OutlookEX UDF

[water]

Version 1.6.4.0 of the UDF has been released.

Please test before using in production!

For download please see my signature.

[Davegbuf]

I just found out about the UDF a few weeks ago and started using it an a new project. It is exactly what I need and so far so good. I had a little bit of a hard time at first when develping my script and I am wondering if anyone else has run accross the same issue ... As I develop my scripts, I often run them from the Scite editor to see how they are comming along. I noticed that when I use the _OutlookEX UDF and I run the script from the SciTe editor when Outlook is closed then it works fine; but if Outlook is open then I get errors trying to create a connection to Outlook (@error = 1 and @extended = -2147221164). On the other hand, if I compile the script to an EXE then it doesnt matter if Outlook is open or closed because it works fine. Not a big deal because I close Outlook while developing my scripts but it would be convenient to be able to view my email client while I am also developing my scripts. Also, once in a while an instance of Outlook.exe stay open in the background causing the next run to fail even though I use the _OL_Close() function withthe force close option. I am running MS Office 365 on Windows 10 21H2 if that matters at all.

Is this just a bug? Is it just me? Your thoughts are welcome.

 

[water]

@extended -2147221164 stands for: Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)
Means: The Outlook class is not registered for the user running the script.
This could happen if

• you use #RequireAdmin in your script
• you us ethe Windows Task Scheduler to run the task

Maybe this problem is described here?

 

[noellarkin]

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Func _GetEmail($sender, $to, $mft, $subject, $regexp, $unread = True)

    Local $ReturnValue = 0
    
    Local $OutlookSync = _OUTLOOK_Sync()
    If $OutlookSync Then
        Local $Mailbox = "C:\Users\" & @UserName & "\Documents\Outlook Files\" & $mft & ".pst"
        
        Local $UnreadFilter = ""
        Select
            Case $unread = True
                $UnreadFilter = "[UnRead]=True"
            Case $unread = False
                $UnreadFilter = "[UnRead]=False"
        EndSelect
        Local $SenderFilter = " And [SenderEmailAddress]='" & $sender & "'"
        Local $ToFilter = " And [To] = '" & $to & "'"
        
        Local $EMailFilters = $UnreadFilter & $SenderFilter & $ToFilter
        Local $EmailBody = 0
        Local $Found = 0
        Local $Items = 0
        Local $CheckRepeat = 0

        $PST = _OL_PSTAccess($GV_OUTLOOKOBJECT, $Mailbox, "")
        While $CheckRepeat <= 10
            $Items = _OL_ItemFind($GV_OUTLOOKOBJECT, $PST, $olMail, $EMailFilters, "Subject", $subject, "SenderEmailAddress, To, ReceivedByName, Subject, Body, CreationTime", "[CreationTime],True", 1)
            ; _ArrayDisplay($Items)
            If IsArray($Items) Then
                Local $Rows = UBound($Items, $UBOUND_ROWS)
                If $Rows >= 2 Then
                    $EmailBody = $Items[1][4]
                    ; MsgBox(0,"",$EmailBody)
                    $Found = StringRegExp($EmailBody, $regexp, 1)
                    ;MsgBox(0,"",$Found[0])
                    ;_ArrayDisplay($Found)
                    If IsArray($Found) Then
                        $ReturnValue = $Found[0]
                    EndIf
                    ExitLoop
                Else
                    Sleep(10)
                EndIf
            Else
                Sleep(10)
            EndIf
            $CheckRepeat += 1
            Local $Sync = _OUTLOOK_Sync()
            If $Sync Then
                Sleep($GC_MINTIME * 12)
            Else
                _LogAppend($FunctionName & " Sync:" & $Sync)
            EndIf
        WEnd
    Else
        _LogAppend($FunctionName & " OutlookSync:" & $OutlookSync)
    EndIf

    
    Return $ReturnValue
    
EndFunc

So I wrote this function, it seems to be working well, except in some cases when I want $regexp to query the source code of the Email (not Outlook's plaintext conversion, but the HTML source).
Is there any way to force _OL_ItemFind to get the full HTML source of the body and not just the text?

[water]

Use property HTMLBody.

