Version 2.0.0 of Java Outlook Connector, a Java library built to access the MS Outlook application, has been released. New features include:

• Accessible user-defined properties on Outlook items: Every Outlook item object has a getUserProperties() method returning a UserPropertiesCollection object.
• Access to the address book content: The method Outlook.getAddressLists() returns a list containing AddressList and AddressEntry objects.
• Supported distribution lists: The OutlookDistributionList class handles a distribution list.
• Outlook automation and user interface related tasks can be performed with the library.

There are also several modifications to the library. Dates and times are now automatically handled based on the system time zone settings, simplifying time handling. The library is now split in two JAR files and one DLL file, and some classes were moved to different packages (the ComponentObjectModelException is now in the com.moyosoft.connector.com package and is a runtime exception). What do you think of these new features?

Outlook connectivity should be able to fit under something like a JSR-170 api or at the very lease a JNDI mapping.

whats the point of such a connector ? what advantage does it bring ? run a java based UI on top of outlook ?

The connector should allow you to write Java applications that take advantage of Outlook for those users that aren't connected to Exchange. If you want to use Java, and you want to access, say, the Outlook address book, or the user's mail stores, or their task list, then this is for you. It seems a bit early to me to look to standards for this connector - it's pretty much the only one out there right now, and it is a niche product. Most Java developers who need to integrate with Outlook really need to integrate with Exchange, for which there is a stronger toolset. Integrating directly with Outlook, I would expect, is mostly for consumer applications, since almost all corporate Outlook users will have Exchange.

The connector should allow you to write Java applications that take advantage of Outlook for those users that aren't connected to Exchange. If you want to use Java, and you want to access, say, the Outlook address book, or the user's mail stores, or their task list, then this is for you.

It seems a bit early to me to look to standards for this connector - it's pretty much the only one out there right now, and it is a niche product. Most Java developers who need to integrate with Outlook really need to integrate with Exchange, for which there is a stronger toolset. Integrating directly with Outlook, I would expect, is mostly for consumer applications, since almost all corporate Outlook users will have Exchange.

What's the toolset for integrating with Exchange? I'd be interested in playing around with it (if it's free)...

I've done a bit of work in this area, mainly evaluating "J-Integra for Exchange" by Intrinsyc, which is basically a Java wrapper for the Microsoft CDO API. There's a free evaluation download, if you're interested test driving it, but it is not a free product. I can't help thinking that using this type of product, while undeniably useful, is probably not the best solution for exchange integration. Aside from the licensing costs (which to be fair are actually pretty reasonable in the case of J-Integra) there's the hassle of dealing with the CDO API. At the risk of sounding like Wing Commander Buzzword, a web service based interface seems to me like the way to go - abstracting both the low level remoting stuff and the API in one go. I could, of course, be completely misguided. ;¬) -Justin.

I've done a bit of work in this area, mainly evaluating "J-Integra for Exchange" by Intrinsyc, which is basically a Java wrapper for the Microsoft CDO API.

Hmm...actually its not a wrapper, but a re-implementation of the DCOM wire protocol. I guess this means that it runs on non-windows boxes as well, which is pretty neat.

it is interesting to know that some people would like to waster time to create a java tool to connect to outlook.

Hi, Developers can also use j-XChange (http://sourceforge.net/projects/j-xchange/). It is a pure Java implementation of the entire Collaboration Data Objects (CDO 1.21) library, offered under LGPL license and allows interoperability with MS Exchange from all non-Windows platforms that support Java. This library is powered by j-Interop (www.j-interop.org). This library is functionally similar to Commercial "J-Integra for Exchange" offering. Thanks, best regards, Vikram

whats the point of such a connector ? what advantage does it bring ? run a java based UI on top of outlook ?

One use I could think of for such a connector is write a bridge between Outlook and, say, Google Calendar, using their APIs to sync/export calendar data in one fell swoop...

How does this compare to the WebDAV interface for Exchange?