Get reference to an Outook message duplicate - outlook

Question

This code will duplicate a Microsoft Outlook message to the drafts folder:
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
...
-- find the template give an ID
set theTemplate to message id theID
-- duplicate the message
duplicate theTemplate to drafts
...
end tell
I need a reference to the duplicate for additional processing.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work:
...
-- this will create a duplicate
set theDuplicate to (duplicate theTemplate to drafts)
-- produces an error that reads "The variable theDuplicate is not defined."
display dialog (subject of theDuplicate) & " [" & (id of theDuplicate) & "]"
How do I get a reference to the message that was just duplicated? Its ID would be a satisfactory alternative.

Answer 1

There must be a better way but...
--For Testing
set theID to 39110
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
set oldIds to my getDraftIds()
-- find the template give an ID
set theTemplate to message id theID
--duplicate the message
duplicate theTemplate to drafts
set newIds to my getDraftIds()
set duplicatedMessage to message id (my findNewID(oldIds, newIds))
end tell
on getDraftIds()
set messageIDs to {}
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
set draftFolders to (every folder whose name = "Drafts")
repeat with dFolder in draftFolders
set messageIDs to messageIDs & id of dFolder's messages
end repeat
end tell
end getDraftIds
on findNewID(oldList, newList)
repeat with mID in newList
if mID is not in oldList then return mID
end repeat
end findNewID

Answer 2

I guess the duplicate method is pretty limited in this regard. I tried the more generic copy method too - the message is copied, but again no ID is returned.
Here's another possible way to do this with no repeat loops:
Create a new, temporary category
Mark the original message with the new category
Duplicate - the duplicate message will also be marked with the category
search for messages marked with the temporary category - you should only get two - the original and the duplicate
Delete the temporary category
Here is the code (rather unfinished):
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
try
set tempCategory to category "Temporary Category"
on error number -1728
set tempCategory to (make new category with properties {name:"Temporary Category"})
end try
set messageList to selected objects
set origMsg to item 1 of messageList
display dialog "Original Message ID: " & id of origMsg
set msgCat to category of origMsg
set end of msgCat to tempCategory
set category of origMsg to msgCat
duplicate origMsg to drafts
delay 1 -- sigh, it seems to take a bit of time before the category markings are reflected in the spotlight DB
--set msgList to messages whose category contains tempCategory
set currentIdentityFolder to quoted form of POSIX path of (current identity folder as string)
set tempCatMsgs to words of (do shell script "mdfind -onlyin " & currentIdentityFolder & " 'com_microsoft_outlook_categories == " & id of tempCategory & "' | xargs -I % mdls -name com_microsoft_outlook_recordID '%' | cut -d'=' -f2 | sort -u | paste -s -")
if item 1 of tempCatMsgs is (id of origMsg) as text then
set dupMsgId to item 2 of tempCatMsgs
else
set dupMsgId to item 1 of tempCatMsgs
end if
delete tempCategory
display dialog "Original Message ID: " & id of origMsg & return & "Duplicate Message ID: " & dupMsgId
end tell
I thought it would be easier to find messages with a given category using the OL dictionary, but instead had to resort a spotlight search. I'm sure there is a better way to do this.
Also adding a category to a message was harder than I though - again I'm sure this can be done more efficiently.

Answer 3

-- create a temporary folder to hold duplicates
on createFolder(theName)
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
set theFolder to make new mail folder with properties {name:theName}
end tell
end createFolder
-- find folder by name
on findFolder(theName)
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
set theFolder to make new mail folder with properties {name:theName}
end tell
end findFolder
-- duplicate the message and get a reference
on duplicateIt(theID)
set theDestination to findFolder("foo bar")
tell application "Microsoft Outlook"
--find the template
set theTemplate to message id theID
-- duplicate it to the temporary location
(duplicate theTemplate to theDestination)
-- get the first item in the folder
set theDuplicate to item 1 of theDestination
-- do something with it
...
end tell
end duplicateIt