Create a click on Contact to call MS Outlook 2010 Add-In with MS Visual Studio 2013

Question

I would like implement outlook 2010 Add-In that will help to call to a outlook contact by my local application.

Scenario:

1. Need a "call to dial" application that help to call a number of outlook contact.
2. When click on outlook contact, then Add-In must be get called & divert that call to my local application.

e.g. MS Lync Add-In works with Outlook contacts to call a selected contact's number.

I have seen many video & studied many tutorial and but didnt get info that how to implement desired scenario.

I used below approaches

With Add-In Express: 1. MS Visual Studio 2013-> Visual C#-> Office-> Office Add-In.

With VSTO: 2. MS Visual Studio 2013-> Other Project Type-> Extensibility->ADX Add->In

Thanks

Answer 1

You can add custom controls on the ribbon and add context menu items for contacts allowing users to make a call. VSTO provides two main ways for customizing the UI:

• Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Tab by Using the Ribbon Designer
• Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Tab by Using Ribbon XML

You may find the Extending the User Interface in Outlook 2010 article helpful.

The Fluent UI (aka Ribbon UI) is described in depth in the following series of articles:

• Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 1 of 3)
• Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 2 of 3)
• Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 3 of 3)

Finally, instead of developing Outlook add-in you may consider integrating your existing application with Office. See Integrating IM applications with Office for more information.

It doesn't matter whether VSTO or Add-in Express is used. The Outlook extensibility model is the same for all kind of add-ins.