How to set outlook folder initial view programatically - outlook

Question

I want to set a public folder to have an initial view (custom view), I know how to do it manually on outlook 2007, however, I cannot find any property or method i can use in the Interop (Folder and MAPI folder) that can do this.
After a few hours of googling, i came out the following:
Imports NUnit.Framework
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Net.Mail
Imports System.Net.Mime
Imports System.Net
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook
<TestFixture()>
Public Class TestOutlook
<Explicit()>
<Test()>
Public Sub TestSetFolderInitialView()
Dim ol As New Outlook.Application
Dim exCatched As Exception = Nothing
Try
' Get My Mailbox
Dim myFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder = Nothing
For i As Integer = 0 To ol.Session.Folders.Count - 1
myFolder = ol.Session.Folders(i + 1)
If myFolder.Name = "Mailbox - Rex" Then ' Change it to your mail box name
Exit For
End If
Next
' Get the folder I want to Set initial view
Dim testFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder = Nothing
If myFolder IsNot Nothing Then
For i As Integer = 0 To myFolder.Folders.Count - 1
Dim pFolder = myFolder.Folders(i + 1)
If pFolder.Name = "Inbox" Then
For Each fol As Outlook.MAPIFolder In pFolder.Folders
If fol.Name = "TestFolder" Then
testFolder = fol
Exit For
End If
Next
Exit For
End If
Next
End If
If testFolder IsNot Nothing Then
Try
' Create a test view
Dim newVw = CType(testFolder.Views.Add("RexTest-" & DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd-hhmmss"),
Outlook.OlViewType.olTableView,
Outlook.OlViewSaveOption.olViewSaveOptionThisFolderEveryone),
Outlook.TableView)
newVw.LockUserChanges = True
newVw.Save()
newVw.Apply()
' PR_DEFAULT_VIEW_ENTRYID:
Dim ns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/"
Dim PR_DEFAULT_VIEW_ENTRYID = "0x36160102"
Dim PR_FOLDER_XVIEWINFO_E = "0x36E00102"
Dim defaultVw = testFolder.PropertyAccessor.GetProperty(ns & PR_DEFAULT_VIEW_ENTRYID)
Dim xVwInfo = testFolder.PropertyAccessor.GetProperty(ns & PR_FOLDER_XVIEWINFO_E)
' the defaultVw is nothing for the first time (actually throw exception)
' if i manually change it from the outlook,
' the value will be something like: 000000004B593F3D35EF8C42AB181C105AE444D40700E46C905CB9ABE446AA44351902AFC40E000026BF7A8C000040DB82FE9B98724F9B222A9C9BDB42CD0000005CF0280000
' **** The problem is how to get the correct binary data for the newly created view so i can set it like this: *****
'testFolder.PropertyAccessor.SetProperty(ns & PR_DEFAULT_VIEW_ENTRYID, testFolder.PropertyAccessor.StringToBinary(newVw.Name))
Catch ex As Exception
' _log.Warn(String.Format("Error set initial view {0} to folder - {1}", newVw.Name, testFolder.Name), ex)
exCatched = ex
' First time error 'The property "http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x36160102" is unknown or cannot be found' will be shown
' If we set the initial view of the folder in the outlook, this error will go away
End Try
End If
Catch ex As Exception
Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message)
Debug.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace)
exCatched = ex
Finally
If ol IsNot Nothing Then
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(ol)
ol = Nothing
End If
End Try
If exCatched IsNot Nothing Then
Throw exCatched
End If
End Sub
End Class
Now the only left part is how to get the correct binary data from the newly created view. some clue to manipulate the binary value: http://microsoft.public.win32.programmer.messaging.narkive.com/x1fNHHA5/default-view
however it was written in a different language and I got no idea how to make it in vb or c#.
any help appreciated.

Answer 1

Have you tried MAPIFolder.CurrentView and MAPIFolder.Views?