Outlook Plugin

[Vooservers]

I had some spare time this morning and my technical team were asking for a way to convert e-mails in their Outlook to tickets in WHMCS so I have put together an Outlook Plugin and made it available publiclly.

 

WHMCS Outlook Plugin

 

Currently it only has the ability to convert an e-mail to a ticket however if there is enough demand then I will put some time in to handling errors properly and adding some other basic functions.

 

The code is quick and dirty in the time I had this morning so may produce some errors. I am releasing updates internally which I will make available externally if the plugin is being used.

[CavalloComm]

This looks awesome, but it comes up with an error when trying to install -

 

Name: ConvertEmailToWHMCSTicket
From: file:///D:/Users/Michael/Desktop/WHMCS_Outlook_Plugin/publish/ConvertEmailToWHMCSTicket.vsto

************** Exception Text **************
System.Security.SecurityException: Customized functionality in this application will not work because the certificate used to sign the deployment manifest for ConvertEmailToWHMCSTicket or its location is not trusted. Contact your administrator for further assistance.
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInTrustEvaluator.VerifyTrustPromptKeyInternal(ClickOnceTrustPromptKeyValue promptKeyValue, DeploymentSignatureInformation signatureInformation, String productName, TrustStatus status)
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInTrustEvaluator.VerifyTrustUsingPromptKey(Uri manifest, DeploymentSignatureInformation signatureInformation, String productName, TrustStatus status)
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInTrustEvaluator.VerifyTrustUsingPromptKey(Uri manifest, DeploymentSignatureInformation signatureInformation, String productName)
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.ProcessSHA1Manifest(ActivationContext context, DeploymentSignatureInformation signatureInformation, PermissionSet permissionsRequested, Uri manifest, ManifestSignatureInformationCollection signatures, AddInInstallationStatus installState)
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.VerifySecurity(ActivationContext context, Uri manifest, AddInInstallationStatus installState)
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.InstallAddIn()
The Zone of the assembly that failed was:
MyComputer

[Vooservers]

This looks awesome, but it comes up with an error when trying to install -

 

It sounds like it's not giving you the trust prompt on the installer. Can you try using the solution under the common error 3 section on the link below.

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vsod/archive/2012/10/08/troubleshooting-common-vsto-issues-part-2.aspx

 

I will also be adding a few other functions next week that our team have suggested.

[Vooservers]

Version 1.1 is now on internal testing and will introduce the following features:

 

 

• Convert to ticket now also searches contacts not just accounts like the previous version.
  
• Attach to ticket has been added to allow e-mails to be attached to existing tickets
  
• Create ticket has been added to allow a ticket to be manually created from within Outlook
  
• A few minor bug fixes and performance enhancements have been made
  

 

This version will also be signed so the problems with the ClickOnce installer should no longer be present. Due to the time it takes for the certificate to be issued I expect this release to be made at some point in the next 72 hours.

[Vooservers]

v1.1 is now signed and released.

 

https://www.vooservers.com/technical-blog/whmcs-outlook-plugin-v1-1/

 

I have also submitted it to the WHMCS addons store.

 

If you have any problems with the install now it is signed please let me know.

[ivaserver]

Hi

 

Thank you for your plugin

 

I am getting error:

 

Name: 
From: file:///C:/Users/gary/Desktop/outlookplugin/WHMCS Outlook Plugin.vsto

Exception reading manifest from file:///C:/Users/gary/Desktop/outlookplugin/WHMCS%20Outlook%20Plugin.vsto: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.

************** Exception Text **************
System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException: Exception reading manifest from file:///C:/Users/gary/Desktop/outlookplugin/WHMCS%20Outlook%20Plugin.vsto: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened. ---> System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException: Manifest XML signature is not valid. ---> System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException: SignatureDescription could not be created for the signature algorithm supplied.
  at System.Security.Cryptography.Xml.SignedXml.CheckSignedInfo(AsymmetricAlgorithm key)
  at System.Security.Cryptography.Xml.SignedXml.CheckSignatureReturningKey(AsymmetricAlgorithm& signingKey)
  at System.Deployment.Internal.CodeSigning.SignedCmiManifest.Verify(CmiManifestVerifyFlags verifyFlags)
  at System.Deployment.Application.Manifest.AssemblyManifest.ValidateSignature(Stream s)
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
  at System.Deployment.Application.Manifest.AssemblyManifest.ValidateSignature(Stream s)
  at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.GetManifests(TimeSpan timeout)
  at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.InstallAddIn()

Edited September 17, 2015 by ivaserver

[Vooservers]

Hi Gary,

Do you have .Net 4.5 installed as having a quick look at the error it seems it may be related to trying to run it with only .Net 4 installed as they changed some algorithms in the manifest for 4.5.

[ivaserver]

Hi Matt

 

Thanks for your fast response.

 

Same or higher version of .NET Framework 4.5 has already been installed on this computer

 

So no luck so far.

[Vooservers]

Could you let me know what version of Windows you are running and I will try and re-produce the problem here as it will be easier for me to find a fix that way.

[ivaserver]

I am using window 7 home premium

 

Thanks

[Vooservers]

Sorry for the delay in an update. I've been travelling a lot the past couple of weeks so been short on time.

 

I have now found what is causing the problem and will try and provide an updated installer later today.

[Vooservers]

I have now uploaded Version 1.1.5 which I believe will fix the installer problem for you.

 

It looks like an update for the manifest files came out a while back to fix the issue so I have installed this and re-compiled.

[ivaserver]

Thank you very much for all your support.

 

I think it might be my machine playing up.

 

Thanks again

[Vooservers]

Thank you very much for all your support.

 

I think it might be my machine playing up.

 

Thanks again

 

As I've seen people over the past few weeks I've got them to try this on various devices and it seems to install ok on them all so I think it may be your machine unfortunately.

 

If you see the same issue on another device if you can let me know as I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

[basforum]

Hi great work!

 

The plugin however does not work for me.

 

I use Office 365 with Outlook 2016 installation and download the file form your website.

The plugin installed fine. But it does nothing after that.

 

For the URL (config) I typed:

https://[domain]/[name of whmcs folder]

 

Any ideas? Thanks a lot!

 

PS perhaps add a configuration test button?

[Vooservers]

Hi,

Your URL should be https://[domain]/[name of whmcs folder]/includes/api.php

 

Please try that and let me know if you still have any problems.

 

A configuration test button is a good idea. I will work on implementing that soon.

[arp3van1]

Plugin works great - 2 things

1. if u convert to a ticket and the email is not in whmcs - u get an error - perhaps bring up client name list to select

2. is it possible to CREATE a client from an outlook email or contact? that would be a perfect compliment to this plugin as we are always receiving new customer inquiries from outlook

[Vooservers]

Thank you for the feedback and suggestions.

 

I will work on getting the new features in over the next week or so.

[mike.jarvis]

Great plugin, got it working on Windows 10 Outlook 2013. Only problem is that I have a dynamic IP and it becomes a pain to have to change the API IP restriction every day. I read it is possible to use the WHMCS access key but how would I go about having this use a access key when trying to pass API requests?

[Vooservers]

Great plugin, got it working on Windows 10 Outlook 2013. Only problem is that I have a dynamic IP and it becomes a pain to have to change the API IP restriction every day. I read it is possible to use the WHMCS access key but how would I go about having this use a access key when trying to pass API requests?

 

I wasn't aware of the API Access Key either. I will add this is as an option in the next release for scenarios where the IP is dynamic. The recommended method would be over a VPN however I do understand that it's not always possible.

 

Thank you to everyone for the feedback. It's really helpful in making the plugin better.