VBA: Find whether there is common pattern between the email subject and attachment name - vba

Question

I want to validate that the outgoing email is correctly attached with a correct file. The email subject contains a code. The attachment filename is automatically generated with a code and attached manually to the email. The VBA is to check whether the email subject contains a common pattern in the filename of the attachment.
The code is like H??#######, i.e. it must start with "H", followed with 2 letters, and then 7 digits.
If both the email subject and filename contain the same code, the email is allowed to send, otherwise it should warn. For example:
Subject: Urgent Chapter 10 - HCX1234567 updated on 12 Dec 2015
Filename: HCX1234567_ABCCh10_20151212_0408
This email is allowed.
Is it possible to do such validation before sending?
Here is my attempt:
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
'Create Geoff Lai on 14 March 2016
Dim recips As Outlook.Recipients
Dim recip As Outlook.Recipient
Dim pa As Outlook.PropertyAccessor
Dim prompt As String
Dim strMsg As String
Dim mailContent As String
Dim jobCode As String
Dim attachName As String
Dim pos As Integer
Dim jcodepos As Integer
Const PR_SMTP_ADDRESS As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x39FE001E"
attachName = Item.Attachments.Item(1).FileName
mailContent = Item.Body + Item.Subject ' Get a copy of all the e-mail body text and subject text to search.
mailContent = LCase(mailContent) ' Make whole string lowercase for easier searching.
Set recips = Item.Recipients
For Each recip In recips 'Record email addressees if send to external domain
Set pa = recip.PropertyAccessor
If InStr(LCase(pa.GetProperty(PR_SMTP_ADDRESS)), "#mydomain.com") = 0 Then
strMsg = strMsg & " " & pa.GetProperty(PR_SMTP_ADDRESS) & vbNewLine
End If
Next
If strMsg <> "" Then
If (Item.Attachments.Count = 0) Then ' Check attachment
If InStr(1, mailContent, "attach") > 0 Then
pos = 1
ElseIf InStr(1, mailContent, "Attach") > 0 Then
pos = 1
ElseIf InStr(1, mailContent, "enclose") > 0 Then
pos = 1
ElseIf InStr(1, mailContent, "Enclose") > 0 Then
pos = 1
Else: pos = 0
End If
End If
If (pos > 0) Then 'If there is no attachment:
If MsgBox("With the word attach or enclose, attachment should be found in this email" & vbNewLine & "Please Confirm.", vbYesNo + vbCritical + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Missing Attachment") = vbYes Then
prompt = "This email will be sent outside of mydomain.com to:" & vbNewLine & strMsg & "Do you want to proceed?"
If MsgBox(prompt, vbYesNo + vbExclamation + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Check Address") = vbNo Then
Cancel = True
Exit Sub
Else
Exit Sub
End If
Else
Cancel = True 'Stop sending
End If
End If
If (Item.Attachments.Count > 0) Then ' Validate attachment and subject
jcodepos = InStr(1, attachName, "H??#######", 0) ' Get job code position
jobCode = Mid(attachName, jcodepos, 10) ' Get job code
If (InStr(1, Item.Subject, jobCode, 0) = 0) Then ' If no common code between subject and attachment
If MsgBox("There is no common job code between the email subject and the filename of the attachment." & vbNewLine & "Do you want to proceed?", _
vbYesNo + vbCritical + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Wrong Attachment?") = vbNo Then
Cancel = True
Exit Sub
Else
Exit Sub
End If
ElseIf MsgBox("Common job code " & jobCode & " is found in the email subject and the filename of the attachment" & prompt, _
vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Confirm Job Code") = vbNo Then ' If common code is found
Cancel = True
Exit Sub
Else
Exit Sub
End If
End If
End If
End Sub
However, I get an error at jobCode = Mid(attachName, jcodepos, 10), which is:
Run-time error '5' Invalid procedure call or argument

Answer 1

Application_ItemSend, the usual way, in ThisOutlookModule. How can I automatically run a macro when an email is sent in Outlook?
In the VB editor set the reference to Regular Expressions.
Similar to the code in the Question part of Regular Expression Rules in Outlook 2007?. Check RegEx.Pattern = "(H[A-Z]{2}[0-9]{7})" against the filename. Continue with RegEx or InStr to verify the subject includes the filename match.

