review Meeting
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

Code for generating file content:

public class CalendarFile
{
    private CfStatus _status = CfStatus.Busy;
    private string _location = "";
    private string _description = "";

    public CalendarFile(string title, DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate)
    {
        if (startDate > endDate)
            throw new Exception("Attept to initialize a calendar event with start date after end date");

        Summary = title;
        StartDate = startDate;
        EndDate = endDate;
    }

    public enum CfStatus { Free, Busy, Tentative, OutOfTheOffice };

    override public string ToString()
    {
        var calEvent = new StringBuilder();
        calEvent.AppendLine("BEGIN:VCALENDAR");
        calEvent.AppendLine("VERSION:2.0");
        calEvent.AppendLine("BEGIN:VEVENT");

        switch (Status)
        {
            case CfStatus.Busy:
                calEvent.AppendLine("X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:BUSY");
                break;
            case CfStatus.Free:
                calEvent.AppendLine("TRANSP:TRANSPARENT");
                break;
            case CfStatus.Tentative:
                calEvent.AppendLine("STATUS:TENTATIVE");
                break;
            case CfStatus.OutOfTheOffice:
                calEvent.AppendLine("X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:OOF");
                break;
            default:
                throw new Exception("Invalid CFStatus");
        }

        if (AllDayEvent)
        {
            calEvent.AppendLine("DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:" + ToCFDateOnlyString(StartDate));
            calEvent.AppendLine("DTEND;;VALUE=DATE:" + ToCFDateOnlyString(EndDate));
        }
        else
        {
            calEvent.AppendLine("DTSTART:" + ToCFString(StartDate));
            calEvent.AppendLine("DTEND:" + ToCFString(EndDate));
        }

        calEvent.AppendLine("SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:" + ToOneLineString(Summary));

        if (Location != "") calEvent.AppendLine("LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:" + ToOneLineString(Location));
        if (Description != "") calEvent.AppendLine("DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:" + ToCFString(Description));

        calEvent.AppendLine("END:VEVENT");
        calEvent.AppendLine("END:VCALENDAR");

        return calEvent.ToString();
    }

    public string Summary { get; set; }

    public DateTime StartDate { get; private set; }

    public DateTime EndDate { get; private set; }

    public string Location
    {
        get { return _location; }
        set { _location = value; }
    }

    public string Description
    {
        get { return _description; }
        set { _description = value; }
    }

    public bool AllDayEvent { get; set; }

    public CfStatus Status
    {
        get { return _status; }
        set { _status = value; }
    }

    private static string ToCFString(DateTime val)
    {
        //format: YYYYMMDDThhmmssZ where YYYY = year, MM = month, DD = date, T = start of time character, hh = hours, mm = minutes,
        //ss = seconds, Z = end of tag character. The entire tag uses Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
        return val.ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyyMMddThhmmssZ");
    }

    private static string ToCFDateOnlyString(DateTime val)
    {
        //format: YYYYMMDD where YYYY = year, MM = month, DD = date, T = start of time character, hh = hours, mm = minutes,
        //ss = seconds, Z = end of tag character. The entire tag uses Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
        return val.ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyyMMdd");
    }

    private static string ToCFString(string str)
    {
        return str.Replace("r", "=0D").Replace("n", "=0A");
    }

    private static string ToOneLineString(string str)
    {
        return str.Replace("r", " ").Replace("n", " ");
    }
}

ASP.NET WebForms page:

public partial class Appointment : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        var calFile = new CalendarFile("My Event", new DateTime(2016,3, 30, 5),
            new DateTime(2016,3, 30, 6));
        calFile.Location = "Conf Room 36/2021";
        calFile.Description = "Review meeting";
        calFile.Status = CalendarFile.CfStatus.Busy;
        calFile.allDayEvent = false;
        Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=PTO%20Request.ics");
        Response.ContentType = "text/x-vCalendar";
        Response.Write(calFile.ToString());
    }
}