Programming Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange, Second Edition (DV-MPS Programming)

The following sections outline working with the TaskItem object, which represents a task in an Outlook folder. The TaskItem object has some unique properties and methods. You can make a TaskItem recurring by using the same objects that you used to make an AppointmentItem object recurring. The only difference is you cannot use the GetOccurrence method or the Exceptions property on recurring task items. Also, this section does not cover the TaskRequestItem since it uses the same methods and properties as the MeetingItem object. For more information about using the TaskRequestItem, refer to the Olform.hlp file on the companion CD.

TaskItem Object Properties

The following section describes some of the properties of the TaskItem object.

DateCompleted Property

The DateCompleted property is a read/write Date field that stores when a particular task was completed. You can use this property to show when a task was completed. The following code shows you how to get the DateCompleted property from one of the tasks in your personal task folder:

DueDate Property

The DueDate specifies the due date for the task. This is a read/write property that takes a date as its parameter. The following code shows you how to use this property in your applications. It finds the first item that is due after a certain date and then displays the information about that item in a message box.

Owner Property

Outlook allows you to delegate tasks by using the Assign method (which you will learn about later in this supplement), but there are times when the Assign method will not work for delegation. For example, you cannot use the Assign method for the delegation of task items if the items are stored in a Public Folder. If you modify the Owner property of the TaskItem object, you can keep other users up to date on who the current owner of the task is, though you can't delegate the items per se. The following code is taken from the Account Tracking application, which uses the Owner property to assign an owner to a task. The code does not delegate the task so that the application works in an Exchange Server Public Folder. The code first checks to make sure the user has selected another user as the owner of the task. If the user has selected someone, the code assigns that person as the owner of the task, and it sends that person an e-mail with the task they need to work on as a shortcut back to the original TaskItem in the folder.

TaskItem Object Methods

The following section describes some of the methods of the TaskItem object.

Assign Method

The Assign method delegates a task to another user. After calling this method, you need to add a recipient to the TaskItem object. You can then use the Send method of the TaskItem object to send the delegated task to the user as a TaskRequestItem object. The Assign method will not work in an Exchange Server Public Folder, but you can make a copy of the task in your personal task folder and assign the task from there. The following code shows you how to assign a task from your personal task list:

MarkComplete Method

The MarkComplete method makes it very easy for your application to quickly change the status of a task to completed. When you call this method, Outlook sets the PercentComplete property to 100%, the Complete property to True, and the DateCompleted property to the current date. Before calling MarkComplete on a TaskItem object, check to see whether that TaskItem object is already complete; if it is, Outlook will return an error. The following code shows you how to use this method: