April, 2011

This is a follow up to our documentation on PR_AB_CHOOSE_DIRECTORY_AUTOMATICALLY. There, we discussed how Outlook 2010 has a property which can override the container specified in SetDefaultDir. Today, we’re going to override SetSearchPath. Let’s look at our dialog again:

That list of address books under Custom is what we set using SetSearchPath. How can we set “Start with Global Address List” or “Start with contact folders”? There’s a prop for that: PR_AB_SEARCH_PATH_CUSTOMIZATION, which you’ll find in the same place as PR_AB_CHOOSE_DIRECTORY_AUTOMATICALLY, on the profile section IID_CAPONE_PROF.

Here's the property definition:

#define PR_AB_SEARCH_PATH_CUSTOMIZATION( PT_LONG, 0x3D1B)

Here are the valid settings:

typedef enum _SearchPathReorderType
{
                SEARCHPATHREORDERTYPE_RAW = 0,
                SEARCHPATHREORDERTYPE_ACCT_PREFERGAL,
                SEARCHPATHREORDERTYPE_ACCT_PREFERCONTACTS,
} SearchPathReorderType;

Finally, here's a description of each of the settings:

• SEARCHPATHREORDERTYPE_RAW:
  Return a list of the containers that are in the persisted MAPI search path. This is the "Custom" search path option in the UI.
• SEARCHPATHREORDERTYPE_ACCT_PREFERGAL:
  Group the search path based on the mail accounts in the profile, prefer the given sending account, and within each account, prefer the GAL. An example reordering here sending from account B would be the following:

  Persisted search Path:
  Contacts A
  GAL A
  GAL B
  GAL C
  Contacts D
  Contacts D2
  Contacts C
  Contacts B

  Reordered Search Path sending from B with this option:
  GAL B
  Contacts B
  GAL A
  Contacts A
  GAL C
  Contacts C
  Contacts D
  Contacts D2

• SEARCHPATHREORDERTYPE_ACCT_PREFERCONTACTS
  Group the search path based on the mail accounts in the profile, prefer the given sending account, and within each account, prefer that account's contacts folders. An example reordering here sending from account B would be the following:

  Persisted search Path:
  Contacts A
  GAL A
  GAL B
  GAL C
  Contacts D
  Contacts D2
  Contacts C
  Contacts B

  Reordered Search Path sending from B with this option:
  Contacts B
  GAL B
  Contacts A
  GAL A
  Contacts C
  GAL C
  Contacts D
  Contacts D2

Enjoy!

Angela just posted an article on extending Outlook on her blog, and an article on picking the right API on the MSDN. Both articles make several mentions of MFCMAPI and are thus worthwhile reads. The MSDN article is an especially good one-stop overview of all the APIs and technologies available in Outlook, with special attention paid to details such as managed vs unmanaged code, bitness, and threading

Note that both articles are written very much from Outlook’s point of view. The presumption is that Outlook is part of your solution. This may not necessarily be the case. If you are considering server side solutions, your top choices will likely be either Exchange Web Services (EWS) or the MAPI download, though there several other Exchange based APIs which you can read about in the Exchange Server 2010 SDK.

Enjoy!

The April 2011 Release (build 7.0.0.1234) is live: http://mfcmapi.codeplex.com.

I know I just released the March update a few days ago, but I just got permission from development to release this. I have thrown off the shackles of C++ and fully embraced the awesome power of the CLR. MFCMAPI.NET is a complete rewrite of MFCMAPI using the .Net framework.

The productivity gains were immediate. I was able to completely rewrite MFCMAPI, from scratch, in just 20 minutes. Since I had allotted a full hour for the conversion, I spent the extra time adding some new features, such as:

• Fix My Calendar: This feature will automatically identify whatever problem is plaguing your calendar and Fix It.
• Do That Thing I Just Did, But Everywhere: Ever found a problem on a large number of messages that you could fix just by editing a single property? With this revolutionary new feature, MFCMAPI.Net will record the steps you performed on one message and play them back on all of the other messages. What if you only need to edit a subset of your messages? Don’t worry, this feature Just Knows which messages to update. It’s that easy!
• No MAPI Required: The most amazing feature of MFCMAPI.Net, and the one of which I am most proud, is No MAPI Required. That’s right – MFCMAPI.Net doesn’t need MAPI installed to function! In fact, it doesn’t need an Exchange server either. How does it work? Simple: the cloud.

Even after implementing those amazing features, I still had a half hour left, so I decided to fix a few other outstanding issues for the Outlook and Exchange product teams. Look for announcements soon of the following hotfixes:

• Unicode MSG file and PSTs in MAPICDO.
• 64 bit support in MAPICDO.
• Unified 32 and 64 bit support in all versions of Outlook and MAPI. That’s right – all 32 bit MAPI code will now work without any changes against 64 bit MAPI, and vice versa.
• Return of Exchange Client Extensions in Outlook 2010 and above.
• The EDK is back!

All in all, it was a super productive 45 minutes coding with .Net. I even had time for a nap! I look forward to doing it again.

Enjoy.