Question

Parse body of email using VBA Outlook 2007

Asked by: rufustmac

I have a script that I run when certain mail items come in.  Right now I provide it with a string and then it captures the next word following that string and returns it.  However, I am running into trouble when I run across a tab in an email.  For example, I receive an email that had a list of values and it looks like this.

Name:      Person's Name
ID:            ID Number
Email:       Email address
etc etc etc

I need to retrieve the values after the ':' for each line but can't seem to deal with the tab (might just be extra spaces not sure).

Sub NewStaffRequest(Item As Outlook.MailItem)
    Dim strName As String
    Dim SSN As String
    Dim hiringDivision As String
    Dim position As String
    
    strName = ParseTextLinePair(Item.Body, "Name")
    MsgBox strText
End Sub
 
Function ParseTextLinePair(strSource As String, strLabel As String)
    Dim intLocLabel As Integer
    Dim intLocCRLF As Integer
    Dim intLocTAB As Integer
    Dim intLenLabel As Integer
    Dim strText As String
    intLocLabel = InStr(strSource, strLabel)
    intLenLabel = Len(strLabel)
        If intLocLabel > 0 Then
        intLocCRLF = InStr(intLocLabel, strSource, vbCrLf)
        intLocTAB = InStr(intLocLabel, strSource, vbTab)
        If intLocCRLF > 0 Then
            intLocLabel = intLocLabel + intLenLabel
            strText = Mid(strSource, _
                            intLocLabel, _
                            intLocCRLF - intLocLabel)
        Else
            intLocLabel = _
              Mid(strSource, intLocLabel + intLenLabel)
        End If
    End If
    ParseTextLinePair = Trim(strText)
End Function

                                  
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Asked On
2009-11-04 at 11:54:11ID24872209
Tags

VBA

,

Outlook 2007

,

Visual Basic

Topics

Visual Basic Programming

,

VB Script

,

Microsoft Office Suite

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: chris_bottomleyPosted on 2009-11-04 at 12:10:55ID: 25743403

Hello rufustmac,

How about the following:

It replaces tabs, spaces and hard spaces to hopefully leave the required data.

Regards,

chris_bottomley

 

by: brettdjPosted on 2009-11-04 at 14:21:40ID: 25744667

Pingng Chris,

You are still having code attachment issues :)

Dave

 

by: rufustmacPosted on 2009-11-04 at 15:25:43ID: 25745270

chris,

I have tried to implement something similar but it's not been successful thus far.  Any pointers.

 

by: chris_bottomleyPosted on 2009-11-04 at 22:10:10ID: 25747091

DAve

Thanks for that ... i'm forgetting that QuickEE has the problem hence the issues i'm facing.  Too few working brain cells.

rufustmac:

I had a windows update during the night but when testing the reconstituted code I discovered a bug so I may be a little while reconsidering my 'response'.

Chris

 

by: chris_bottomleyPosted on 2009-11-04 at 23:18:30ID: 25747338

rufustmac

I have made a couple of minor mods based off my own perceived errors so see what you think.

Chris

Sub NewStaffRequest(Item As Outlook.mailitem)
    Dim strName As String
    Dim SSN As String
    Dim hiringDivision As String
    Dim position As String
    
    strName = ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "nAme")
    MsgBox strName
    strName = ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "id")
    MsgBox strName
End Sub
 
Function ParseTextLinePair(strSource As String, strLabel As String)
Dim intLocLabel As Integer
Dim intLocCRLF As Integer
Dim intLocWhiteSpace As Integer
Dim intLenLabel As Integer
Dim strText As String
Dim arr As Variant
    
    intLocLabel = InStr(1, strSource, strLabel & ":", vbTextCompare)
    If intLocLabel > 0 Then
        intLocCRLF = InStr(intLocLabel, strSource & vbCrLf, vbCrLf)
        intLocWhiteSpace = intLocLabel + Len(strLabel) + 1
        If intLocCRLF > 0 Then
            strText = Mid(strSource, _
                            intLocLabel + Len(strLabel) + 1, _
                            intLocCRLF - intLocWhiteSpace)
        End If
    End If
    ParseTextLinePair = Replace(Replace(Trim(strText), vbTab, ""), Chr(160), "")
End Function
                                              
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by: chris_bottomleyPosted on 2009-11-04 at 23:20:56ID: 25747352

Suddenly thought about a potential for stray space .. modified below

Chris

Sub NewStaffRequest(Item As Outlook.mailitem)
    Dim strName As String
    Dim SSN As String
    Dim hiringDivision As String
    Dim position As String
    
    strName = ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "nAme")
    MsgBox strName
    strName = ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "id")
    MsgBox ">>>" & strName & "<<<"
End Sub
 
Function ParseTextLinePair(strSource As String, strLabel As String)
Dim intLocLabel As Integer
Dim intLocCRLF As Integer
Dim intLocWhiteSpace As Integer
Dim intLenLabel As Integer
Dim strText As String
Dim arr As Variant
    
    intLocLabel = InStr(1, strSource, strLabel & ":", vbTextCompare)
    If intLocLabel > 0 Then
        intLocCRLF = InStr(intLocLabel, strSource & vbCrLf, vbCrLf)
        intLocWhiteSpace = intLocLabel + Len(strLabel) + 1
        If intLocCRLF > 0 Then
            strText = Mid(strSource, _
                            intLocLabel + Len(strLabel) + 1, _
                            intLocCRLF - intLocWhiteSpace)
        End If
    End If
    ParseTextLinePair = Trim(Replace(Replace(strText, vbTab, ""), Chr(160), ""))
End Function
                                              
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by: rufustmacPosted on 2009-11-06 at 15:18:57ID: 25763943

For some reason I'm not able to run any scripts from a rule anymore.  It was working fine and then it just stopped all the sudden.  I turned Macro security completely off and that didn't help.  I'm still trying to figure out why the scripts aren't firing, so I will follow up when I get that part figured out.

 

by: rufustmacPosted on 2009-11-09 at 08:31:22ID: 25777395

Chris,

That solution seems to be working except for one thing.  Some of the items in the email are broken up by a carriage return.  For example:

First name:
Last name

SSN:
Address:

Supervisor:
etc, etc

Everything works until you get to the line below the carriage return.  So, first name and last name work but then SSN comes up blank, Address works, Supervisor is blank, etc.  If we can get that working it would be awesome.

Thanks.

 

by: chris_bottomleyPosted on 2009-11-09 at 08:44:13ID: 25777538

The problem might be filed names ... I have used the snippet below, (NewStaffRequest only) to test this mail body with no problem that I can see.

First name: fred
last Name: abc123

SSN: random
Address: gibberish

Supervisor: norman
etc, etc


Chris

Sub NewStaffRequest(Item As Outlook.mailitem)
    Dim strName As String
    Dim SSN As String
    Dim hiringDivision As String
    Dim position As String
    
    strName = ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "first nAme")
    strName = strName & vbCrLf & ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "LAst Name")
    strName = strName & vbCrLf & ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "ssn")
    strName = strName & vbCrLf & ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "address")
    strName = strName & vbCrLf & ParseTextLinePair(Item.body, "supervisor")
    MsgBox strName
End Sub
                                              
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by: rufustmacPosted on 2009-11-09 at 12:48:49ID: 25779891

I just changed the format the email comes in.  Thanks for your help.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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