Office COM automatisation - calling python from VBA

[Thomas Bartkus]

"guy lateur" <guy.lateur at pandora.be> wrote in message
news:1119642545.750550.304450 at g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I am trying to write some code (macro's, if you like) to glue together
> our Office applications (mainly Word, Excel and Outlook). We have a lot
> of different projects going on simultaneously. The idea is to develop a
> centralized framework (starting point, common interface) for my users
> to view/control their documents/correspondence, on a per project basis.
>
> As an example, I'd like to have a control (button, menu entry) in
> Outlook that allows my users to bring up, say, an email for a certain
> contact (architect, owner, engineer, ..) on a certain project, with
> certain attachments, .. Currently, I have a 'public folder' in OL
> (Exchange) that reflects our project structure.
>
> I'll be using COM, and I could probably make an application that
> controls Outlook (externally). But I'd also like to have this
> functionality exposed in OL itself. So I guess I'll need to use VBA,
> but I don't really like VBA - relax, please, it's just an opinion.. ;)
>
> So, ideally, I'd like to program as much as possible in python (I'm
> pretty new to that, too, btw), and only use VBA if needed - say, to
> call python objects/methods (+ wxGUI, please).
>
>
> Would that be an easy, a hard, or an insane strategy? Maybe there are
> some tutorials on this (searched the list, but didn't quite find any).
> If anyone happens to have any xp/tips on this, please, fire away!

You are using Microsoft Windows.
You are trying to integrate ("glue together") Microsoft Office applications.
You want to use other Microsoft COM objects.
You want to your software to *be* a COM object ("functionality exposed in OL
itself")
You want a robust GUI interface that has the look, feel, and fits in with,
MS Office.
You want to use --- Python ???

How, pray tell, do you add  up (VBA+VBA+VBA+VBA+VBA)  and have it come out
equaling Python?

Be reasonable here.  You don't have to "like" VBA to see that this is the
only practical choice in this situation.  Imagine if Python had a robust GUI
development system that fit right into your os platform AND was the native,
built in, macro language for the top 5 high level applications you needed to
work with.  Do you think that might please a few of us here in this
particular newsgroup?  This is exactly what Microsoft has with Office/VBA.

I don't particularly like VBA as a language either.
   And
I don't like B. Gates
   And
I may well be crazy.

Just not *that* crazy!
Thomas Bartkus