The Panes Collection Object

The Panes collection object is a property object of the Explorer object. The Panes collection object contains the three panes of the Outlook Explorer window, as shown in Figure 11-6. These are the Outlook Bar pane, the Folder List pane, and the Preview pane.

You can create an instance of an OutlookBarPane object from the Panes collection only. The Preview and Folder List panes are not accessible from the Outlook Object Model. When you navigate an Outlook Bar’s groups and shortcuts in code, you start with the Panes collection object, as demonstrated in the following code example:

Dim OlBarPane As Outlook.OutlookBarPane
Dim OlExplorer As Outlook.Explorer
Set OlExplorer = Application.ActiveExplorer
Set OlBarPane = OlExplorer.Panes("OutlookBar")
‘Make the Outlook Bar visible if it’s hidden
If OlBarPane.Visible = False Then
    OlBarPane.Visible = True
End If
MsgBox "The Current Outlook Bar Group is " _
  & OlBarPane.CurrentGroup, vbInformation

Figure 11.6 - Three Explorer panes comprise the Panes collection object.

Determining Whether a Pane is Visible

You can determine whether an individual pane is visible by using the IsPaneVisible method of the Explorer object. To make a pane visible, you use theShowPane method. The following VBScript code makes the Folder List pane visible:

Sub ShowFolderList
    Const olFolderList = 2
    Set objExpl = Application.ActiveExplorer
    If Not(objExpl.IsPaneVisible(olFolderList)) Then
        objExpl.ShowPane olFolderList, True
    End If
End Sub

You cannot size panes programmatically in the Explorer window in Outlook.

The OutlookBarPane Object

The OutlookBarPane object is the only object you can instantiate from the Panes collection object. It represents the Outlook Bar as well as its groups and shortcuts. Generally, you’ll create a reference to the OutlookBarPane object as a means to access its dependent child objects that represent Outlook Bar groups and shortcuts. You can use the CurrentGroup property of the OutlookBarPane object to set or get the current group on the Outlook Bar. The OutlookBarPane object supports two important events: BeforeNavigate and BeforeGroupSwitch. These events inform you when a user is navigating to a shortcut or a group, respectively. For additional information on writing event procedures as well as the events supported by the OutlookBarPane, OutlookBarGroups, and OutlookBarShortcuts objects, see Chapter 9.