arkamax
asked on
Outlook Express Addon
Hello all,
I'm in urgent need of writing an Outlook Express 5 addon (plugin?), that could check all incoming emails for some parameter and then do something to them (e.g. move to another folder or delete). Outlook rules won't do the job - I have a kind of complicated condition set.
All I need to know is how to write such things. Please notice - target software is Outlook Express, not Outlook 9x or 2000.
I'm setting 200 points for this question now. If someone will lead me to a place with direct information about OE programming (components, API etc), or even provide some samples I will raise points upto 500 and gladly award them to my lifesaver. I need this information very much.
Thank you all in advance.
I'm in urgent need of writing an Outlook Express 5 addon (plugin?), that could check all incoming emails for some parameter and then do something to them (e.g. move to another folder or delete). Outlook rules won't do the job - I have a kind of complicated condition set.
All I need to know is how to write such things. Please notice - target software is Outlook Express, not Outlook 9x or 2000.
I'm setting 200 points for this question now. If someone will lead me to a place with direct information about OE programming (components, API etc), or even provide some samples I will raise points upto 500 and gladly award them to my lifesaver. I need this information very much.
Thank you all in advance.
scrapdog
listening...
Umm I am not sure but I don't think OE has any API's or any direct way to interact with any Incoming of Outgoing mail. I know Outlook does but have not ran across any for OE.
The Crazy One
The Crazy One
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There may be something in this PAQ https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qManageQuestion.jsp?ta=delphi&qid=10481938 that might help you. The comment order has been screwed up, but you might still find the links contained usefull
Steven.
Steven.
I think you'll find that CrazyOne is right. Outlook Express has no APIs and no COM interface (that I have ever heard of).
Symantec's Norton Antivirus filters mail before it arrives in Outlook Express, but it does it by becoming your "intermediate" mail client and server. I'm not 100% sure on how it works, but from what I can see, Outlook Express actually connects to Norton Antivirus and then NAV communicates with your ISP. Instead of having, say mail.yourserver.com as your POP/SMTP server, you have 127.0.0.1 (local host), and then NAV contains the correct addresses for each account.
I think if you want to do any mail filtering before actually receiving the mail, this will be the only way I can see you could do it.
Symantec's Norton Antivirus filters mail before it arrives in Outlook Express, but it does it by becoming your "intermediate" mail client and server. I'm not 100% sure on how it works, but from what I can see, Outlook Express actually connects to Norton Antivirus and then NAV communicates with your ISP. Instead of having, say mail.yourserver.com as your POP/SMTP server, you have 127.0.0.1 (local host), and then NAV contains the correct addresses for each account.
I think if you want to do any mail filtering before actually receiving the mail, this will be the only way I can see you could do it.
ASKER
Stuart: thanks, I already thought of this solution... but this is not a way out because client doesn't want it to be so.
I've heard that OE supports a subset of MAPI - Simple MAPI. Can I do something with that? E.g. two main tasks are:
1. Get notification when mail has come
2. Check inbox mails for something special.
I've heard that OE supports a subset of MAPI - Simple MAPI. Can I do something with that? E.g. two main tasks are:
1. Get notification when mail has come
2. Check inbox mails for something special.
Well,
To get a notification from the MAPI Message store when new mail arrives, you need Extended MAPI. You can place a thingy called an Advise Sink on the inbox message store.
With simple MAPI you can iterate through the INBOX messages, but you don't have access to folders. Again, you should use Extended MAPI for this.
I implemented a module that categorised incoming e-mail into a database some time ago, and I'll have to check if OE is MAPI compliant (I think so), but I think it could be a sollution to this problem.
Programming Extended MAPI with Delphi is a b****, and you'll need some units that are not shipped with Delphi, but it can be done...
I was working on an Info page 'bout ExMAPI, but never finished it. However, the units you need for ExtendedMAPI are there: va.demanvakbo.dhs.org/down
You can look in MSDN for details and examples regarding extended MAPI programming. I don't have access to more documents about ExMAPI right now, but I will post them as soon as I'll find them.
