1

When I assign a ticket to an engineer can this be automatically sent to their calendar in their outlook client in exchange 2007

4 Spice ups
2

Interesting idea; I don’t believe that is possible with Spiceworks natively, but you can always submit a Feature Request .

3

that would be a useful feature.

4

Thanks for the feedback.

5

I am working on this now using a VBscript, the code looks like this.

I have been too busy to see it through yet

Dim objOL 'As Outlook.Application
Dim objAppt 'As Outlook.AppointmentItem
Const olAppointmentItem = 1
Const olMeeting = 1

Set objOL = CreateObject(“Outlook.Application”)
Set objAppt = objOL.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)

With objAppt
.Subject = “Test”
.Body = “Test”
.Start = (“09/29/2010 8:00 AM”)
.End = DateAdd(“h”, 1, .Start)

’ make it a meeting request
.MeetingStatus = olMeeting
.RequiredAttendees = “you@here.com”
.Send
End With

Set objAppt = Nothing
Set objOL = Nothing

6

Outlook allows for rules to be created, and one of the options a rule can do is to run a “script”. Don’t be confused by the name - this is more a VBA function or macro, and NOT an external script.

Assuming your’re using Outlook 2007, do the following:

Press Alt-F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor, then copy/paste the following code into it:

Sub CustomMailMessageRule(Item as Outlook.MailItem)

Dim email as MailItem

Set email = Item

Dim meetingRequest As AppointmentItem

Set meetingRequest = Application.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)

meetingRequest.Body = email.Body

meetingRequest.Subject = email.Subject

meetingRequest.Start = email.SentOn

meetingRequest.End = email.SentOn

meetingRequest.ReminderSet = True

meetingRequest.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 1

meetingRequest.Save

End Sub

Once you’ve saved the project in the code editor, you can close it.

The next step is to set up a new mail rule. In my case, I have a dedicated folder in my mailbox called Helpdesk and I have a rule that checks all messages when they arrive. If any new message was sent from the helpdesk e-mail, the rule fires and the message is moved to the folder. Part of that rule also runs the script (when you’ve saved the code above the project name you used will be listed as an available script).

This results in an Outlook appointment being created. As my phone syncs over the air, I get these transferred to my phone, too.

There are a few gotchas:

  1. This is a local rule that runs within Outlook. If you want it to run while you’re out and about, Outlook must remain open, otherwise it’ll only run next time you open Outlook.

  2. If you create a helpdesk ticket via Spiceworks, and not by e-mailing your helpdesk e-mail addie, it may not work - depending on how you’ve configured you installation. In our case all new tickets are exclusively created via e-mail, so it works fine for us.

  3. Spiceworks doesn’t do time management for you, nor does the bit of code. You may still prefer to go move the appointment to a different date and time, and must do so manually.

Enjoy!

Sub CustomMailMessageRule(Item As Outlook.MailItem)

Dim email As MailItem
Set email = Item
Dim meetingRequest As AppointmentItem
Set meetingRequest = Application.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)
meetingRequest.Body = email.Body
meetingRequest.Subject = email.Subject
meetingRequest.Start = email.SentOn
meetingRequest.End = email.SentOn
meetingRequest.ReminderSet = True
meetingRequest.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 1
meetingRequest.Save

End Sub Sub CustomMailMessageRule(Item As Outlook.MailItem)

Dim email As MailItem
Set email = Item
Dim meetingRequest As AppointmentItem
Set meetingRequest = Application.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)
meetingRequest.Body = email.Body
meetingRequest.Subject = email.Subject
meetingRequest.Start = email.SentOn
meetingRequest.End = email.SentOn
meetingRequest.ReminderSet = True
meetingRequest.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 1
meetingRequest.Save

End Sub

Sub CustomMailMessageRule(Item As Outlook.MailItem)

Dim email As MailItem
Set email = Item
Dim meetingRequest As AppointmentItem
Set meetingRequest = Application.CreateItem(olAppointmentItem)
meetingRequest.Body = email.Body
meetingRequest.Subject = email.Subject
meetingRequest.Start = email.SentOn
meetingRequest.End = email.SentOn
meetingRequest.ReminderSet = True
meetingRequest.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 1
meetingRequest.Save

End Sub

7

This would be so useful for our company when arranging site visits