Contents
Overview 1
Creating a Digital Dashboard 2
Creating Folder Home Pages 16
Using the Outlook View Control 23
Customizing Outlook Today 34
Lab A: Building a Digital Dashboard 54
Lab B: Adding a Folder Home Page
to the MoveApp 59
Review 64

Module 8: Creating a
Digital Dashboard Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The names of companies,
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Development Services: Kimber Dodge
Lead Product Manager: Mary Larson
Group Product Manager: Robert Stewart Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard iii Instructor Notes Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard
This module provides students with the ability to create a digital dashboard by
using features of Microsoft
®
Outlook
®
2000. The module enables students to
associate folder home pages with Outlook 2000 folders, incorporate the
Outlook view control on Web pages, and customize the default Outlook Today
Web page to add functionality and information relevant to their application. By
using these skills along with other skills specific to digital dashboards, students
will be able to create digital dashboards that present targeted, dynamic
information to users.
Materials and Preparation
This section provides you with the materials and preparation needed to teach
this module.
Materials
To teach this module, you need the following materials:

Microsoft PowerPoint
®
file 1593a_08.ppt


Creating Folder Home Pages
Explain how to associate a folder home page with a folder and provide
information about setting security for folder home pages. Describe strategies
for using the Outlook view control within a folder home page. Explain how
to access the Outlook object model and access Outlook 2000 folders from
within a folder home page.

Using the Outlook View Control
Introduce the Outlook view control and describe how this Microsoft
ActiveX
®
control can be used to mimic Outlook view functionality in a Web
page. Demonstrate how to add the control in the Web page and then show
some of the properties and methods of the Outlook view control that
students can use to integrate the control into their solutions. Explain how to
use the Outlook view control within a folder home page.

Customizing Outlook Today
Provide an overview of Outlook Today. Explain the ways in which the
Outlook Today Web page can be modified. Describe how to choose which
method to use for distributing a custom Outlook Today page. Explain how
to customize the Outlook Today .htm and .dll files. Describe the
performance limitations of Outlook Today and explain how to overcome
browser issues within Outlook Today.
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 1 Overview


In this module, you will learn
about creating folder home
pages, using the Outlook
view control, customizing
Outlook Today, and creating
a digital dashboard.
2 Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 



Creating a Digital Dashboard

Introduction to Digital Dashboards

Capabilities of Digital Dashboards

Integrating Web Content

Connecting to Business Data

Personalization and Customization

Enabling Offline Use

Deploying a Digital Dashboard
New Reply
Reply to Al
lForward
Send/Receive
DigitalDesktop – Digital Dashboard
Folder List
DigitalDesktop
Outlook Today – [Mailbox
Calendar
Contacts
Deleted Items
Drafts
Forums
Inbox (7)
Journal
Notes
Outbox
Sent Items
Tasks
URLs
Personal Folders
Public Folders
Sam
Outlook
NewsEdge
Customers
Presentation
Reporting
Search
Synchronize

Knowledge workers are employees whose fundamental task is analyzing and
manipulating information.
In its simplest form, a digital dashboard is nothing more than a very dynamic
Web page that is running within Outlook 2000. Normally, a digital dashboard is
a customized Outlook Today page. There are a number of decisions that need to
be made, however, about what information to include on the page, how users
will interact with the information offline, and what level of customization will
be available to users.

It is highly recommended that development begin with a single Web
page hosting a limited amount of information before more detailed solution is
undertaken.

Introducing the Information Section
The term information section is used to describe the filtered, robust, and
dynamic information that is displayed in a digital dashboard. The technical way
in which that information is rendered can be a Microsoft ActiveX
®
control, an
Active Server Page (ASP), or an Extensible Markup Language (XML) data
feed. The important element of an information section is that it presents
information in a concise fashion, focusing on what the user needs, and that it be
dynamic, so that the user can access information in greater detail (drill down).
These information sections can come from a wide variety of sources — personal
information from Outlook 2000 or sales data from a Microsoft SQL Server
™

