I recently got a question about this add-in created as a sample by the Microsoft Office Developer Team. It is provided as a sample and is a challenging bit of code to follow. It all started because I was trying to provide some advice to someone who is new to the OfficeJS world (but not Office development in general). They wanted to build a cross-platform add-in for a cause. After tinkering with it for a few hours, I managed to get it to work. But then I looked it over and it was quite a bit of tinkering on my part.
In most cases I create Add-ins based on React, but because I have done a lot of Trello development of late, I have gotten into more of a pure ES6 vibe. The code provided in the add-in as I stated was hard to follow because I think I am losing my jQuery and ES5 JavaScript skills.
Anyway, as I said, I spent a few hours today and worked on getting it into ES6 format by moving most of the code into classes, removing redundant code, removing redundant HTML pages, consolidating CSS and adding a lot of additional JSDoc comments throughout the code.
NOTE: This looks and behaves exactly the same, but I have not thoroughly tested it. So, it might be a bit rough here and there. If you encounter issues please let me know. 😁
I have really enjoyed writing this bit of code because it stretched from Trello API to Office 365 API, two of my favorite programming interfaces. This Power-Up is similar to the default Trello Calendar Power-up, the key difference being is that it connects to your Outlook Calendar. So, you can see all your Trello Tasks and your Outlook appointments/meetings, side by side in one place, you can link your appointments to Trello cards and vice-versa. With a month view and a weekly view, you can manage your calendar easily by dragging and dropping your Trello Cards on the calendar to create linked appointments for specific tasks all in one place.
In writing my new Outlook Add-in (Send to Trello), I got stuck on attachments. The first version did not include an attachments option because of two unique problems that compounded each other:
The Office Add-in API no longer provides a Media Type/MIME Type with an attachment request. I am able to get the “blob()” from Office, but other than the file extension there is not a way to determine the type. But sometimes a file does not have an extension, or the extension is wrong, etc.
The Trello API will not let you upload without supplying a MIME type, you cannot just give it a Base64 string as an attachment and let them figure it out.
So, I found out something interesting while researching a workaround. Most every base64 string of a specific file type starts with the same “prolog” of text. Using this, combined with the fallback of the file extensions, I was able to get attachments to work (for the attachment types supported by Trello). So, v1.02 will now include attachments.
Anway, as for the workaround I found, this might be ugly, but wanted to share it anyway:
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You know, sometimes the way you want to do things is not necessarily the right way. And even then the right way makes life so hard you want to cry. With Office.JS I recently blogged about “a way” you can test multiple sprints of your add-in in your development environment: Testing a Web Add-in with Multiple Manifest. In this article I explain a method of creating multiple manifests to point to each “version or sprint” of your add-in. Recently, I found that one of my customers threw a wrinkle into that idea. Not that creating multiple manifests was impossible, but they were needing two conflating factors:
Each sprint points to a different folder of HTML/JS.
And they needed to use query string parameters (like this post) to load one of maybe 20 different configuration settings.
With up to 20 configurations per sprint and lets say 4 sprints, you end up with 80 manifest files. So, this is untenable. You need more choices, then enter necessity…
So, lets say you need to test multiple configurations and multiple sprints. Here is how you will set this up:
You will publish each sprint of your Web Site Project into a different folder in IIS. Like this:
Different sprints in separate folders
Then, you will create a new HTML page. I called mine Launcher.html. This page will contain a submit button and two drop-down select controls:
One for sprints
One for configs
Next, you will modify your manifest. You can add a new button called “Sprint Testing” for example and have it launch: Launcher.html.
In the Launcher.JS, populate those dropdowns. You can populate these hard coded into the HTML, from your client side JS or call your service controller. In my example, I call my service controller.
When the user clicks the submit button after choosing the desired settings, you will build the URL to the proper sprint folder and then append the config values to the current query string (that last item is critical so that your sprint Compose/Read page will get the important Office related query string values passed to it). You will see I do this below by replacing my “launcher.html”, replacing it will the new path, then append the config setting:
Once done your code will perform a location.replace() on the url and you will have your proper sprint and configuration loaded. You will only have a single manifest file and you will be able to test/regress test as much as needed with different sprints and configurations.
