How to avoid security prompts in Visual Basic programs for Outlook

The components for work with MAPI

As a matter of fact, there is only one component worth talking about in this section: Redemption by Dmitri Steblechenko (dimastr.com). Currently, there are no other components, and even the great Slipstick.com contains no other references but to Redemption.

However, under the request of a friend of ours, we've made a small component for easy reading on MAPI properties from Visual Basic for him. The component MAPIProp takes as little as 25 Kb on a disc, and it is distributed for free together with the source codes in Visual C++ 6.0 and examples in JScript, VBScript, Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET. You can download the component here

Besides the MAPI initialization functions, the component contains methods for reading object properties, reading great-volume values (like PR_BODY) and transparent reading of compressed features (like PR_RTF_COMPRESSED). The component returns the property values in the ‘native’ form of Visual Basic, so you won't have to bother with converting ANSI-strings into a VB-string.

Though, what should one do, if, for example, one needs to get the list of message recipients? This list cannot be obtained through IMessage properties, as it exists as a separate table. One may try using the function HrGetRecipientList, as described above, but working with complicated structures containing references is not a strong point of Visual Basic. So, the Redemption library is a reasonable solution.

The library, like OutlookSpy, is a shareware product, however, its capabilities are many times more capable than that of our own, assuming they can be compared at all.

Redemption offers alternative implementations for all Outlook objects, where properties are locked by the security system. Thus, for MailItem Redemption has SafeMailItem (whose methods are not blocked by the security system), for ContactItem there is SafeContactItem, etc. Besides, Redemption has a special object MAPIUtils, which contains over a dozen methods for work with MAPI, including methods for reading and writing MAPI properties.

Redemption has been known for years and, like OutlookSpy, it is a must-have product for any software designer intending to create serious applications for Microsoft Outlook in Visual Basic.