version 7.0 data warehouse.
Slide Objective
To present a sample digital

of external information.
Interactivity with Information
A digital dashboard provides interactive capabilities that enable knowledge
workers to quickly obtain a more in-depth perspective of business conditions.
High-level sales and competitive data can be further analyzed in relevant
business reports and applications, allowing knowledge workers to interact
directly with the data using Office PivotTable
®
Web components or Microsoft
Excel with SQL Server integration. A digital dashboard can also incorporate
tools such as Microsoft NetMeeting
®
conferencing software, which allows
people to share applications and collaborate over the intranet or Internet, and
Microsoft Windows Media
™
player.
Slide Objective
To list the capabilities of
digital dashboards.
Lead-in
Digital dashboards offer
access to any information
source, integration of
information, and interactivity
with information.
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 5 Integrating Web Content

(HTML) code is quite simple.
<object classid="clsid:D3E12F51-0795-11d2-91CC-00C04FA31C90"
codebase="
height="34" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 8px" type="application/x-oleobject" width="100%">
</object>

Integrating Dynamic Web Pages
The only way to include dynamically generated Web pages, such as ASPs, is in
a frame or Iframe. Iframes are generally very useful tools for quickly
integrating Web content into digital dashboards. Be aware, however, that each
Iframe creates a new instance of the base Microsoft Internet Explorer engine,
referred to as the Trident engine. While a few Iframes are not a significant
issue, it is not a good idea to base your entire page on Iframes.
Slide Objective
To list the types of Web
content you can integrate
within a digital dashboard.
Lead-in
You can integrate Web
content into your digital
dashboard by using ActiveX
controls, dynamic Web
pages, and dynamic Web
content.
Note
6 Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard Integrating Dynamic Web Content
A common technique used in building digital dashboards is the including low-

One of the best resources for learning how to connect to business
information is the “Building Knowledge Management Solutions Using
Microsoft BackOffice
®
With Microsoft Office 2000: An Evaluation Guide”
white paper, located on the Student Materials compact disc of course 1593,
Building Collaborative Solutions Using Microsoft Outlook 2000. This guide
walks through the process step-by-step with an example database.

Using Office Web Components
The new Office Web Components are a collection of COM controls for
publishing spreadsheets, charts, and databases to the Web, taking advantage of
Internet Explorer version 4.01 and later. Office Web Components are fully
programmable, thereby enabling you to build, interactive Web-based solutions.
There are four main Web components included with Office 2000.

DataSource Control. The DataSource Control is the workhorse of the Office
Web Components. It is never actually displayed on the Web page, but it
provides the connection to data sources that provide information to all the
other controls. When looking at the code generated by Excel and other tools,
you will always see this control present if you have connected to a database
or Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube.

Spreadsheet Component. The Spreadsheet Component provides interactivity
much like a spreadsheet. This component is extremely useful for performing
complex calculations as it supports most of the formulas that the full version
of Excel does.
Slide Objective
To outline the topics
associated with

familiar tools to do sophisticated analyses of corporate data.

For more information on MSOLAP, see the “Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
OLAP Services” white paper on the Student Materials compact disc of this
course.

Creating an Information Section with Corporate Data
Web components can be inserted into Web pages by using virtually any of
Microsoft’s tools, including Microsoft Access and the Visual InterDev
®
Web
development system. When connecting to enterprise data in SQL Server
databases, however, Microsoft Excel is probably the easiest tool to use. The
PivotTable and PivotChart
™
Wizard allows you to quickly connect to a data
source, and once you have the page looking just as you would like, you can
save it as an interactive Web page that is still connected to the original
datasource.
Once you have such a Web page, creating a nugget on your dashboard is as
simple as copying and pasting the HTML into your dashboard page.
Note
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 9 Personalization and Customization

Types of Customization

Which information sections are available

strategically critical information.

