Create an Opportunity linked to an Account

You can create an Opportunity object and link it to a new or existing Account object. If linked with an Account, the History section of the Account form displays details of the Opportunity and the Link To field on the Opportunity form displays the Account name. When you create an Opportunity programmatically, you must reload the Opportunity object before the Account link will appear on the Opportunity form.

The following C# and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) examples show how to create a new Opportunity and link it to a new Account object.

C#

  private void CreateOpportunityWithAccount()
        {
            Outlook.ApplicationClass _app = new Outlook.ApplicationClass();
            Outlook.Application olApp = (Outlook.Application)_app;
            Outlook.NameSpace olNameSpace = _app.GetNamespace("MAPI");
            Outlook.Folders folders = olNameSpace.Session.Folders;
            Outlook.Folder bcmRootFolder = (Outlook.Folder)folders["Business Contact Manager"];

            Outlook.Folder accounts = (Outlook.Folder)bcmRootFolder.Folders["Accounts"];
            
            Outlook.ContactItem newAccount =
            (Outlook.ContactItem)accounts.Items.Add("IPM.Contact.BCM.Account");

            newAccount.FullName = "Wide World Importers";
            newAccount.FileAs = "WWImporters";
            newAccount.Save();

            string accountEntryID = newAccount.EntryID;

            Outlook.Folder opportunities = (Outlook.Folder)bcmRootFolder.Folders["Opportunities"];
            Outlook.TaskItem newOpportunity =
            (Outlook.TaskItem)opportunities.Items.Add("IPM.Task.BCM.Opportunity");
            newOpportunity.Subject = "Sales Opp with Wide World Importers";

            if (newOpportunity.UserProperties["Parent Entity EntryID"] == null)
            {
                Outlook.UserProperty userProp = newOpportunity.UserProperties.Add("Parent Entity EntryID", Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlUserPropertyType.olText, false, false);
                userProp.Value = accountEntryID;
            }

            newOpportunity.Save();

        }

VBA

  Sub CreateOpportunityWithAccount()

   Dim olApp As Outlook.Application
   Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace

   Dim bcmRootFolder As Outlook.Folder
   Dim olFolders As Outlook.Folders
   Dim bcmAccountsFldr As Outlook.Folder
   Dim bcmOppFolder As Outlook.Folder
   Dim newAcct As Outlook.ContactItem
   Dim newOpportunity As Outlook.TaskItem

   Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
   Set objNS = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
   Set olFolders = objNS.Session.Folders

   Set bcmRootFolder = olFolders("Business Contact Manager")
   Set bcmAccountsFldr = bcmRootFolder.Folders("Accounts")
   Set bcmOppFolder = bcmRootFolder.Folders("Opportunities")

   Set newAcct = bcmAccountsFldr.Items.Add("IPM.Contact.BCM.Account")
   newAcct.FullName = "Wide World Importers"
   newAcct.FileAs = "Wide World Importers"
   newAcct.Email1Address = "someone@example.com"
   newAcct.Save

   Set newOpportunity = bcmOppFolder.Items.Add("IPM.Task.BCM.Opportunity")
   newOpportunity.Subject = "Opportunity For Wide World Importers to enter into Retail Field"
   
   If (newOpportunity.UserProperties("Parent Entity EntryID") Is Nothing) Then
        Set userProp = newOpportunity.UserProperties.Add("Parent Entity EntryID", olText, False, False)
        userProp.Value = newAcct.EntryID
   End If

   newOpportunity.Save

   Set newOpportunity = Nothing
   Set newAcct = Nothing
   Set bcmOppFolder = Nothing
   Set bcmAccountsFldr = Nothing
   Set bcmRootFolder = Nothing
   Set olFolders = Nothing
   Set objNS = Nothing
   Set olApp = Nothing

End Sub

See Also

Select an Opportunity | Edit an Opportunity | Delete an Opportunity | Create an Opportunity linked to a Business Contact | 2007 Office System: Updated Developer Content