tOLEContainer CreateOleObject tIDHTMLMessageBuilder and MS WORD as HTML Email Editor with email stored/retrieved from dataset

Hi All,

I am trying to create a delphi application that uses MS Word (preferably within a Delphi form) to create HTML emails (with embedded images) and then use SMTP (or Outlook) to send the emails.  I want to use this system to create one-off emails as well as bulk emails (via mail merge) - all integrated into my application.  

I have managed to get a lot of it working - which is a good start.

Note: I am using Delphi 2009.

This is a big question, so there is scope for a many correct answers, I plan to award points to all good answers, and increase points if necessary. I have attached a ZIP of the sample application - it is very concise and should help to understand this question.

I have a dataset with the following fields:
* EmailSubject                   tStringField
* EmailBody                       tMemoField
* EmailAttachments           tBlobField

My plan is to get Delphi to call MS Word to create an HTML email and then store the HTML in EmailBody and the Attachments as multiple memory streams within a single memory stream that is stored in EmailAttachments (Arguably I could go with a second table here).

IMPORTANT - My preferred method for creating and editing my HTML documents is via the InFormEditButton method.  Please focus on this.

So the following questions arise (in order of importance):
1) I want the InFormEditButton to open my HTML - but I can't get it to work?
2) In the EmailerWordEditorForm - why is there no Save/Update function in MS Word?
3) How do I retrieve changes as a result of the InFormEditButton?
4) In the EmailerWordEditorForm I want to create a button to drop place holder strings (eg <FirstName> that I can later perform search and replace for Mail Merge Purposes).
5) How can I change the InFromEditButton so I don't have to create a temportary file on the hard drive for teh image?

6) Why does the preview button display <\Div> in the preview screen?
7) Is there a way to get the Preview button to work withotu creatign teh temporary file?
8) Why does Button 4 have a bug?

9) With the NewButton and EditButton - is there a way to wait on teh Word App?
10) With the NewButton and EditButton - is there a way to avoid creating the temporary files?
11) How do I know WordApp has actually made changes?
12) How do I retrieve changes from WordApp?

13) I would like to see if I can get the OutlookButton to send my email via outlook - how?

14) Anyone wanting to have a go at tWordApplication is welcome also.

15) Pros & Cons of various methods appreciated

16) the EmailSMTP works well - enjoy & good luck...

In summary - I am looking for all constructive input that helps me (and the community) to understand OLE.

Below is the critical parts of the source code of the main form.  I have also attached the full sample application.  When I finally close this question I will upload the final source.

unit EmailerFormU;

//form header stuff here

procedure TEmailerForm.EditButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  tf:TextFile;
  fs:TFileStream;
  tempPath:string;
  PathLen:DWORD;
  s:string;

  WordApp:OLEVariant;
begin
  SetLength(TempPath,MAX_PATH);
  PathLen:=GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, PChar(TempPath));
  SetLength(TempPath,PathLen);

  s:=ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailBody').AsString;
  s:=ReplaceText(s,'TestImage.jpg',TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  AssignFile(tf, TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  ReWrite(tf);
  Write(tf,s);
  CloseFile(tf);

  TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).SaveToFile(TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  WordApp := CreateOleObject('Word.Application') ;
  wordApp.Visible:=true;
  WordApp.Documents.Open(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  WordApp:=Unassigned;
end;

procedure TEmailerForm.EmailButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  tf:TextFile;
  fs:TFileStream;
  tempPath:string;
  PathLen:DWORD;
  HTMLBd:string;

  WordApp:OLEVariant;

  IdSMTP : TIdSMTP;
  IdMsg: TIdMessage;
  IdAttachment: TIdAttachmentFile;
  IMH:TIdMessageBuilderHtml;

begin
  SetLength(TempPath,MAX_PATH);
  PathLen:=GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, PChar(TempPath));
  SetLength(TempPath,PathLen);

  HTMLBd:=ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailBody').AsString;
  HTMLBd:=ReplaceText(HTMLBd,'TestImage.jpg',TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  //AssignFile(tf, TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  //ReWrite(tf);
  //Write(tf,s);
  //CloseFile(tf);

  TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).SaveToFile(TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');


  IMH:=TIdMessageBuilderHtml.Create;
  IdMsg:=TIdMessage.Create(nil);
  IdSMTP:=TIdSMTP.Create(nil);
  try
    //IdAttachment:=TIDAttachmentFile.Create(IdMsg.MessageParts,Attachment);
    IdMsg.Date:=Now;
    IdMsg.Recipients.EMailAddresses:= uiEmailTo.Text;
    IdMsg.Subject:=  ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailSubject').AsString;
    //IdMsg.Body.Text:= HTMLBd;
    IdMsg.From.Name:=     'Test HTML Emailer';
    IdMsg.From.Address:=  uiEmailTo.Text;
    //IdMsg.CCList.EmailAddresses:=GetAddressString(CCAddress);
    //IdMsg.BCCList.EmailAddresses:=GetAddressString(BCCAddress);
    //IdMsg.ReplyTo.EmailAddresses:=GetAddressString(ReplyToAddress);

    //IMH.PlainText.Text:='Plain Text';
    IMH.Html.Text:=HTMLBd;
    IMH.HtmlFiles.Add(TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');
    IMH.FillMessage(IdMsg);

    IdSMTP.Host:=     uiSMTPServer.Text;
    IdSMTP.Username:= uiSMTPUser.Text;
    IdSMTP.Password:= uiSMTPPassword.Text;
    IdSMTP.AuthType:= satNone;