Which information sections are displayed. Because digital dashboards are
built with components, it is possible to allow section-by-section control of
what appears on the digital dashboard, based on either user preference or
role:
• By user. Individual users will want some control over which information
sections are displayed on their digital dashboard.
• By role. Certain information sections will be needed most likely only by
certain groups. Tailoring the information on a digital dashboard can be
done at role level in a centralized manner.
Slide Objective
To outline the topics
associated with
personalizing and
customizing a digital
dashboard.
Lead-in
A digital dashboard can
deliver information tailored
to the needs or roles of
individual users.
10 Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 
What is shown inside each information section. The most important, and
difficult, customization will take place inside the information sections
themselves. It is best to have this level of customization maintained within
the information resource itself. Because a digital dashboard is compliant

Outlook 2000 method.
window.external.Setpref( <strStringValueName>, <strStringValueData> )

Using Cookies to Store Local User Preferences
Because digital dashboards are Web pages, you should also consider using
cookies to store local user preferences.
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 11 Enabling Offline Use

Integration Enables Offline Capabilities

Taking collaborative applications offline

Taking Internet and Intranet Content Offline

Taking the Outlook Today page offline

Taking Business Data Offline

Creating offline cube slices

Developing complex offline scenarios by using MSDE

Office PivotTable component

Programmatically Taking Outlook Offline5. On the Tools menu, point to Synchronize, and then click Offline Folder
Settings.
6. In the Offline Folder Settings box, expand Public Folders and Favorites,
and then click the check box next to the folder you added to Favorites.
7. Click OK.
You can also select the Synchronize folder home pages option in this
dialog box, which ensures that any Web pages associated with collaborative
applications are also taken offline.

Taking Internet and Intranet Content Offline
Integration between Outlook 2000 and the Internet Explorer Synchronization
Agent enables folder home pages to be taken offline. Once Outlook 2000 is
finished synchronizing Exchange Server content, it starts the Internet Explorer
Synchronization Agent.

If there are problems with your network connection, the Web page
synchronization process may stop because of the time delay. In that case, some
pages may not be synchronized. If that happens, you are notified by a small
icon on the taskbar.

This feature is extremely powerful if used with care. Because all the Web pages
are stored in the same cache, they will be available from within both Internet
Explorer and Outlook 2000. Not only can a Web page be taken offline by using
this system, but also the Internet Explorer Synchronization Agent ensures that
lower-level, supporting content is also taken offline. By setting up folder home
pages correctly, a variety of interesting offline applications can be built that
merge Internet, database, and collaborative information.
Taking the Outlook Today Page Offline


Developing Complex Offline Scenarios by Using MSDE
More complex offline scenarios can be developed by using the Microsoft
Database Engine (MSDE). MSDE is a new data engine for Microsoft that is
completely compatible with the SQL Server 7.0 code base and runs on
Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation.
Office PivotTable Component
The Office PivotTable component can take its data offline with some
programmatic help. The following code will force the table to look to offline
data, usually stored in an XML file.
PivotTable1.ConnectionString = "provider=MSPersist"

Programmatically Taking Outlook 2000 Offline
Offline synchronization of Outlook 2000 can be started programmatically by
using the SynchObjects collection. This collection is a programmatic reference
to all of the synchronization profiles that a user has set up on a computer. If an
organization has a standard set of synchronization profiles that are used for
varying connections, you may consider including an easy-to-find
synchronization button available on the digital dashboard.
14 Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard Deploying a Digital Dashboard

Distributing from a Web Server

Use a .reg file to point users to a shared digital
dashboard

Distributing Local and Remote .dll Files

digital dashboards.
Lead-in
You can distribute a digital
dashboard from a Web
server or as a .dll file.
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 15 Using a .reg File to Point Users to a Shared Digital Dashboard
If you are distributing your digital dashboard through a Web page, you can
simply point users to that page by providing them with a .reg file. The .reg file
is simply a text file that contains code similar to the following sample.
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Webview\mailbox]
"url"="http://digidash/home.htm"
"navigation"="yes"

You can place the .reg file on a Web server and link to it from an HTML page.
Distributing Local and Remote .dll Files
You can save your customized Outlook Today page in a .dll file and use it to
replace the default Outlook Today .dll file on users’ computers or place it on a
server. Saving your Outlook Today page in a .dll allows Outlook 2000 to take
advantage of quicker load times. This method makes distributing and updating
your customized Outlook Today page more complicated, however. In the
instance of a local .dll file, the modified .dll file (and any subsequent updates)
must be copied to each user’s computer. To modify the .dll file, you must use
the Microsoft Visual Studio
®
development system.
When using a .dll file there are two ways you might consider distributing the