Answer 2

Since you thinking about using VBA I would assume that you are using Outlook as your email client. If so, please add this to your question and the tags. With this assumption the answer is that it depends:
If Outlook is actually used to send the email then it can be done. The following Q&A is probably a good starting point.
how to check details before sending mails in outlook using macros?
Yet, the above technique will not work if the email is created with File | Send commands in Office programs or similar commands in Windows Explorer or other programs.

Answer 3

Finally, I have figured it out, Thanks for the advices!
Here is my workout.
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim recips As Outlook.Recipients
Dim recip As Outlook.Recipient
Dim pa As Outlook.PropertyAccessor
Dim regex As Object, codeInSubject As Object, codeInAttach As Object
Dim matchSbjtCode As String, matchAttchcode As String
Dim prompt As String
Dim strMsg As String
Dim mailContent As String
Dim attachName As String
Dim pos As Integer
Const PR_SMTP_ADDRESS As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x39FE001E"
Set regex = CreateObject("vbScript.regExp")
With regex
.Pattern = "[H][ACDILNOPQTUVW][BCGJMOPRSTWY][1-9][0-9]{6}" ' Set regular expression pattern
.Global = False ' Check the first instance only
End With
attachName = Item.Attachments.Item(1).FileName
mailContent = Item.Body + Item.Subject ' Get a copy of all the e-mail body text and subject text to search.
mailContent = LCase(mailContent) ' Make whole string lowercase for easier searching.
Set recips = Item.Recipients
For Each recip In recips 'Record email addressees if send to external domain
Set pa = recip.PropertyAccessor
If InStr(LCase(pa.GetProperty(PR_SMTP_ADDRESS)), "#mydomain.com") = 0 Then
strMsg = strMsg & " " & pa.GetProperty(PR_SMTP_ADDRESS) & vbNewLine
End If
Next
prompt = "This email will be sent outside of mydomain.com to:" & vbNewLine & strMsg & "Do you want to proceed?"
If strMsg <> "" Then
If (Item.Attachments.Count = 0) Then ' Check attachment
If InStr(1, mailContent, "attach") > 0 Then
pos = 1
ElseIf InStr(1, mailContent, "enclose") > 0 Then
Else: pos = 0
End If
End If
If (pos > 0) Then 'If there is no attachment:
If MsgBox("With the word 'attach' or 'enclose', attachment should be found in this email" & vbNewLine & _
"Please Confirm.", vbYesNo + vbCritical + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Missing Attachment") = vbYes Then ' Prompt to check
If MsgBox(prompt, vbYesNo + vbExclamation + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Check Address") = vbNo Then
Cancel = True
Exit Sub
Else
Exit Sub
End If
Else
Cancel = True 'Stop sending
End If
End If
If (Item.Attachments.Count > 0) Then ' Validate attachment and subject
If regex.test(Item.Subject) And regex.test(attachName) Then ' Test the job codes in the email subject and attachment filename
Set codeInSubject = regex.Execute(Item.Subject)
Set codeInAttach = regex.Execute(attachName)
If StrComp(codeInSubject(0), codeInAttach(0)) = 0 Then ' Compare the codes found
If MsgBox("Common job code """ & codeInAttach(0) & """ is found in the email subject and the filename of the attachment. " & vbNewLine & prompt, _
vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Confirm Job Code") = vbNo Then ' If found, confirm to send
Cancel = True
Else: Exit Sub
End If
ElseIf MsgBox("There is no common job code between the email subject and the filename of the attachment." & vbNewLine & _
"Do you want to DISCARD?", vbYesNo + vbCritical + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Wrong Attachment?") = vbYes Then ' if not found, discard
Cancel = True
Else: Exit Sub
End If
End If
End If
End If
End Sub