How to: Create a Sendable Item for a Specific Account Based on the Current Folder (Outlook)
When you use the CreateItem method of the Application object to create a Microsoft Outlook item, the item is created for the primary account for that session. In a session where multiple accounts are defined in the profile, you can create an item for a specific IMAP, POP, or Microsoft Exchange account. If there are multiple accounts in the current profile and you create a sendable item in the user interface, for example, by clicking New E-mail or New Meeting, an inspector displays a new mail item or meeting request in compose mode, and then you can select the account from which to send the item. This topic shows how to programmatically create a sendable item and send it by using a specific sending account. The topic has two code samples that show how to create a MailItem and an AppointmentItem for a specific account that is determined by the current folder in the active explorer.
The following managed code is written in C#. To run a .NET Framework managed code sample that needs to call into a Component Object Model (COM), you must use an interop assembly that defines and maps managed interfaces to the COM objects in the object model type library. For Outlook, you can use Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft Outlook Primary Interop Assembly (PIA). Before you run managed code samples for Microsoft Outlook 2010, ensure that you have installed the Outlook 2010 PIA and have added a reference to the Microsoft Outlook 14.0 Object Library component in Visual Studio. You should use the following code in the ThisAddIn class of a Visual Studio Tools for Office add-in for Outlook, such that the Application object in the code is a trusted Outlook Application object provided by ThisAddIn.Globals. For more information about using the Outlook PIA to develop managed Outlook solutions, see the Outlook 2010 Primary Interop Assembly Reference on MSDN.
The first method below, CreateMailItemFromAccount, creates a MailItem for a specific account and displays it in compose mode; the default delivery store of the specific account is the same as the store for the folder that is displayed in the active explorer. The current user of the account is set as the sender. CreateMailItemFromAccount first identifies the appropriate account by matching the store of the current folder (obtained from the Folder.Store property) with the default delivery store of each account (obtained with the Account.DeliveryStore property) that is defined in the Accounts collection for the session. CreateMailItemFromAccount then creates the MailItem. To associate the item with the account, CreateMailItemFromAccount assigns the user of the account as the sender of the item by setting the AddressEntry object for the account's user to the Sender property of the MailItem. Assigning the Sender property is the important step because otherwise, the MailItem is created for the primary account. At the end of the method, CreateMailItemFromAccount displays the MailItem. Note that if the current folder is not on a delivery store, CreateMailItemFromAccount simply creates the MailItem for the primary account for the session.
private void CreateMailItemFromAccount()
{
Outlook.AddressEntry addrEntry = null;
// Get the store for the current folder.
Outlook.Folder folder =
Application.ActiveExplorer().CurrentFolder
as Outlook.Folder;
Outlook.Store store = folder.Store;
Outlook.Accounts accounts =
Application.Session.Accounts;
// Match the delivery store of each account with the
// store for the current folder.
foreach (Outlook.Account account in accounts)
{
if (account.DeliveryStore.StoreID ==
store.StoreID)
{
addrEntry =
account.CurrentUser.AddressEntry;
break;
}
}
// Create MailItem. Account is either the primary
// account or the account with a delivery store
// that matches the store for the current folder.
Outlook.MailItem mail =
Application.CreateItem(
Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem)
as Outlook.MailItem;
if (addrEntry != null)
{
//Set Sender property.
mail.Sender = addrEntry;
mail.Display(false);
}
}
The next method, CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount, is similar to CreateMailItemFromAccount except that it creates an AppointmentItem instead of a MailItem, and associates the AppointmentItem with the account by using its SendUsingAccount property. CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount creates an AppointmentItem in the Calender folder of an account whose default delivery store is the same as the store for the folder that is displayed in the active explorer. CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount first identifies the appropriate account by matching the store of the current folder (obtained from the Folder.Store property) with the default delivery store of each account (otained with the Account.DeliveryStore property) that is defined in the Accounts collection for the session. CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount then creates the AppointmentItem. To associate the item with the account, CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount assigns that account as the item's sending account by setting the Account object to the SendUsingAccount property of the AppointmentItem. Assigning the SendUsingAccount property is the important step because otherwise, the AppointmentItem is created for the primary account. At the end of the method, CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount displays the AppointmentItem. Note that if the current folder is not on a delivery store, CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount simply creates the AppointmentItem for the primary account for the session.
private void CreateMeetingRequestFromAccount()
{
Outlook.Account acct = null;
// Get the store for the current folder.
Outlook.Folder folder =
Application.ActiveExplorer().CurrentFolder
as Outlook.Folder;
Outlook.Store store = folder.Store;
Outlook.Accounts accounts =
Application.Session.Accounts;
// Match the delivery store of each account with the
// store for the current folder.
foreach (Outlook.Account account in accounts)
{
if (account.DeliveryStore.StoreID ==
store.StoreID)
{
acct = account;
break;
}
}
// Create AppointmentItem. Account is either the primary
// account or the account with a delivery store
// that matches the store for the current folder.
Outlook.AppointmentItem appt =
Application.CreateItem(
Outlook.OlItemType.olAppointmentItem)
as Outlook.AppointmentItem;
appt.MeetingStatus =
Outlook.OlMeetingStatus.olMeeting;
if (acct != null)
{
//Set SendUsingAccount property.
appt.SendUsingAccount=acct;
appt.Display(false);
}
}