Folder Home Page

Accessing Outlook 2000 FoldersFolder home pages are a new feature of Microsoft Outlook 2000. Folder home
pages enable you to link an HTML page to any folder in the Outlook 2000
environment.
Folder home pages support offline viewing capabilities, so Outlook 2000 can
synchronize an HTML page associated with a folder offline when a user
synchronizes the folder. This ensures that the folder home page is available
whether the user is working offline or online.
Slide Objective
To outline this topic.
Lead-in
The folder home page
feature of Outlook 2000
enables you to associate a
Web page with any folder in
the Outlook 2000
environment.
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 17 Associating Folder Home Pages with Folders
Inbox Properties
Administration Permissions
Synchronization
Browse...
OK Cancel

1. In the Outlook Folder pane, right-click the folder to which you want to add a
folder home page, and then click Properties.
The Properties dialog box appears.
2. Click the Home Page tab.
3. In the Address box, enter the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Web
page you want to associate with the folder.
4. If you want the home page to appear by default when a user clicks the folder
within Outlook 2000, click the Show home page by default for this folder
check box.

Slide Objective
To present the Home Page
tab of the Properties dialog
box for a sample inbox
folder.
Lead-in
In Outlook 2000, you use
the Home Page tab of the
Properties dialog box to
associate a folder home
page with a folder.
18 Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard Specifying or Disabling Folder Home Pages for Users
You can set a system policy that either specifies or disables folder home pages
for your users. You can set folder home page options in the Folder Home
Pages for Outlook special folders category of the System Policy Editor.

Outlook 2000 requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and later for

home page uses either zone security that allows script access to the Outlook
object model, or zone security by itself.

If you are using Outlook 2000 as a browser, it is important to remember
that browser security is disabled by default.

Using Zone Security and Enabling Scripts to Access the
Outlook Object Model
This security mode, which is the default mode for Outlook 2000, enables scripts
on a Web page to access the Outlook object model and ensures that the Outlook
Today Microsoft ActiveX control runs continuously. For all other aspects of the
Web page, the appropriate Internet Explorer zone security settings are used.
For example, if the Internet Explorer zone security settings specify that ActiveX
controls are not enabled, no ActiveX controls run for a folder home page except
the Outlook Today ActiveX control.
It is important to note that while the folder home page has access to the Outlook
object model, and therefore has robust browser security, other pages to which
users link to from the folder home page do not have access to the Outlook
object model or robust security. For this reason, if you need strong security on
pages other than the folder home page, use Dynamic HTML (DHTML) or open
the new Web page in an Internet Explorer browser window outside of
Outlook 2000.
Access to the Outlook object model enables scripts to manipulate the user’s
Outlook 2000 information on the computer. The security concern with this
mode is that it allows anyone who creates a public folder for a home page to
include scripts that can manipulate data in user mailboxes. Although it provides
the opportunity to create powerful public folder applications, access to the
Outlook object model also exposes users to some security risks.
Slide Objective
To list the two security

Tip
Module 8: Creating a Digital Dashboard 21 Accessing the Outlook Object Model from Within a Folder Home
Page

To Access the Outlook Object Model from Within a
Folder Home Page

Retrieve the Outlook 2000 Application object

Retrieve any other Outlook 2000 objects you want to useAny application that supports Component Object Model (COM) objects and a
scripting language can use the Outlook object model to handle e-mail.
Typically, these applications are Outlook 2000, other Microsoft Office
applications, and custom software developed with languages such as Microsoft
Visual Basic
®
or Microsoft Visual C++
®
. By using the Outlook object model, a
script can send e-mail, post to public folders, scan the address lists, and so forth.
Accessing the Outlook Object Model
To access the Outlook object model from within a folder home page:
1. Retrieve the Outlook 2000 Application object by using this syntax:
Window.External.OutlookApplication.
2. Retrieve any other Outlook 2000 objects you want to use.