Visual Studio Magazine - Getting Started column, August 2002
Outlook ContactUtility by Stan Schultes - stan@vbnetexpert.com

Code Copyright  2002 by Stan Schultes, All Rights Reserved.

This code works with Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2002 (XP). 

You can use one of three contacts folders in Outlook. To use the default contacts folder in your mailbox, leave the ContactsFolder setting empty in the [Outlook] section of the INI file. To use either a public Exchange folder or Personal Folders, set ContactsFolder to a period-delimited list of folder names, up to 3 levels deep. For example: 
ContactsFolder=Public Folders.All Public Folders.Supplier Contacts

NOTE: The default ContactsFolder setting in the INI is for a folder named Personal Folders.NWindContacts. You need to create the NWindContacts folder within your Personal Folders, or set the ContactsFolder setting to the name of a folder that exists.

CAUTION: If you specify an existing Contacts folder (for example, your default Contacts), this utility can and will delete your existing contact entries. 

For sample data, I used only the Suppliers table from the NWind sample database. I added an Email column to the table, and created fake email addresses with the GenEmailAddrs method. This method is accessible with the ContactsUtility Tools | Make EmailAddrs menu item in ContactsUtility. The database name and contacts table name are specified in the INI file's [Database] section. 

The sample requires VB 6. It is highly recommended that you install the latest service pack (SP5 or later). You also need to have Microsoft Outlook 2000 or 2002 installed on your machine. 