Here is what the HTML page I created looks like when loaded:
Here is the HTML:
[code lang=”javascript” collapse=”true” title=”click to expand if the github.com embedding below is not visible.”]
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Select Which Sprint to Launch</title>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<script src="https://appsforoffice.microsoft.com/lib/1/hosted/office.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="Scripts/jquery-3.1.1.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="launcher.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<h3>Please select the sprint you wish to launch:</h3>
<select id="selectSprintList">
</select>
<h3>Please select the configuration:</h3>
<select id="selectConfigList">
</select>
<button id="launchSprintButton">Submit</button>
</body>
</html>
[/code]
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[code lang=”javascript” collapse=”true” title=”click to expand if the github.com embedding below is not visible.”]
/// <reference path="Scripts/jquery-3.1.1.js" />
(function () {
‘use strict’;
Office.initialize = function (reason) {
$(document).ready(function (reason) {
/// Upon load connect to the server and request
/// the sprints so that we can fill the select
/// field on the form.
makeAjaxCall("GetSprints", null, function (response) {
/** @type {String} */
var data = response.Message.toString();
/** @type {String[]} */
var results = data.split(",");
$.each(results, function (index, value) {
$("#selectSprintList").append("
<option>" + value + "</option>");
})
}, function (error) {
$(document).append("
" + error + "
");
});
makeAjaxCall("GetConfigs", null, function (response) {
/** @type {String} */
var data = response.Message.toString();
/** @type {String[]} */
var results = data.split(",");
$.each(results, function (index, value) {
$("#selectConfigList").append("
<option>" + value + "</option>");
})
});
$("#launchSprintButton").click(function (event) {
/// The user clicked the submit button. Build the URL
/// from the selection in the select control and
/// change the location
var sprint = $("#selectSprintList").val();
var config = $("#selectConfigList").val();
var url = "";
if (sprint != null && sprint != "" &&
config != null && sprint != "") {
// replace the launcher page with the proper sprint folder location,
// but be sure to keep all the query string values – to pass on
// to our OfficeJS page. However, add our one config setting to the end
url = window.location.href.replace("launcher.html", sprint + "/ComposeMessage.html");
url += "&Config=" + config;
// replace the url
location.replace(url);
}
});
});
}
})();
// Helper function to call the web service controller
makeAjaxCall = function (command, params, callback, error) {
var dataToPassToService = {
Command: command,
Params: params
};
$.ajax({
url: ‘api/Default’,
type: ‘POST’,
data: JSON.stringify(dataToPassToService),
contentType: ‘application/json;charset=utf-8’,
headers: { ‘Access-Control-Allow-Origin’: ‘*’ },
crossDomain: true
}).done(function (data) {
callback(data);
}).fail(function (status) {
error(status.statusText);
})
};
[/code]
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And here is the code for the controller, now, I cheated and just returned a string value for each call, but this at least help you get the idea of how to build your own list for sprints and configs:
[code lang=”javascript” collapse=”true” title=”click to expand if the github.com embedding below is not visible.”]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web.Http;
namespace OutlookLauncherDemoWeb.Controllers
{
public class DefaultController : ApiController
{
///
<summary>
/// Service Request – incoming
/// </summary>
public class WebServiceRequest
{
public string Command { get; set; }
public string[] Params { get; set; }
}
///
<summary>
/// Service Response – outgoing
/// </summary>
public class WebServiceResponse
{
public string Status { get; set; }
public string Message { get; set; }
}
[HttpPost()]
public WebServiceResponse Values(WebServiceRequest request)
{
WebServiceResponse response = null;
switch (request.Command)
{
case "GetSprints":
return getSprints();
case "GetConfigs":
return getConfigs();
}
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The idea here is that this add-in is a baseline for yours. You can build these components into a debug build of your add-in and it will call into each separate folder/sprint where you have posted previous versions.
There is a common problem I see when automating Excel from an external .NET application:
You will launch Excel, open a workbook, perform work, and then try to close Excel and find that it remains in memory. You might even have code in your solution to try to re-use existing instance of Excel and find that it uses one of these “zombie” instances that do not have any of the add-ins loaded… and maybe an add-in your code relies on.