[noellarkin]

On 10/3/2022 at 2:05 AM, water said:

Use property HTMLBody.

Thank you!

[HurleyShanabarger]

Is it possible to create a message and add a signature to that message?

Okay, it seems that creating a mail with

"BodyFormat=" & $olFormatHTML

will empty out the mailbody. This seems to work:

_OL_ItemModify($oOutlook, $oMail, Default, "BodyFormat=" & $olFormatHTML, $sgBody & $oMail.HTMLBody)

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by HurleyShanabarger

[water]

The solution to this problem is described in the wiki: https://www.autoitscript.com/wiki/OutlookEX_UDF_-_Mail_Item#Send_a_mail_or_reply_to_a_mail_with_a_signature

[orbs]

how can i work with Outlook Favorites list and Folders tree (in the navigation pane)? i want to get the selected item from the Favorites list, retrieve its target path, and expand the Folders tree to that path. with this UDF i can work with folders and mail items, but i can't figure out how to work with the navigation pane. i tried to look at VBA for the favorites list, but i found only a command to add a folder to the favorites list, and nothing more...

[water]

Did you have a look at the OutlookEXGUI UDF?

[orbs]

hmm, i wasn't aware there was a separate UDF for Outlook GUI.

with _OL_NavigationFolderGet($oOutlook, $olModuleMail) i was able to get a list of the favorites, and by looping the array i can detect which of them is selected.

one concern is, i don't know how fast that would work with dozens of favorites, so is there a way to access the selected one directly?

next, i tried to figure out how to expand the folders list to the path i read from the selected favorite item. i thought _OL_SelectionSet would get me there, but i can't figure it out. it expects "Object of the item to be selected" as a parameter, and i don't know what to provide as such. i tried to provide the target path of the selected favorite item, but that returns 0 with @error=1, meaning it is invalid.

 

 

[water]

Is this what you are looking for or at least very similar so it just needs to be modified a bit?
BTW: I no longer have access to an Outlook installation so giving support is now a bit harder than before.

 

[orbs]

what i want is to expand the folders tree to highlight a specific folder, selected from favorites.

i found that in VBA, it works by setting the CurrentFolder property of an Explorer object. i followed this thread, and it works if i mimic the environment used there, but i can't follow the logic to customize it. i don't understand what is an "Explorer" object in Outlook or how to access and use it.

36 minutes ago, water said:

I no longer have access to an Outlook installation

congratulations :-) i'm using Thunderbird for personal use. it makes it very easy to handle multiple accounts, and of course... tabbed interface! almost forgot how fun that is since Lotus Notes :-)

 

P.S. i also found this thread, which seems to solve exactly that, but it throws errors on me and i'm stumped.

Edited March 24, 2023 by orbs

[water]

In an Explorer Outlook displays multiple items where you can select from (e.g the content of a folder). In an Inspector Outlook displays a single item (e.g. a mail item).

How did you translate the VBA code? Can you please post your AutoIt script?

[orbs]

so i guess i need the "Explorer" of the folders tree? i did not translate the VBA code, i simply run it directly from Outlook, but there's something wrong with it, all i get is some array index out of bound error. however, when i run the macro FindFolder() quoted hereunder, it uses InputBox to ask me the folder name, and if that exists, it successfully expands the folders tree to the desired folder.

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Private m_Folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Private m_Find As String
Private m_Wildcard As Boolean

'Find a folder by name - case sensitive

Public Sub FindFolder()
  Dim Name$
  Dim Folders As Outlook.Folders

  Set m_Folder = Nothing
  m_Find = ""
  m_Wildcard = False

  Name = InputBox("Find Name:", "Search Folder")
  If Len(Trim$(Name)) = 0 Then Exit Sub
  m_Find = Name

  m_Find = LCase$(m_Find)
  m_Find = Replace(m_Find, "%", "*")
  m_Wildcard = (InStr(m_Find, "*"))

  Set Folders = Application.Session.Folders
  LoopFolders Folders

  If Not m_Folder Is Nothing Then
    If MsgBox("Activate Folder: " & vbCrLf & m_Folder.FolderPath, vbQuestion Or vbYesNo) = vbYes Then
      Set Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder = m_Folder
    End If
  Else
    MsgBox "Not Found", vbInformation
  End If
End Sub

