Label not updating on my form whilst its value updates, C# winform

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I am pretty new with C# but now I have to write a software that reports the user currently logged in Outlook. To do that I'm using the following code:

public string AccountLogged
        {
            get
            {
                try
                {
                    return (Marshal.GetActiveObject("Outlook.Application") as Outlook.Application).Session.Accounts[1].DisplayName;
                }
                catch (Exception)
                {
                    return string.Empty;
                }
            }
        }

then in the Application.Idle event, I update several labels (some of them shown data from outlook and some other from othe sources) but only one is not updating on the form immediately:

lbUserAccount.Text = ComVar.otlConnector.AccountLogged;

Looking into the vars while debugging all the values are correct; even opening and closing Outlook several times data are updated correctly.
The problem is that the label on the form updates immediately only when I assign the value string.Empty otherwise it does only if I click on the form.

What I have tried:

-> Instead of updating this label from Application.Idle I tried System.Windows.Forms.Timer
-> Invalidate
-> Refresh
-> Update

Posted 5-Jul-17 22:34pm

Matteo Sala

Updated 5-Jul-17 23:06pm

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Matteo Sala 6-Jul-17 10:21am

I have tried to isolate as much as possible the cause of the malfunction finding that the issue is derived from the following code:

return (Marshal.GetActiveObject("Outlook.Application") as Outlook.Application).Session.Accounts[1].DisplayName;

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jekin77 · Answer 1 · 2017-07-05T23:06:00

to refresh the label on your Form just use Control.Invoke Method like :

this.lbUserAccount.BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker) delegate() {this.lbUserAccount.Text = ComVar.otlConnector.AccountLogged; });

the follwoing solution is part of my code that working fine for my needs

using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

.
.
.
public string AccountLogged
{
    get
    {
		return GetDefaultOutlookAccount();
    }
}

private string GetDefaultOutlookAccount()
 {
	  Outlook.NameSpace session = null;
      Outlook.Application outlookApp = GetOutlookApplicationObject(out session);
	 
     if (session == null)
         return null;

     string account = string.Empty;
     try
     {
         Outlook.AddressEntry addrEntry = session.CurrentUser.AddressEntry;
         //Exchange server
         if (addrEntry.Type == "EX")
         {
             Outlook.ExchangeUser manager = session.CurrentUser.AddressEntry.GetExchangeUser();
             if (manager != null)
                 account = manager.PrimarySmtpAddress;
         }
         else
         {
             account = session.CurrentUser.Address;
         }
     }
     catch (Exception ex)
     {
         //do something or
	    //throw new Exception(ex);
     }

     return account.ToLower();
 }

private Outlook.Application GetOutlookApplicationObject(out Outlook.NameSpace session)
{
    Outlook.Application app = null;
    session = null;
    // Check whether there is an Outlook process running.           
    if (Process.GetProcessesByName("OUTLOOK").Length > 0)
    {
        try
        {
            //If so, use the GetActiveObject method to obtain the process and cast it to an Application object. 
            app = (Outlook.Application)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Outlook.Application");
            session = app.Session;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            //do something or
			//throw new Exception(ex);
        }
    }

    //if  Outlook process not running or exception thrown
    //create a new instance of Outlook and log on to the default profile. 
    if (app == null)
    {
        try
        {
            app = new Outlook.Application();
            session = app.GetNamespace("MAPI");          
            session.Logon("", "", Missing.Value, Missing.Value);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            //do something or
			//throw new Exception(ex);
        }
    }

	//now resolve current user
    if (app != null && app.Session != null && session.CurrentUser != null)
        session.CurrentUser.Resolve();

    return app;
}