The issue is that Excel is not able to close because the primary thread of your application is holding on to a COM reference. Even adding Marshal.ComReleaseObject() and GC.Collect() like this probably will not improve the situation either:
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From my experience, and from what I have gathered is that until the thread is stopped, the COM reference will be locked. Not sure where the issue lies (EXCEL, COM, or .NET), but I have found a workaround to this. What you have to do is terminate your thread. But because you do not want to terminate your application, you need to create a NEW thread. So the following pattern is what I have found works:
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As I start to delve deeper into the world of Office.JS and JavaScript, I am having some fits with how things are done and how things are implemented. Besides getting used to a whole new load of terms, finding out that there are more frameworks than there are developers (ok, maybe that is a small exaggeration), or that JavaScript is not “really” object-oriented (and that’s “ok”) is just nearly too much to handle.
Then there is one of my biggest complains with JavaScript is it use of types. You can get in a lot of trouble here and you can even break JavaScript from its root if you really prototype something wrong (see monkey patching). Additionally, scope can be an issue. And then there is Visual Studio 2015 doing it’s best to try to help you with types, but then it fails you. For example, you type “something(dot)” and you expect IntelliSense to come to the rescue – and low and behold, you get what I like to call: “The yellow bangs of hell.“(tm)
I have been coding with this problem thinking I am all alone in this world screaming every time an object, string, or number fails at IntelliSense. Then on an internal Microsoft email thread where the virtues of TypeScript and JavaScript were being contemplated, a whole world was opened before my eyes. Enter JSDoc. Turns out there is an entire specification around this. And even better – Visual Studio 2015 support it. And it is pretty easy to use. Plus type definition is just the tip of the iceberg, there is a LOT more for me to lesrn. But for now, here is an example of how to define a few common types I frequently use:
[code language=”javascript”]
/** @type {XMLDocument} */
var xmlDoc = $.parseXML(ewsResult.value);
/** @type {string} */
var theString;
/** @type {number} */
var myNumber;
[/code]
I have started to use this very recently in my proof of concepts I work on with my customers and I think I just increased my productivity by 50% (or more). Holy cow.
As you might know (or I hope you do by now), Office Web Add-ins are the new thing. And if you have recently started a project in this new paradigm, you know that it is quite different from Office COM/VSTO/VBA based coding. There is a little bit of a learning curve and some of the new code patterns (namely async) make doing things “the old way” not quite possible. As such this can make getting your head around this programming model a tad tough. And then there is JavaScript too.
One of my colleagues, Michael Zlatkovsky (a member of the Office.JS development team at Microsoft) is writing a book: Building Office Add-ins using Office.JS.
I have had an opportunity to read this book and believe it to be a great resource to understanding the new model. Some of the best parts of the book are where he covers the concepts behind the model, its use of async (and why), how to get around some of the challenges of async with Promises (great chapter), the way to use the Office context objects with some great code patterns, and much, much more.
I have been working with a number of customers over the years that come from the world of Lotus Notes. And one of the areas they often complain about with regards to Outlook is the calendar printing options. There are certain things you just cannot do in Outlook from the printing perspective that leaves them wont for more.
So, I have been working over the years on this add-in. This has actually gone through a few iterations – the current version 1.2.0.9 is the most recent and most fully-featured version.
The full source code is on GitHub, here. It is totally open source and free to use, modify, etc. Here is what it can do:
Printing calendars not available in Outlook by default.
The ability to create your own custom calendar
The ability to combine calendars for multiple people at once:
Displaying only overlapping schedules on the same calendar
Displaying all meetings including overlapping meeting
The ability to export in daily, weekly, by-weekly, tri-weekly or monthly formats.
The exact details on customization, installation and usage are all covered in the user guide, here.
A customer I was working with wanted help developing a fully on-premises Outlook web add-in. By this, they wanted no part of it to reach out to the Internet (Azure or Office 365). They wanted:
To connect to their internal Exchange server
An internal IIS website
And no references to the Internet (including the Office.js).
This is the topology we are trying to achieve:
If you have developed an Office Web Add-in lately, you find it is inherently biased to the Internet. Even the samples and solutions provided assume Office 365/Exchange and Azure websites. In a default, new Visual Studio solution, the links to the Office.js libraries and stylesheets are all pointing to the web. And, so as you might expect, there are some challenges to getting it to work on-premises only.