'used by the search to loop through

Private Sub LoopFolders(Folders As Outlook.Folders)
  Dim F As Outlook.MAPIFolder
  Dim Found As Boolean

  For Each F In Folders
    If m_Wildcard Then
      Found = (LCase$(F.Name) Like m_Find)
    Else
      Found = (LCase$(F.Name) = m_Find)
    End If

    If Found Then
      Set m_Folder = F
      Exit For
    Else
      LoopFolders F.Folders
      If Not m_Folder Is Nothing Then Exit For
    End If
  Next
End Sub

the above code uses a loop to search for a folder similar to the keyword input. that seems unnecessary if i already knew the exact target path.

what i already made is a simple AutoIt script that detects the target path of the selected favorite folder (it remains resident in the background and responds to Ctrl+Enter):

; based on te example of _OL_NavigationFolderGet

#include <OutlookEX_GUI.au3>
#include <Array.au3>

HotKeySet('^{Enter}', 'main')

Global $oOutlook = _OL_Open()
If @error <> 0 Then Exit MsgBox($MB_ICONERROR, 'Error!', 'Error creating a connection to Outlook.' & @CRLF & ' @error = ' & @error & ', @extended = ' & @extended)
While True
    Sleep(10)
WEnd
_OL_Close($oOutlook)

Func main()
    Local $aGroups = _OL_NavigationFolderGet($oOutlook, $olModuleMail)
    If @error <> 0 Then Exit MsgBox($MB_ICONERROR, 'Error!', '@error = ' & @error & ', @extended = ' & @extended)

    ;_ArrayDisplay($aGroups, "_OL_NavigationFolderGet with $olModuleMail", "", 0, "|", "Navigation group|Folder name|Folder path|IsSelected?|IsRemovable?|IsSideBySide?|Position")

    For $i = 1 To $aGroups[0][0]
        If $aGroups[$i][0] = 'Favorites' And $aGroups[$i][3] = True Then
            MsgBox(0, 'Selected:', $aGroups[$i][1] & @CRLF & $aGroups[$i][2])

            ;MsgBox(0, 'result:', _OL_SelectionSet($oOutlook, $aGroups[$i][2]) & @CRLF & '@error = ' & @error & ', @extended = ' & @extended)

            Return
        EndIf
    Next
EndFunc   ;==>main

now what i need is to consolidate the AutoIt part of detecting the selected favorite folder, and the VBA part that expands the folders tree to it. this means converting either one of them to the other's language; i'm not too comfortable with VBA so i'm still learning...

Edited March 25, 2023 by orbs

[water]

if you have the object of the activated folder it seems you have to use:

$oOutlook.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder = $oObjectOfTheSelectedFolder

 

[orbs]

this is most probably correct, but how can i get the object of the folder to be activated, when i know only the properties of its corresponding favorite item?

from what i understand from the VBA code above, it loops all folder objects recursively (the LoopFolders sub) until it finds the folder matching the search string, then it returns the object of the folder. i can probably translate that to AutoIt - unless there is a more direct approach?

 

EDIT: _OL_NavigationFolderGet() returns an array of properties of the given folder, such as DisplayName and IsSelected. however there is another property the function does not return - the Folder property - which "Returns a Folder object that represents the shared or linked folder associated with the navigation folder", according to this MS article.

this looks like exactly what i'm looking for, so i modified the function to return the Folder property too, then i passed that value to the line you mentioned in the post above, but... that does nothing. i also passed it to _OL_SelectionSet(), and got return value 0 with @error = 2, @extended = -2147352567

@error=2 means "Error selecting the item".

 

EDIT #2: this is getting ridiculous. i get the Folder property and pass it to $oOutlook.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder as above. the folder tree does not change. now, i keep the favorite item selected, then i switch to another view - i.e. calendar - then i launch the function again, and guess what? it throws me back to the mail view, and now it does expand the folders tree!

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by orbs

[water]

If you've got the navigation folder item you could get the "Folder" property of this item to activate the linked folder as described in my last post.