How do I read the Received Date from Outlook MSG files -without- the Outlook API? - outlook

Question

I need to read stuff from an Outlook msg file. Currently I'm using a class from CodeProject.com project to accomplish this, since deploying VSTO and Outlook on a server is not an option.
This class gets To, From, CC, Subject, Body, and everything else I need from the msg file, except Date information (such as Received Date and Sent Date).
There is some (really, really low-level) documentation on how to get stuff out of msg files on MSDN, but it's a little beyond the scope of this project and doesn't mention dates at all.
Ideally I'd be able to have a drop-in replacement for the class I am using now (OutlookStorage.cs in the previously mentioned CodeProject) or be able to modify the existing class a bit. To modify, I would need the correct 4 character hexidecimal prop identifier for received date. For instance, Subject is listed as PR_SUBJECT = "0037" and Body is listed as PR_BOY = "1000".

Answer 1

If you're using OutlookStorage.cs from CodeProject, then add the following:
private const string PR_RECEIVED_DATE="007D";
private const string PR_RECEIVED_DATE_2 = "0047";
...
/// <summary>
/// Gets the date the message was received.
/// </summary>
public DateTime ReceivedDate
{
get
{
if (_dateRevieved == DateTime.MinValue)
{
string dateMess = this.GetMapiPropertyString(OutlookStorage.PR_RECEIVED_DATE);
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(dateMess))
{
dateMess = this.GetMapiPropertyString(OutlookStorage.PR_RECEIVED_DATE_2);
}
_dateRevieved = ExtractDate(dateMess);
}
return _dateRevieved;
//return ExtractDate(dateMess);
}
}
private DateTime _dateRevieved = DateTime.MinValue;
private DateTime ExtractDate(string dateMess)
{
string matchStr = "Date:";
string[] lines = dateMess.Split(new String[] { "\r\n" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
foreach (string line in lines)
{
if (line.StartsWith(matchStr))
{
string dateStr = line.Substring(matchStr.Length);
DateTime response;
if (DateTime.TryParse(dateStr, out response))
{
return response;
}
}
}
return DateTime.MinValue;
}

Answer 2

I think the Aspose library will do what you want, ok it a 3rd party lib so may not be what you want. There are a few vbs scripts around that get basic infomation out of msg files that could be translated.

Answer 3

Got a hint from this:
string fullFileName = "c:\message.msg";
DateTime dateRevieved = new DateTime();
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(fullFileName, Encoding.Default);
string full = sr.ReadToEnd();
string date;
int iStart;
int iLast;
string caption;
//This -should- handle all manner of screwage
//The ONLY way it would not is if someone guessed the -exact- to-the-second
//time that they send the message, put it in their subject in the right format
while (true) { //not an infinite loop, I swear!
caption = "Date:";
if (full.IndexOf("Date:") > -1) { //full shortens with each date is removed
string temp = "";
iStart = full.LastIndexOf(caption);
temp = full.Remove(0, iStart + caption.Length);
full = full.Substring(0, iStart);
iLast = temp.IndexOf("\r\n");
if (iLast < 0) {
date = temp;
} else {
date = temp.Substring(0, iLast);
}
date = date.Trim();
if (date.Contains(subject) || subject.Contains(date)) {
continue; //would only happen if someone is trying to screw me
}
try {
dateRevieved = DateTime.Parse(date); //will fail if not a date
break; //if not a date breaks out of while loop
} catch {
continue; //try with a smaller subset of the msg
}
} else {
break;
}
}
This is kind of a hack compared to the ways you can get other things from msg files using something this lovely project. Still, it's stood up to everything I have thrown against it, and as noted the -only- way to fool it is to put the exact to-the-second date in the subject line in the proper format.

Answer 4

to combine your two posts I would suggest the following solution:
To modify, I would need the correct 4 character hexidecimal prop identifier for recieved date. For instance, Subject is listed as PR_SUBJECT = "0037" and Body is listed as PR_BOY = "1000".
Look for "007D".
Use the method you posted in your second post on the received data to eliminate the problem when the same (date) string is inside the subject.
I have to mention that this method doesn't seem to work on internal eMails: In mails I receive from colleagues, there is no substg1.0_007Dxxxx-Property.
Here, the date seems to be hidden in substg1.0_0047xxxx.
All the best!
inno