This posting covers what you must do to get such a solution to work, including getting past some pitfalls.
First, you have to download the Office.js files locally. And especially for Outlook because the Office.js files that are provided by default in your solution folder (“for offline debugging” as part of VS2015U3 or earlier) are missing some features to work with specific builds of Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016. You will run into some strange “type” missing and “Office not defined” errors if you forget this step.
Once you have downloaded the Office.JS files, you will delete all the files under the Scripts\Office\1 folder and copy in the contents you downloaded in step 1.
Comment out that line and add the following two lines:
[code language=”html”]
<!– <script src="https://appsforoffice.microsoft.com/lib/1/hosted/office.js" type="text/javascript></script> –>
<script src="../../Scripts/Office/MicrosoftAjax.js" type="text/javascript"></script>;
<script src="../../Scripts/Office/1.1/office.js" type="text/javascript"></script>;
[/code]
Once you have developed your solution, you must setup your IIS server. In general here is what you must do:
The IIS Server must have ASP.NET installed, it must have .NET4 installed and you must have the Web Application role enabled.
Open IIS Manager
Create a site, and figure the folder path
Convert the site to an Application
Apply an SSL certificate that is already trusted on all your client computers or that has a root certificate authority that is trusted on all your client computers. If you browse to your site using HTTPS and you get a RED warning about an untrusted site, then the certificate is not trusted or properly setup.
Next, and this was a major issue to troubleshoot, your Exchange Web Services certificate cannot be expired. If it is, any EWS call you make will return “succeeded” but will be blank – missing data. Digging into the logs you might find an error: “ErrorInvalidClientAccessTokenRequest” The Microsoft Exchange Server Auth Certificate that is used for OAuth needs to be updated. To do this you have to be logged into the Exchange server as administrator:
Run this cmdlet to identify the thumbprint of the certificate being used for OAUTH:Get-AuthConfig | FT currentcertificate*
Run this cmdlet to identify the thumbprint of certificates used for other Exchange servers (IIS, SMTP, etc.):Get-ExchangeCertificate | Fl *thumb*
Run these cmdlets to configure Exchange to use the valid certificate (copy/paste the thumbprint from the Get-ExchangeCertificate output):$today = Get-Date
Set-AuthConfig -NewCertificateThumbprint newthumbprint -NewCertificateEffectiveDate $today -Force
Run this cmdlet to make sure the changes are published to the environmentSet-AuthConfig -PublishCertificate
Run this cmdlet to verify the certificate thumbprintGet-AuthConfig | FT currentcertificate*,previouscert*
Now you can deploy your solution to IIS, update your manifest to point to the IIS server (do not forget the HTTPS) and then install it on the Exchange Server Control Panel (ECP) under the Organization / Add-ins option as a mandatory add-in.
Finally, and this last bit is important: IF USING OUTLOOK 2013 or OUTLOOK 2016, YOU MUST BE LOGGED INTO WINDOWS ON THE SAME DOMAIN AS YOUR EMAIL. I know, I know… for some folks this sucks. I have reported this to our product team and they are looking into it. If you are not logged into the same domain controller as your email address is registered, you will not see the advertised add-in. It will load in Outlook Web Access (OWA), but will not appear in Outlook 2013/2016. The exact cause of this problem is unknown, but hopefully it will be addressed in a future version of the product (Exchange or Outlook or both).
Setting up for 100% on-premises is difficult, but it CAN be done. There are a lot of steps, but if you follow the above prescription, you should get it to work. In time, I hope to see this process get easier. But in an online world where Microsoft Office 365 and Azure are main focus, “old fashioned” on-premises solutions are going to require a little more elbow grease.
NOTE: This entry was contributed to by Arthel Bibbens (MSFT) / Exchange PFE. You can follow his posts on this topic here:
I recently worked with a developer to deploy an Office add-in within an Exchange 2013 on-premises environment. This project highlighted a capability of Exchange and Outlook that is a huge shift in the way mail add-ins are developed, deployed, and maintained. Let’s take a look at the key components of Exchange 2013 that support this…
