To pop up the Select Names dialog

The Select Names dialog that users see when they click the To button in an Outlook message is available to programmers, but not through the Outlook object model. Instead, you must use Collaboration Data Objects (CDO). Note that CDO is not installed by default in Outlook 2000 and is removed from Outlook 98 by the Outlook E-mail Security Update.

The two VBScript samples below use the CDO AddressBook method to allow the user (a) to choose several addresses and put them in a mail message and (b) to return a single name. Both have code to handle the error that will occur if the Outlook E-mail Security Update is installed and the user does not click Yes at the address book security prompt. To completely avoid the security prompts, you can use Redemption, which has a similar method but triggers no prompts.

Put Addresses in a Message | Return a Single Name | Notes | More Information

Put Addresses in a Message

The following VBScript code sample allows the user to select names, then puts them into the e-mail message passed to the procedure as the objMail argument:

Sub AddRecipsViaCDO(objMail) Const cdoE_USER_CANCEL = &H80040113 ' start CDO session Set objSession = CreateObject("MAPI.Session") objSession.Logon , , False, False On Error Resume Next ' show address book Set colCDORecips = objSession.AddressBook(, _ "Pick Names", , , 1, _ "Recipients") If Err = 0 Then ' put CDO recipients into Outlook message Set colRecips = objMail.Recipients For Each objCDORecip In colCDORecips Set objRecip = colRecips.Add( _ objCDORecip.AddressEntry.Address) If Err = 287 Then ' security block triggered MsgBox "Outlook cannot add " & _ "recipients, because " & _ "you clicked No on the " & _ "e-mail address access " & _ "dialog. You need to try " & _ "again and click Yes " & _ "this time.", , _ "E-mail Address Access" Exit For End If Next colRecips.ResolveAll ElseIf Err = cdoE_USER_CANCEL Then ' user canceled the address book dialog - ' do nothing or provide a message to user End If ' release objects objSession.Logoff Set colCDORecips = Nothing Set objRecip = Nothing Set objCDORecip = Nothing Set colRecips = Nothing Set objSession = Nothing End Sub

Return a Single Name

The following script returns a single name from the address book and warns the user if more than one name was selected:

Function GetOneNameViaCDO() Const cdoE_USER_CANCEL = &H80040113 ' start CDO session Set objSession = CreateObject("MAPI.Session") objSession.Logon , , False, False On Error Resume Next Set colCDORecips = objSession.AddressBook(, _ "Pick a Name", , , 1, _ "My Choice") If Err = 0 Then If colCDORecips.Count <> 1 Then MsgBox "Please choose exactly 1 name.", , _ "Chose One Name" Else strName = _ colCDORecips.Item(1).AddressEntry.Name If Err = 287 Then ' security block triggered MsgBox "Outlook cannot return " & _ "a name, because " & _ "you clicked No on the " & _ "e-mail address access " & _ "dialog. You need to try " & _ "again and click Yes " & _ "this time.", , _ "E-mail Address Access" End If End If ElseIf Err = cdoE_USER_CANCEL Then ' user canceled the address book dialog - ' do nothing or provide a message to user End If GetOneNameViaCDO = strName ' release objects objSession.Logoff Set colCDORecips = Nothing Set objSession = Nothing End Function

Notes

The AddressBook method provides many options, including setting the number of recipient "wells" and their titles. The two examples above use only one "well." See AddressBook method for more details.

While Microsoft officially does not support the use of CDO with Outlook running in Internet Mail Only mode, generally there is no problem. One exception is that you cannot use the oneAddress parameter in IMO mode; doing so will generate an error.

Both samples above include error-handling for the case in which the user cancels the address book dialog and the case in which the user has the Outlook Email Security Update installed and responds No to the e-mail address access dialog.

In the second sample, the name returned may include text such as "(E-mail)." This will depend on which address book the name was selected from and the Outlook version. You may want to edit the name to remove that kind of information, using standard text-parsing functions.

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