How to: Send a Sharing Invitation for a Calendar

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Sharing messages, including sharing invitations, sharing requests, and sharing responses, are represented in Microsoft Outlook by the SharingItem object. The CreateSharingItem method of the NameSpace object is used to create SharingItem objects for sharing invitations and sharing requests.

This sample uses the OpenSharingItem method to create a SharingItem that represents sharing invitation for your Calendar default folder. Once shared, the recipient can then use the OpenSharedFolder or GetSharedDefaultFolder methods of the NameSpace object, or the OpenSharedFolder method of the SharingItem object to open the shared folder.

  1. The sample obtains a Folder object reference for the Calendar default folder for the current user, by using the GetDefaultFolder method of the NameSpace object.

  2. It uses the CreateSharingItem method to create a new SharingItem object, using the Folder object to establish the sharing context used by the SharingItem.

  3. Finally, the Add method for the Recipients collection of the newly created SharingItem object is called to add the specified recipient and the Send method is used to send the SharingItem.

Public Sub ShareCalendarByInvitation() 
 Dim oNamespace As NameSpace 
 Dim oFolder As Folder 
 Dim oSharingItem As SharingItem 
 
 On Error GoTo ErrRoutine 
 
 ' Get a reference to the Calendar default folder 
 Set oNamespace = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI") 
 Set oFolder = oNamespace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderCalendar) 
 
 ' Create a new sharing invitation, using the Calendar 
 ' default folder to establish sharing context. 
 Set oSharingItem = oNamespace.CreateSharingItem(oFolder) 
 
 ' Add a recipient to the Recipients collection of 
 ' the sharing invitation. 
 oSharingItem.Recipients.Add "someone@example.com" 
 
 ' Send the sharing invitation. 
 oSharingItem.Send 
 
EndRoutine: 
 On Error GoTo 0 
 Set oSharingItem = Nothing 
 Set oFolder = Nothing 
 Set oNamespace = Nothing 
Exit Sub 
 
ErrRoutine: 
 Select Case Err.Number 
 Case 287 ' &H0000011F 
 ' The user denied access to the Address Book. 
 ' This error occurs if the code is run by an 
 ' untrusted application, and the user chose not to 
 ' allow access. 
 MsgBox "Access to Outlook was denied by the user.", _ 
 vbOKOnly, _ 
 Err.Number & " - " & Err.Source 
 Case -313393143 ' &HED520009 
 ' This error typically occurs if you set the 
 ' AllowWriteAccess property of a SharingItem 
 ' to True when sharing a default folder. 
 MsgBox Err.Description, _ 
 vbOKOnly, _ 
 Err.Number & " - " & Err.Source 
 Case -2147467259 ' &H80004005 
 ' This error typically occurs if the SharingItem 
 ' cannot be sent because of incorrect or 
 ' conflicting property settings. 
 MsgBox Err.Description, _ 
 vbOKOnly, _ 
 Err.Number & " - " & Err.Source 
 Case Else 
 ' Any other error that may occur. 
 MsgBox Err.Description, _ 
 vbOKOnly, _ 
 Err.Number & " - " & Err.Source 
 End Select 
 
 GoTo EndRoutine 
End Sub