    IdSMTP.Connect;
    IdSMTP.Send(IdMsg);
    IdSMTP.Disconnect;

  finally
    IMH.Free;
    IdMsg.Free;
    IdSMTP.Free;
  end;

end;

procedure TEmailerForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  BStream:tMemoryStream;
begin
  ClientDataSet1.CreateDataSet;
  ClientDataSet1.Append;
  ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailSubject').AsString:='Test Email';
  ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailBody').AsString:=Memo1.Text;

  BStream:=tMemoryStream.Create;
  try
    Image1.Picture.Graphic.SaveToStream(BStream);
    TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).LoadFromStream(BStream);
  finally
    BStream.Free;
  end;

  ClientDataSet1.Post;
end;

procedure TEmailerForm.InFormEditButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  tf:TextFile;
  fs:TFileStream;
  tempPath:string;
  PathLen:DWORD;
  s:string;
  f:TEmailerWordEditorForm;
  CreateInfo: tCreateInfo;
  WordApp:OleVariant;
begin
  SetLength(TempPath,MAX_PATH);
  PathLen:=GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, PChar(TempPath));
  SetLength(TempPath,PathLen);

  s:=ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailBody').AsString;
  s:=ReplaceText(s,'TestImage.jpg',TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  AssignFile(tf, TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  ReWrite(tf);
  Write(tf,s);
  CloseFile(tf);

  TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).SaveToFile(TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  //This link explains how to load the OleContainer without having to create the file - but I couldn't get it to work
  //http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Pascal/Delphi/Q_21821816.html

  f:=TEmailerWordEditorForm.Create(self);
  try
    //f.OleContainer1.AllowInPlace:=true;
    //f.OleContainer1.AutoActivate:=aaManual;
    f.OleContainer1.CreateObject('Word.Document',false);
    WordApp:=f.OleContainer1.OleObject;
    WordApp.Open(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
    //WordApp.FileOpen(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
    //WordApp.Documents.Open(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
    //f.OleContainer1.OleObject.Documents.FileOpen(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
    //f.OleContainer1.OleObject.Documents.Open(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
    //f.OleContainer1.LoadFromFile(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
    //f.OleContainer1.DoVerb(ovShow);
    f.ShowModal;
  finally
    f.Free;
  end;

end;

procedure TEmailerForm.NewButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  tf:TextFile;
  fs:TFileStream;
  tempPath:string;
  PathLen:DWORD;
  s:string;

  WordApp:OLEVariant;
begin
  SetLength(TempPath,MAX_PATH);
  PathLen:=GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, PChar(TempPath));
  SetLength(TempPath,PathLen);

  AssignFile(tf, TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  ReWrite(tf);
  Write(tf,'This is a New Email');
  CloseFile(tf);


  WordApp := CreateOleObject('Word.Application') ;
  wordApp.Visible:=true;
  WordApp.Documents.Open(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  WordApp:=Unassigned;

  //WordApp.wait;

  //WordDocument := WordApplication.Documents.Add;
  //WordApplication.Selection.TypeText('Hello world') ;
  //WordDocument.SaveAs(FileName := 'C:\Doc.Doc',
  //                     AddToRecentFiles := False) ;
  //WordApplication.Quit(False)


end;

procedure TEmailerForm.OutlookButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  tf:TextFile;
  fs:TFileStream;
  tempPath:string;
  PathLen:DWORD;
  s:string;

  OutApp:OLEVariant;
begin
  SetLength(TempPath,MAX_PATH);
  PathLen:=GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, PChar(TempPath));
  SetLength(TempPath,PathLen);

  s:=ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailBody').AsString;
  s:=ReplaceText(s,'TestImage.jpg',TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  AssignFile(tf, TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  ReWrite(tf);
  Write(tf,s);
  CloseFile(tf);

  TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).SaveToFile(TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  OutApp := CreateOleObject('Outlook.Application') ;
  OutApp.Visible:=true;
  //OutApp.Documents.Open(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  //OutApp.Documents.Send;
  OutApp:=Unassigned;
end;

procedure TEmailerForm.Button4Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  BStream:tMemoryStream;
begin
  BStream:=tMemoryStream.Create;
  try
    TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).SaveToStream(BStream);
    Image2.Picture.Graphic.LoadFromStream(BStream);
  finally
    BStream.Free;
  end;
end;

procedure TEmailerForm.PreviewButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  tf:TextFile;
  fs:TFileStream;
  tempPath:string;
  PathLen:DWORD;
  s:string;
  sl:tstringlist;
begin
  SetLength(TempPath,MAX_PATH);
  PathLen:=GetTempPath(MAX_PATH, PChar(TempPath));
  SetLength(TempPath,PathLen);

  s:=ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailBody').AsString;
  s:=ReplaceText(s,'TestImage.jpg',TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  sl:=tstringlist.Create;
  sl.Text:=s;
  sl.SaveToFile(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
  sl.Free;

  //AssignFile(tf, TempPath+'TestBody.HTML');
  //ReWrite(tf);
  //Write(tf,s);
  //CloseFile(tf);

  TBlobField(ClientDataSet1.FieldByName('EmailAttachments')).SaveToFile(TempPath+'TestImage.jpg');

  WebBrowser1.Navigate(TempPath+'EmailBody.HTML');
end;

end.

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EmailerWordApp.zip