Find and Select an Outlook Email from MS Access - vba

Question

I need to build a tool that will allow the user to select an email from his Outlook so I can then save that email as a .msg file or alternately save just the attachment as a file.
I'm stumbling a little bit over what might be the easiest and the best way to allow searching/filtering of emails. I need to give the user a view that is at least slightly similar to Outlook (for example, folders should be the same order/hierarchy.
Does the Outlook Object Model have some kind of Explorer/Picker/Selection dialog I can call that will return a storeid and an entryid after the user selects an email? Or do I need to roll my own?
I should mention that I already know how to save the email or attachment so my question is only about handling selection and filtering of emails.
FYI, I'm programming this in MS Access 2007 with Outlook 2007. The target machines have either 2007 or 2010 versions of Access and Outlook.

Answer 1

Linking to the Outlook table is fine. The problem is that Outlook doesn't provide a unique ID to each message and if the message is moved from one folder to another, its ID changes. Clearly not designed by someone who understands databases.
A better approach may be to create an Outlook add-in that runs within Outlook, then performs the tasks you need to send the info to Access.

Answer 2

I rarely program with Access but I moved some code across from Outlook, hacked it around a bit and it seems to work. This is not a solution but it should show you how to access all the information you need.
I had one problem. Neither Set OutApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application") nor Set OutApp = New Outlook.Application create a new instance of Outlook if one is already open. So Quit closes Outlook whether or not it was open before the macro started. I suggest you post a new question on this issue; I am sure someone knows how to tell if Outlook is already open and therefore not to quit it.
The folder structure in Outlook is slightly awkward because the top level folders are of type Folders while all sub-folders are of type MAPIFolder. Once you have got past that it is fairly straightforward.
The code below includes function GetListSortedChildren(ByRef Parent As MAPIFolder) As String. This function finds all the children of Parent and returns a string such as "5,2,7,1,3,6,4" which lists the indices for the children in ascending sequence by name. I would use something like this to populates a ListView by expanding nodes as the user required.
I have provided a subroutine CtrlDsplChld() which controls the output to the immediate windows of all the folders in sequence. I believe that should give you enough guidance to get started on accessing the folder hierarchy.
Subroutine DsplChld(ByRef Parent As MAPIFolder, ByVal Level As Long) includes code to find the first message with attachments. This will you tell you how to look through a folder for a particular message.
Finally, CtrlDsplChld() displayes selected properties of the message: Subject, To, HTMLBody and the display names of the attachments.
Hope this helps.
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Dim ItemWithMultipleAttachments As Outlook.MailItem
Sub CtrlDsplChld()
Dim ArrChld() As String
Dim ListChld As String
Dim InxAttach As Long
Dim InxChld As Long
Dim InxTopLLCrnt As Long
Dim OutApp As Outlook.Application
Dim TopLvlList As Folders
Set ItemWithMultipleAttachments = Nothing
Set OutApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
'Set OutApp = New Outlook.Application
With OutApp
Set TopLvlList = .GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders
For InxTopLLCrnt = 1 To TopLvlList.Count
' Display top level children and their children
Call DsplChld(TopLvlList.Item(InxTopLLCrnt), 0)
Next
If Not ItemWithMultipleAttachments Is Nothing Then
With ItemWithMultipleAttachments
Debug.Print .Subject
Debug.Print .HTMLBody
Debug.Print .To
For InxAttach = 1 To .Attachments.Count
Debug.Print .Attachments(InxAttach).DisplayName
Next
End With
End If
.Quit
End With
Set OutApp = Nothing
End Sub
Sub DsplChld(ByRef Parent As MAPIFolder, ByVal Level As Long)
Dim ArrChld() As String
Dim InxChld As Long
Dim InxItemCrnt As Long
Dim ListChld As String
Debug.Print Space(Level * 2) & Parent.Name
If ItemWithMultipleAttachments Is Nothing Then
' Look down this folder for a mail item with an attachment
For InxItemCrnt = 1 To Parent.Items.Count
With Parent.Items(InxItemCrnt)
If .Class = olMail Then
If .Attachments.Count > 1 Then
Set ItemWithMultipleAttachments = Parent.Items(InxItemCrnt)
Exit For
End If
End If
End With
Next
End If
ListChld = GetListSortedChildren(Parent)
If ListChld <> "" Then
' Parent has children
ArrChld = Split(ListChld, ",")
For InxChld = LBound(ArrChld) To UBound(ArrChld)
Call DsplChld(Parent.Folders(ArrChld(InxChld)), Level + 1)
Next
End If
End Sub
Function GetListSortedChildren(ByRef Parent As MAPIFolder) As String
' The function returns "" if Parent has no children.
' If the folder has children, the functions returns "P,Q,R, ..." where
' P, Q, R and so on indices of the children of Parent in ascending
' order by name.
Dim ArrInxFolder() As Long
'Dim ArrFolder() As MAPIFolder
Dim InxChldCrnt As Long
Dim InxName As Long
Dim ListChld As String
If Parent.Folders.Count = 0 Then
' No children
GetListSortedChildren = ""
Else
'ReDim ArrName(1 To Parent.Folders.Count)
'For InxChldCrnt = 1 To Parent.Folders.Count
' ArrFolder(InxChldCrnt) = Parent.Folders(InxChldCrnt)
'Next
Call SimpleSortMAPIFolders(Parent, ArrInxFolder)
ListChld = CStr(ArrInxFolder(1))
For InxChldCrnt = 2 To Parent.Folders.Count
ListChld = ListChld & "," & CStr(ArrInxFolder(InxChldCrnt))
Next
GetListSortedChildren = ListChld
End If
End Function
Sub SimpleSortMAPIFolders(ArrFolder As MAPIFolder, _
ByRef InxArray() As Long)
' On exit InxArray contains the indices into ArrFolder sequenced by
' ascending name. The sort is performed by repeated passes of the list
' of indices that swap adjacent entries if the higher come first.
' Not an efficient sort but adequate for short lists.
Dim InxIACrnt As Long
Dim InxIALast As Long
Dim NoSwap As Boolean
Dim TempInt As Long
ReDim InxArray(1 To ArrFolder.Folders.Count) ' One entry per sub folder
' Fill array with indices
For InxIACrnt = 1 To UBound(InxArray)
InxArray(InxIACrnt) = InxIACrnt
Next
If ArrFolder.Folders.Count = 1 Then
' One entry list already sorted
Exit Sub
End If
' Each repeat of the loop moves the folder with the highest name
' to the end of the list. Each repeat checks one less entry.
' Each repeats partially sorts the leading entries and may result
' in the list being sorted before all loops have been performed.
For InxIALast = UBound(InxArray) To 1 Step -1
NoSwap = True
For InxIACrnt = 1 To InxIALast - 1
If ArrFolder.Folders(InxArray(InxIACrnt)).Name > _
ArrFolder.Folders(InxArray(InxIACrnt + 1)).Name Then
NoSwap = False
' Move higher entry one slot towards the end
TempInt = InxArray(InxIACrnt)
InxArray(InxIACrnt) = InxArray(InxIACrnt + 1)
InxArray(InxIACrnt + 1) = TempInt
End If
Next
If NoSwap Then
Exit For
End If
Next
End Sub