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c# VSTO Outlook email body from opened window

I've a problem with my VSTO application for Outlook. I want to process the email body from a selected e-mail.
For selected e-mails out of the "default" list this code works fine:
Object selItem = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveExplorer().Selection[1];
Outlook.MailItem mailItem = (Outlook.MailItem)selItem;
return mailItem.Body;
But if a user opens an email from the list with a double click, the email is displayed in a new window. If the addin is executed in this window (over the ribbon), the email from the list is still used (which is now in the background).
Is there a way to find out if the plugin was started in a separate window and then get the email body from it?
Regards,
Florian

Coincidentally, I just dealt with something similar to this. My situation isn't identical, but since I could easily piece together what it seems like you're looking for see below. I haven't tested this, and obviously you'll have to handle passing the correct reference to your Outlook Application, but since i had this immediately available I figured it would pass it along with the hope that you'll find it helpful.
private static void ribbonButton_Click(object sender, RibbonControlEventArgs e)
{
Outlook.Application application = new Outlook.Application();
Outlook.Inspector inspector = application.ActiveInspector();
if (application.ActiveExplorer().Selection[1] is Outlook.MailItem explorerMailItem)
{
// Write code to handle message if sourced from explorer (i.e., Reading Pane)
}
else if (inspector.CurrentItem is Outlook.MailItem inspectorMailItem)
{
// Write code to hanlde message if sourced from inspector
// (i.e., openened (double-clicked) message
}
}

When you double click on email item you open an inspector window and you can access it by using Application.ActiveInspector() method. The Inspector object has CurrentItem property which represents the opened item.
Also, you should avoid using multiple dots in expressions and properly release COM objects.

DLLImportAttribute C# - Outlook

I'm trying to develop a snippet in C # code that enables the "voting option" function of Outlook.
This code will be used by a platform called Blue Prism.
The "vote" function of Outlook is in the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook namespace, so I need to import it using C#, but I dont have enough knowledge to develop this.
I tried to do something like this but it is giving an error.
Here is the code:
public class program {
[DllImport(#"C:\Program Files\Blue Prism Limited\Blue Prism Automate\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.dll", EntryPoint = "VotingOptions")]
public static extern string Outlook(uint type);
static void Main()
{
// Create the Outlook application.
Outlook.Application oApp = new Outlook.Application();
oApp.VotingOption = "Yes; No";
}
}
So, can someone help me?

The VotingOptions property belongs to the MailItem class , not Outlook Application. Voting options on messages are used to give message recipients a list of choices and to track their responses. To create voting options programmatically, set a string that is a semicolon-delimited list of values for the VotingOptions property of a MailItem object. The values for the VotingOptions property will appear under the Vote command in the Respond group in the ribbon of the received message.
private void OrderPizza()
{
Outlook.MailItem mail = (Outlook.MailItem)Application.CreateItem(
Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);
mail.VotingOptions = “Cheese; Mushroom; Sausage; Combo; Veg Combo;”
mail.Subject = “Pizza Order”;
mail.Display(false);
}
Also you may find the C# app automates Outlook (CSAutomateOutlook) sample project helpful, it shows how to automate Outlook in C#.

Com objects aren't accessed through DLLImport. They're accessed using references. From the sample Eugene linked:
Create a Console application and reference the Outlook Primary Interop Assembly (PIA). To reference the Outlook PIA, right-click the project file and click the "Add Reference..." button. In the Add Reference dialog, navigate to the .NET tab, find Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook 12.0.0.0 and click OK.
Now you'll have access to the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook object.

If you are using Blue Prism then rather than having to specify DLL references you may also chose to go the GetObject or CreateObject way, you will be able to interact with Outlook just like Blue Prism does with Excel. The drawback of this approach is that you have to use VB.NET (unless I am mistaken) and that you will not be able to use text representation of enum values (so for OlItemType you will not be able to use olMailItem but only its numeric value, which is 0).
Please note that Blue Prism has released a new version recently (6.3) and with it a new VBO for interaction with Outlook. It's nothing revolutionary, but it may provide some insight.

