Outlook 2003 Contacts via ODBC

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Matt Neimeyer - 28 Feb 2007 17:09 GMT

Hey All,

I know that there are samples that show how to access the Outlook
contact list via ADO but I have a third party application that allows us
to add an ODBC datasource as an additional source for contacts and then
define an INI file that matches the fields. This is a custom built
application that ties into our CRM backend and the developer doesn't
seem to exist anymore so we can't find an upgrade. we plan to migrate
but nothing soon (thanks Mgmt)...

I need to set up the INI like so...

[OutlookODBC_DSNName]
PrimaryKey=OutlooksPrimaryKey
ContactFirstName=OutlookContactFirstName
ContactLastName=OutlookContactLastName

and so on...

Is there anywhere out there an ODBC driver that allows reading and
writing for the Outlook 2003 Contact List?

Thanks!

Matt

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Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook] - 28 Feb 2007 19:40 GMT

There is an ODBC driver that can be installed with Access, but it's very
limited. It only exposes some 40 odd properties of a contact item and you
can't add to that. Plus I have no idea about that INI file, that's not
normally used and no one would necessarily know how the software translates
that INI into it's accesses to Outlook.

If you look at the database information at www.outlookcode.com you will see
examples of using the ODBC driver with Outlook but that code is all ADO or
DAO code that just uses the driver, how you would try to integrate with your
existing software is another question.

Signature

Ken Slovak
[MVP - Outlook]
http://www.slovaktech.com
Author: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options
http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm

> Hey All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Matt

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Matt Neimeyer - 28 Feb 2007 23:21 GMT

> Plus I have no idea about that INI file, that's
> not normally used and no one would necessarily know how the software
> translates that INI into it's accesses to Outlook.

Oh... that was just an example that if I know the field names I can do a
mapping into our CRM system. To much info... sorry...

> If you look at the database information at www.outlookcode.com you will
> see examples of using the ODBC driver with Outlook but that code is all
> ADO or DAO code that just uses the driver, how you would try to
> integrate with your existing software is another question.

I guess my goal is that if I connect to the DSN with some application
and and issue "SELECT * FROM MagicOutLookTable" I get all of my
contacts. And that with that info I can use other standard SQL style
commands to insert new contacts, update old contacts etc. It's not a
particularly "bright" application but it does exactly what we need.

Matt

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Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook] - 01 Mar 2007 16:27 GMT

Did you look at that link I provided? That's how you'd have to do it.

I haven't done anything with those methods since Outlook 2003 came out,
that's how I happen to know that you only get some 40-odd contact fields,
but it does work.

One thing to look out for though with that connector is the field names in
the returned recordset. They don't match the Outlook property names in many
cases. Also, as I mentioned, if a field that you want isn't there you can't
get it without using Outlook automation code and bypassing the ODBC driver.

Signature

> > Plus I have no idea about that INI file, that's
>> not normally used and no one would necessarily know how the software
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Matt

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Matt Neimeyer - 02 Mar 2007 14:41 GMT

> Did you look at that link I provided? That's how you'd have to do it.

I did look... But like you said. It's not broad enough to do what I need.

Thanks though.

Matt

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