Subject: From: Date:

Re: RE: RE: [ECS] MS Outlook and ECS Steve Rauco Wed, 6 Dec 2000 05:04:43 -0800 (PST)

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 Wed, 6 Dec 2000 05:04:43 -0800 (PST)
I've used Outlook with a "middle man" program, sending schedule info for ECS
to announce.  Right now I'm using FoxBase, the old DOS version of Visual
FoxPro.  I'll see if I can port it to Windows and compile it if anyone would
be interested.  It's not perfect, but it does the job nicely.  The other
thing you'll need is Winbatch to automate Outlook's export functions.  This
little gem is great and worth the investment.

On Wed, 06 Dec 2000 01:44:30 -0800, ecs-list@netbloc.com wrote:

>  Part of the problem, too, is that Microsoft essentially doesn't support
DDE 
>  any more. Well, they still do for legacy code, but they want all new code

>  to use OLE Automation, and few programs today are still written for DDE.
I 
>  would be extremely surprised if Outlook supported anything like DDE. What

>  you can possibly do is download Windows Scripting Host from Microsoft's 
>  site (I think it actually comes with IE). Be aware that WSH introduces 
>  security issues in your computer, so if you are concerned about the
Melissa 
>  virus or the like, you may not want to do that.
>  
>  WSH can control pretty much any OLE Automation server. So all you'd need
is 
>  an interface from WSH to ECS' DDE interface.
>  
>  Ingo
>  
>  At 02:08 PM 12/5/2000 -0600, Scott Danks wrote:
>  >Ahhh,  Well there is a lot of magic in the dde/obdc thing I dont 
>  >understand.  I just thought if we had a lower level to allow ECS to
query 
>  >other applications, we could get info from these other app's and ECS
could 
>  >act on it.
>  >
>  > >>> "David Kindred" <david@retroscape.com> 12/05 2:07 PM >>>
>  >Scott,
>  >
>  >Mark's DDE connection to ECS lets you monitor and set the states of
>  >individual items within ECS. It's not really a way for other
off-the-shelf
>  >programs to interact with it. You'd have to write something quite
specific
>  >to communicate with ECS (like ACE). If you want to get information from,
>  >say, Outlook to ECS. You'd have to have a "middle man" program to act as
the
>  >go between, I believe.
>  >
>  >ODBC stands for "Open Database Connectivity" and is kind of a generic
way to
>  >access database information, regardless of the actual database engine
being
>  >used. Again, if you'd want to integrate an ODBC compliant database,
you'd
>  >have to write a utility to interact with it and ECS.
>  >
>  >--David
>  >
>  >-----Original Message-----
>  >From: Scott Danks [mailto:sdanks@ci.tulsa.ok.us]
>  >Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 10:47 AM
>  >To: ecs-list@netbloc.com
>  >Subject: Re: RE: [ECS] MS Outlook and ECS
>  >
>  >
>  >I have a question for some of you programming guru's out there.  I see
>  >several programs that could interact with ECS, that would give us
expanded
>  >abilities.  Am I right in thinking that we could communicate with other
>  >programs if we had an DDE connection to ECS?  I know there is one that
Mark
>  >has made that allows the ability to check status inside ECS ¯ but would
it
>  >be a good idea to see if we can let ECS be a client also?  Would this
allow
>  >us to integrate information from outlook, access, sql server, excel,
etc?
>  >Or am I thinking of OBDC?  Would that be a useful option?
>  >
>  >Just some thoughts here.
>





                                                       
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