Change Outlook Inbox-icons envelope icons

following this link - change outlook MailItem icon
I managed to change my inbox icons.
Here's what I did step by step.
1) Created a custom message class for new mail that arrives from the Internet
The class is IPM.Note.Internet
Outlook.NameSpace outlookNameSpace;
Outlook.MAPIFolder inbox;
Outlook.Items items;
private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
outlookNameSpace = this.Application.GetNamespace("MAPI");
inbox = outlookNameSpace.GetDefaultFolder(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox);
items = inbox.Items;
items.ItemAdd += new Outlook.ItemsEvents_ItemAddEventHandler(items_ItemAdd);
}
void items_ItemAdd(object Item)
{
Outlook.MailItem mailitem = (Outlook.MailItem)Item;
String EmailHeader = mailitem.PropertyAccessor.GetProperty("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x007D001E");
if (Item != null && EmailHeader.Contains("Look for a string in the headers here that we set for incomming mail") == true)
{
if (mailitem.MessageClass == "IPM.Note")
{
mailitem.MessageClass = "IPM.Note.Internet";
mailitem.Save();
}
}
}
2) Created a replacement Outlook Form Region matching the MessageClass. In this case I used IPM.Note.Internet
3) Assign the Icons in the Properties Pane of the Form Region Designer.
4) Debugged project and the next message that arrived from the internet was stamped with my custom icons after the message class was updated.
My issue now is that I can't preview or open the messages where I changed the message class. Similar to this post that's unanswered - Change Inbox-icons in Outlook at runtime
I think the issue is that my replacement Outlook Form Region is blank so the message is not able to be previewed.
If this is true than here's my question. What is the best way to export the standard IPM.Note message class template into visual Studio. I thing I need to overwrite my IPM.Note.Internet Outlook Form Region design.
There is an option when creating an Outlook Form Region-
To import an ".OFS" file. I was attempting to figure out how to export the file from the Outlook 2010 Client (Developer Tools) but I can't find a way to save the templates to that specific format. I can save to OFT (office template) but not .OFS
Thanks in advance for any help!

Rather then adding a form region and changing the message class I just ended up adding the PR_ICON_INDEX property and setting it's value. As outlined here in option #2 by Dmitry Link
There are many icons to choose from here. I couldn't locate a list with the integer values so I just entered random numbers for the PR_ICON_INDEX property in Outlook Spy changing the value till located the icon I wanted. There are many icons to choose from. Many from the 600-700 and 1000 and up range.
Here's the line I used to set the PR_ICON_INDEX property on the message-
mailitem.PropertyAccessor.SetProperty("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x10800003", 4); // change the 4 to something like 600,601...etc to experiment

How to get information about current user distribution list from outlook using WPF business app

In my WPF app, I need to enable/disable functionality based on the team. The team information is configured as outlook distribution list. Now I need retrieve this information from my App.
I googled and found the link
http://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/office/ff184638(v=office.15).aspx
Unfortunately it doesn't compile as it is. After bit of research I can make it compile by changing it by changing it as
currentUser = new Outlook.Application().Session.CurrentUser.AddressEntry;
However, this works only when outlook is opened, but when outlook is closed it throws the exception. Any idea?

Finally I managed to crack it. Apparently we need to briefly start the outlook application, the solution is explained in the link
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/microsoft.public.outlook.program_vba/lLJwbwwl-XU/gRuQYRpJtxEJ
Hence I modified my code GetCurrentUserMembership() slightly to accomadate this change. Now it's working good. Tested in outlook 2007 and 2010.
The complete solution,
private List<string> GetCurrentUserMembership()
{
Outlook.Application outlook = new Outlook.Application();
Outlook.MailItem oMsg = (Outlook.MailItem)outlook.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);
Outlook.Inspector oInspector = oMsg.GetInspector;
//session.Logon("", "", false, false);
var sb = new List<string>();
Outlook.AddressEntry currentUser = outlook.Session.CurrentUser.AddressEntry;
if (currentUser.Type != "EX") return sb;
var exchUser = currentUser.GetExchangeUser();
if (exchUser == null) return sb;
var addrEntries = exchUser.GetMemberOfList();
if (addrEntries == null) return sb;
foreach (Outlook.AddressEntry addrEntry in addrEntries)
{
sb.Add(addrEntry.Name);
}
return sb;
}

Could you please be more specific? What exception (error message and error code) do you get in the code?
I'd recommend starting from breaking the chain of calls and declare each property or method call on a separate line. Thus, you will find a problematic property or method call which fires an exception.
Most probably you need to call the Logon method of the Namespace class. As an example, you may find the C# app automates Outlook (CSAutomateOutlook) sample project helpful.

c# customizing controls on a save dialog -- how to disable parent folder button?

