FILE: DLL to Read and Write RTF with Active Messaging

ID: Q172038

The information in this article applies to:

Extended Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), version 1.0
Collaboration Data Objects (CDO), versions 1.1, 1.2, 1.21

SUMMARY

When writing an Active Messaging client, it would be useful to be able to use rich text formatting (RTF) in the body of the messages that are created. However, the Active Messaging Libraries provide access only to the plain text version of the body of the message, giving no control over the font characteristics of the message body.

This sample contains a DLL with functions that may be called from an Active Messaging client to read and write RTF text of a message.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

 ~ Mapirtf.exe (size: 109180 bytes)

For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

MORE INFORMATION

Below are the contents of the Readme.txt file for this sample.

MAPIRTF Sample

This sample illustrates how use Extended MAPI to allow RTF-formatting in a message created by Active Messaging.

Files

The self-extracting executable, Mapirtf.exe, contains the following files:

Readme.txt: Contains information about the sample
Mapirtf.dll: The release version of the DLL
Mapirtfd.dll: The debug version of the DLL
Vbmaprtf.exe: Microsoft Visual Basic Active Messaging client
Vbmaprtf.pdb: Debug symbols for Vbmaprtf.exe
CSource Folder: Contains the source file and Microsoft Visual C++ version 5.0 workspace and project files for Mapirtf(d).dll
VBSource Folder: Contains the Microsoft Visual Basic version 5.0 project, form, and module files for Vbmaprtf.exe

General

The files Mapirtf.dll (release version) and Mapirtfd.dll (debug version) contain the following functions:

"Writertf" writes RTF-formatted text to a message created by Active Messaging, when passed the profile name, entry ID of the message, entry ID of the message store, and the RTF text.
"Readrtf" reads RTF-formatted text from a message when passed the profile name, entry ID of the message, entry ID of the message store, and a string variable to which to store the text.

How to Use

Before use, the DLL files should be placed in the Windows\System directory (for Windows 95) or the Winnt\System32 directory (for Windows NT.

In Visual Basic, declare the functions as follows:

    ' For the Debug version of the DLL, remark the following lines
    Public Declare Function writertf _
        Lib "mapirtf.dll" _
                         (ByVal ProfileName As String, _
                          ByVal MessageID As String, _
                          ByVal StoreID As String, _
                          ByVal cText As String) _
        As Integer

    Public Declare Function readrtf _
        Lib "mapirtf.dll" _
                      (ByVal ProfileName As String, _
                       ByVal SrcMsgID As String, _
                       ByVal SrcStoreID As String, _
                       ByRef MsgRTF As String) _
        As Integer

    ' For the Debug version of the DLL, un-remark the following lines
    'Public Declare Function writertf _
        Lib "mapirtfd.dll" _
                         (ByVal ProfileName As String, _
                          ByVal MessageID As String, _
                          ByVal StoreID As String, _
                          ByVal cText As String) _
        As Integer

    'Public Declare Function readrtf _
        Lib "mapirtfd.dll" _
                      (ByVal ProfileName As String, _
                       ByVal SrcMsgID As String, _
                       ByVal SrcStoreID As String, _
                       ByRef MsgRTF As String) _
        As Integer

Sample Code

The following sample code assumes that you have already declared the DLL function as described above. For a more complete example, please see the Visual Basic project accompanying this sample.

WriteRTF Sample. (This code assumes you already have a variable called cRTF defined which contains RTF-formatted text.)

    Sub SendRTF()
      Dim objSession, objMessage, objMessageFilter As Object
      Dim MessageID As String
      Dim bRet As Integer

      Set objSession = CreateObject("MAPI.Session")
      objSession.Logon

      ' Create a new message
      Set objMessage = objSession.Outbox.Messages.Add
      objMessage.Update
      MessageID = objMessage.ID

      bRet = WriteRTF(objSession.Name, objMessage.ID, _
                      objMessage.StoreID, cRTF)

      If Not bRet = 0 Then
         MsgBox "RTF Not Written Successfully"
      End If

      ' Because the object has changed, we must re-create
      ' our Message object variable
      ' First clear our current variable
      Set objMessage = Nothing
      ' Next set a filter on the outbox for our Message ID
      Set objMessageFilter = objSession.Outbox.Messages.Filter
      objMessageFilter.Fields(ActMsgPR_ENTRYID) = MessageID
      ' Get our message
      Set objMessage = objSession.Outbox.Messages.GetFirst
      ' Clear the filter we have set
      Set objMessageFilter = Nothing

      ' Send the Message
      objMessage.Send ShowDialog:=True
      objSession.Logoff
    End Sub

ReadRTF Sample.

    Sub ReadRTF()
      Dim objSession, objMessage, objMessageFilter As Object
      Dim MessageID, cRTF As String
      Dim bRet As Integer

      Set objSession = CreateObject("MAPI.Session")
      objSession.Logon

      ' Read the first message in the Inbox
      Set objMessage = objSession.Inbox.Messages(1)
      objMessage.Update  ' to get a permanent Entry ID
      MessageID = objMessage.ID

      ' We must initialize the string variable we are passing
      ' to a string of the maximum length we want to read
      cRTF = Space(500)
      bRet = ReadRTF(objSession.Name, objMessage.ID, _
                      objMessage.StoreID, cRTF)

      If Not bRet = 0 Then
         MsgBox "RTF Not Written Successfully"
      Else
         MsgBox "RTF Text: " & Chr(13) & cRTF
      End If

      Set objMessage = Nothing
      objSession.Logoff
      Set objSession = Nothing
    End Sub

REFERENCES

For additional information about Collaboration Data Objects versus Active Messaging, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q176916
   TITLE     : INFO: Active Messaging and Collaboration Data Objects (CDO)

Keywords          : kbcode kbfile kbsample kbActMsg kbMsg kbMAPI100 
Version           : WINDOWS:1.0,1.1,1.21
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: May 26, 1999