I have an outlook 2003 plugin that I am developing in C# using VSTO in Visual Studio 2008, and I am having some trouble with resizing when using Word 2003 as the composer.

The Plugin adds an extra panel to the bottom of the compose window (shrinking the main compose window slightly.) The extra panel contains a Rich text box and a few other controls.

The issue is that the extra panel is not receiving resize events from the compose window. I have used the NativeWindow class in C# to get access to the message queue in the parent window (to intercept resize events) but am not receiving any events. Upon closer inspection, this appears to be because the Word2003 composer window is in a different process than my extra panel. (The Panel is created by the plugin running in Outlook, and the Word2003 compose window is an instance of Word that runs in a separate process.) Not receiving messages from windows in another process is a known limitation of the NativeWindow class.

So my question is: Is there a way to receive the resize events from the Word 2003 compose window? My resizing code works correctly to position and size my extra panel, the issue is that it is not being triggered by resize events.

If it could be done at all it would be by using Win32 API message hooks on
that window and intercepting all messages directed at that window. You'd
probably get better information and help in a Win32 API group or something
like that.

--
Ken Slovak
[MVP - Outlook]
http://www.slovaktech.com
Author: Professional Programming Outlook 2007.
Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options.
http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm


"Michael Fox" wrote in message
...

I have an outlook 2003 plugin that I am developing in C# using VSTO in
Visual Studio 2008, and I am having some trouble with resizing when
using Word 2003 as the composer.

The Plugin adds an extra panel to the bottom of the compose window
(shrinking the main compose window slightly.) The extra panel contains
a Rich text box and a few other controls.

The issue is that the extra panel is not receiving resize events from
the compose window. I have used the NativeWindow class in C# to get
access to the message queue in the parent window (to intercept resize
events) but am not receiving any events. Upon closer inspection, this
appears to be because the Word2003 composer window is in a different
process than my extra panel. (The Panel is created by the plugin
running in Outlook, and the Word2003 compose window is an instance of
Word that runs in a separate process.) Not receiving messages from
windows in another process is a known limitation of the NativeWindow
class.

So my question is: Is there a way to receive the resize events from the
Word 2003 compose window? My resizing code works correctly to position
and size my extra panel, the issue is that it is not being triggered by
resize events.




--
Michael Fox