To get a notification from the MAPI Message store when new mail arrives, you need Extended MAPI. You can place a thingy called an Advise Sink on the inbox message store.
With simple MAPI you can iterate through the INBOX messages, but you don't have access to folders. Again, you should use Extended MAPI for this.
I implemented a module that categorised incoming e-mail into a database some time ago, and I'll have to check if OE is MAPI compliant (I think so), but I think it could be a sollution to this problem.
Programming Extended MAPI with Delphi is a b****, and you'll need some units that are not shipped with Delphi, but it can be done...
I was working on an Info page 'bout ExMAPI, but never finished it. However, the units you need for ExtendedMAPI are there: va.demanvakbo.dhs.org/down
You can look in MSDN for details and examples regarding extended MAPI programming. I don't have access to more documents about ExMAPI right now, but I will post them as soon as I'll find them.
ASKER
kramer42: thanks for your input, I would appreciate it very much if you could have a look whether OE can work with MAPI and how to get this thing done.
Artem
Artem
From the URL posted by CrazyOne (above):
"Programmatic access to, or control of the Microsoft Outlook Express client is not supported. Simple MAPI is the only supported access to Outlook Express messages."
Stu.
"Programmatic access to, or control of the Microsoft Outlook Express client is not supported. Simple MAPI is the only supported access to Outlook Express messages."
Stu.
ASKER
OK - would it be possible to check inbox messages in OE? I didn't managed to find how...
The 'Example for Advise Sink notification' link on http://va.demanvakbo.dhs.org/downloads contains a unit which implements a TMailNotifier object. With it, you can register for NewMail notifications. When a new e-mail messages comes in, MAPI transfers control to the advise sink in the MailNotifier, and passes the whole incoming message to it. That way you could store the message some place.
Checking the messages in the INBOX can easily be done with Simple MAPI. Check the Delphi win32 Helpfiles for that (look for MAPILogon or something).
I would be surprised if OE isn't MAPI complient. It uses the mail-accounts and profile structure also used by MAPI.
I also placed a MAPI guide at the above URL. It contains examples in VB, but still, it could be helpful :-)...
Checking the messages in the INBOX can easily be done with Simple MAPI. Check the Delphi win32 Helpfiles for that (look for MAPILogon or something).
I would be surprised if OE isn't MAPI complient. It uses the mail-accounts and profile structure also used by MAPI.
I also placed a MAPI guide at the above URL. It contains examples in VB, but still, it could be helpful :-)...
arkamax
If the message has already been dropped into the inbox then unless you can figure out how to read the Inbox.dbx file then I doubt these messages can be looked at. I believe that all that can be done is to intercept the email before it gets to OE but even after that has been accomplished then it does not appear to be possible to tell OE what to do with it. Is it possible that your client might be convinced to move over to Outlook 98 or 2000? If so then you could programmatically do things with these email clients. :>)
If the message has already been dropped into the inbox then unless you can figure out how to read the Inbox.dbx file then I doubt these messages can be looked at. I believe that all that can be done is to intercept the email before it gets to OE but even after that has been accomplished then it does not appear to be possible to tell OE what to do with it. Is it possible that your client might be convinced to move over to Outlook 98 or 2000? If so then you could programmatically do things with these email clients. :>)
ASKER
CrazyOne... problem is that my client is willing to release this sofwtare as a freeware, which erases all possibilities to upgrade... anyway, thanks for your offer.
2 all - I will wait a little bit more, maybe someone will come up with some more news about this. Then I will add some points and we will split them.
Thank you all!
2 all - I will wait a little bit more, maybe someone will come up with some more news about this. Then I will add some points and we will split them.
Thank you all!
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Umm not to blow my horn or anything but I think the MS KB article link I posted pretty much tells the story. A MAPI client has to be installed on the machine to be able to what is being asked. OE is not MAPI complient but Outlook is.
Comment from expert accepted as answer.
Computer101
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