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04.28.2008 at 03:23AM PDT, ID: 23358232 | Points: 500
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Attachment Details

Automate update of Outlook holiday file

Zone: Outlook Groupware Software
Tags: Microsft, Outlook, 2003, Automatic update of holiday file
Hi,

I have the task of updating everyone's outlook calendar with the new bank holiday dates.  We use Outlook 2003 and the installed bank holidays end in 2007.  (see http://www.poremsky.com/howto/missinghol.htm)

I have downloaded the HOL file at the bottom of that page as the executable does not work on our version of Outlook for some reason.

What I would like to know is if there is a way to roll this out to all users without asking them to update it themselves.

Or if there is a function/third party software for Exchange that allows this to be done?

Many thanks,

Giles
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Question Stats
Zone: Software
Question Asked By: Gilesmp
Question Asked On: 04.28.2008
Participating Experts: 1
Points: 500
Views: 0
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04.28.2008 at 09:51AM PDT, ID: 21455555

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:

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04.28.2008 at 09:54AM PDT, ID: 21455573
Gilesmp:

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04.28.2008 at 09:58AM PDT, ID: 21455604

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:

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04.28.2008 at 10:02AM PDT, ID: 21455627
Gilesmp:

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04.28.2008 at 06:44PM PDT, ID: 21458961

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:

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04.29.2008 at 02:02AM PDT, ID: 21460566
Gilesmp:

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04.29.2008 at 03:24AM PDT, ID: 21460897

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:

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04.29.2008 at 03:37AM PDT, ID: 21460949
Gilesmp:

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05.02.2008 at 12:52PM PDT, ID: 21489552

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BlueDevilFan:

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05.06.2008 at 01:16AM PDT, ID: 21505542
Gilesmp:

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05.15.2008 at 02:42PM PDT, ID: 21578232

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BlueDevilFan:

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04.28.2008 at 09:51AM PDT, ID: 21455555

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:
Hi, Gilesmp.

Getting the .hol file to the clients is simple.  You can apply them to a calendar with a little creative scripting.  I'm not aware of any third-party tools that do this at the Exchange server.  
 
04.28.2008 at 09:54AM PDT, ID: 21455573
Gilesmp:
I don't suppose you, or anyone else, have any creative scripting lying around? ;-) it's not really my strong point
 
04.28.2008 at 09:58AM PDT, ID: 21455604

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:
Yeah, I've got a script that does this.  I'll have to modify it a little and you'll need to decide how to run it in a way that doesn't require any interaction.  When I use it in my office I send a link to the script and tell everyone to click the link to update their calendars.  I'll get the script posted as quick as I can.
 
04.28.2008 at 10:02AM PDT, ID: 21455627
Gilesmp:
That's great - thank you very much.
 
04.28.2008 at 06:44PM PDT, ID: 21458961

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:
Here's the code.  Follow these instructions to use it.

1.  Copy the .hol file to a shared location
2.  Launch Notepad
3.  Edit the .hol file.  Delete the holidays for all the countries except yours.  
4.  Save the .hol file
5.  Create a new file
6.  Copy the code below and paste it into Notepad
7.  Edit the code as needed.  I placed a comment line where things can/need to to change
8.  Save the file with a .vbs extension
9.  Place the .vbs file in a shared location

At this juncture you have to make a choice.  If you want this to process to run without any user interaction, then you'll either need to add the code to a login script or find some other means of launching it automatically.  If instead you don't mind minimal interaction, i.e. clikcing a link, then you can send everyone an email with a link to the file.  They click the link, and the script runs adding the holidays to their calendar.  

Two warnings.  First, the script does not remove or update it existing holidays.  Two, if a given user runs the script more than once, then they will end up with multiple copies of the same holiday.
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Dim olkApp, olkCalendar, olkEvent, objFSO, objFile, arrItem, strFilename
'Change the file name and path on the following line as needed.
strFilename = "C:\eeTesting\Outlook.hol"
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFilename)
Set olkApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set olkCalendar = olkApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(9)
Do While Not objFile.AtEndOfStream
    arrItem = Split(objFile.ReadLine, ",")
    Set olkEvent = olkApp.CreateItem(1)
    olkEvent.Subject = arrItem(0)
    olkEvent.Start = arrItem(1)
    olkEvent.AllDayEvent = True
    olkEvent.ReminderSet = False
    olkEvent.Display
Loop
Set olkEvent = Nothing
Set olkCalendar = Nothing
Set olkApp = Nothing
objFile.Close
Set objFile = Nothing
Set objFSO = Nothing
WScript.Echo "Holidays Added"
Open in New Window
 
04.29.2008 at 02:02AM PDT, ID: 21460566
Gilesmp:
Thanks BlueDevilFan,

I have tried that script but am getting the error:

Line: 12
Char: 5
Error: Subscript out of range: '[number: 1]'
Code: 800A0009

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
04.29.2008 at 03:24AM PDT, ID: 21460897

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:
When you edited the .hol file, did you remove the line with your country name, e.g. [United Kingdom] 77?
 
04.29.2008 at 03:37AM PDT, ID: 21460949
Gilesmp:
No, I hadn't.  Now I have I receive the error:

Line: 12
Char: 5
Error: Type Mismatch: Unable to coerce parameter value. Outlook cannot translate your string
Code: 80020005
 
05.02.2008 at 12:52PM PDT, ID: 21489552

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:
Can you post a few lines of the .hol file so I can see if they're laid out like I think they are?
 
05.06.2008 at 01:16AM PDT, ID: 21505542
Gilesmp:
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2006/7/12
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2007/7/12
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2008/7/14
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2009/7/13
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2010/7/12
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2011/7/12
Battle of the Boyne (N. Ireland),2012/7/12
Boxing Day,2006/12/26
Boxing Day,2007/12/26
Boxing Day,2008/12/26
Boxing Day,2009/12/26
Boxing Day,2010/12/26
Boxing Day,2011/12/26
Boxing Day,2012/12/26
Christmas Day,2006/12/25
Christmas Day,2007/12/25
Christmas Day,2008/12/25
Christmas Day,2009/12/25
Christmas Day,2010/12/25
Christmas Day,2011/12/25
Christmas Day,2012/12/25
 
05.15.2008 at 02:42PM PDT, ID: 21578232

Rank: Genius

BlueDevilFan:
Sorry I'm so slow to answer.  The file looks fine.  The error message is saying that one of the lines does not have a comma separating the event from the date.  You'll need to look though the file and see if you can find that line and fix it.

You need to fix line 15 in the code I posted.  Change it to read

    olkEvent.Save

That's my fault.  When I was testing I just wanted to display the appointments not actually save them.  I forgot to change that line before posting.
 
 
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