C# VSTO Outlook Outgoing Message Hyperlink

Question

I am creating a C# VSTO add-in for Outlook 2010. I am attempting to generate a hyperlink at the insertion point of the active outgoing message that is being worked on (the hyperlink is inserted via a button on the message window ribbon). All other functions of the add-in (ribbon button, accessing the ActiveInspector().CurrentItem, etc.) work fine. I am working with this code:

object linktext = txtDisplayText.Text;
object result = "MY URL";
object missObj = Type.Missing;

Outlook.MailItem currentMessage = 
     Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveInspector().CurrentItem;
Word.Document doc = currentMessage.GetInspector.WordEditor;
object oRange = doc.Windows[1].Selection;
doc.Application.Selection.Hyperlinks.Add
    (oRange, ref result, ref missObj, ref missObj, ref linktext, ref missObj);

When I run this code I get the message "Command failed." I suspect I am missing something either in regards to how Outlook uses Microsoft Word's editor for Outlook messages or in the way I have specified the selection object in oRange. Any help is very much appreciated.

joeschwa joeschwa · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-07T17:11:59

This issue was indeed caused by the way the selection was defined for the Hyperlinks.Add command. Instead of an object type, the selection needed to be typed as a Microsoft Word Selection (due to the fact that Outlook uses Word as its editor):

Word.Selection objSel = doc.Windows[1].Selection;

So to insert a hyperlink at the insertion point of an Outlook message during composition, the code has using statements for both Word and Outlook:

using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;
using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;

And then this code:

object linktext = txtDisplayText.Text;
object result = "MY URL";
object missObj = Type.Missing;

Outlook.MailItem currentMessage = 
     Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveInspector().CurrentItem;
Word.Document doc = currentMessage.GetInspector.WordEditor;
Word.Selection objSel = doc.Windows[1].Selection;
doc.Hyperlinks.Add
     (objSel.Range, ref result, ref missObj, ref missObj, ref linktext, ref missObj);

Two other adjustments are worth noting. Because a Word.Selection type was used for the anchor of the hyperlink, the Hyperlinks.Add command needed to be changed from doc.Application.Selection.Hyperlinks.Add to doc.Hyperlinks.Add. And because Outlook uses Microsoft's Word editor, the anchor for doc.Hyperlinks.Add used a range: objSel.Range.

C# VSTO Outlook Outgoing Message Hyperlink

2 Answers