I am working from the sample project here: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/8086/Extending-the-save-file-dialog-class-in-NET
I have hidden the address/location bar at the top and made other modifications but I can't for the life of me manage to disable the button that lets you go up to the parent folder. Ist is in the ToolbarWindow32 class which is the problem. This is what I have at the moment but it is not working:
int parentFolderWindow = GetDlgItem(parent, 0x440);
//Doesn't work
//ShowWindow((IntPtr)parentFolderWindow, SW_HIDE);
//40961 gathered from Spy++ watching messages when clicking on the control
// doesn't work
//SendMessage(parentFolderWindow, TB_ENABLEBUTTON, 40961, 0);
// doesn't work
//SendMessage(parentFolderWindow, TB_SETSTATE, 40961, 0);
//Comes back as '{static}', am I working with the wrong control maybe?
GetClassName((IntPtr)parentFolderWindow, lpClassName, (int)nLength);
Alternatively, if they do use the parent folder button and go where I don't want them to, I'm able to look at the new directory they land in, is there a way I can force the navigation to go back?
Edit: Added screenshot

//Comes back as '{static}', am I working with the wrong control maybe?
You know you are using the wrong control, you expected to see "ToolbarWindow32" back. A very significant problem, a common one for Codeproject.com code, is that this code cannot work anymore as posted. Windows has changed too much since 2004. Vista was the first version since then that added a completely new set of shell dialogs, they are based on IFileDialog. Much improved over its predecessor, in particular customizing the dialog is a lot cleaner through the IFileDialogCustomize interface. Not actually what you want to do, and customizations do not include tinkering with the navigation bar.
The IFileDialogEvents interface delivers events, the one you are looking for is the OnFolderChanging event. Designed to stop the user from navigating away from the current folder, the thing you really want to do.
While this looks good on paper, I should caution you about actually trying to use these interfaces. A common problem with anything related to the Windows shell is that they only made it easy to use from C++. The COM interfaces are the "unfriendly" kind, interfaces based on IUnknown without a type library you can use the easily add a reference to your C# or VB.NET project. Microsoft published the "Vista bridge" to make these interfaces usable from C# as well, it looks like this. Yes, yuck. Double yuck when you discover you have to do this twice, this only works on later Windows versions and there's a strong hint that you are trying to do this on XP (judging from the control ID you found).
This is simply not something you want to have to support. Since the alternative is so simple, use the supported .NET FileOk event instead. A Winforms example:
private void SaveButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
string requiredDir = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
using (var dlg = new SaveFileDialog()) {
dlg.InitialDirectory = requiredDir;
dlg.FileOk += (s, cea) => {
string selectedDir = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(dlg.FileName);
if (string.Compare(requiredDir, selectedDir, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) != 0) {
string msg = string.Format("Sorry, you cannot save to this directory.\r\nPlease select '{0}' instead", requiredDir);
MessageBox.Show(msg, "Invalid folder selection");
cea.Cancel = true;
}
};
if (dlg.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) {
// etc...
}
}
}

I don't this is going to work. Even if you disable the button they can type ..\ and click save and it will take them up one level. You can't exactly disable the file name text box and maintain the functionality of the dialog.
You'd be better off either using the FolderBrowserDialog and setting it's RootFolder property and asking the user to type the filename in or auto generating it.
If the folder you are wanting to restrict the users to isn't an Environment.SpecialFolder Then you'll need to do some work to make the call to SHBrowseForFolder Manually using ILCreateFromPath to get a PIDLIST_ABSOLUTE for your path to pass to the BROWSEINFO.pidlRoot
You can reflect FolderBrowserDialog.RunDialog to see how to make that call.

Since you want such custom behaviors instead of developing low level code (that is likely yo break in the next versions of windows) you can try to develop your file picker form.
Basically it is a simple treeview + list view. Microsoft has a walk-through .
It will take you half a day but once you have your custom form you can define all behaviors you need without tricks and limits.