XFOR: Accessing the Contents Table of Non-Replicated PF Fails

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.0
• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Any attempt, by an application, to access the contents table of a non- replicated Public Folder (PF) will fail and return an error code 80004005 when using the Microsoft Exchange Software Development Kit (SDK) sample gateway code (and perhaps other components as well).

An example of the call might be:

   MAPICALL(lpFBSiteFolder)->GetContentsTAble(lpFBSiteFolder, 
                                              MAPI_DEFERRED_ERROR, 
                                              &lpTableCont);

CAUSE

Enumerating the local folder hierarchy table will result in success because of the public folder heirarchy replication, however, when the application makes the call to lpfolder->GetcontentsTable() to retrieve a table containing the messages in the folder, the Microsoft Exchange Server will return a failure meaning that the content hasn't been replicated. In some cases, where public folder affinity is enabled, the local Server will attempt to return the content from another Server. If the account that the application (or connector) is using does not have permissions to access the folder, this call will fail as well. This is the case with the GWSample code that creates an account that will not be able to access the resource.

The actual return code from this function in case of failure should be MAPI_E_NO_SUPPORT, indicating that the contents table cannot be returned. However, this is not seen from the GWSample code because it throws away the return code in the cleanup section and uses ERROR_INTERNAL_ERROR.

RESOLUTION

The problem can be resolved by replicating the folder on the local store. If you need to access a PF on a remote Server, the problem can also be resolved by writing a MAPI application that uses a normal user's profile and perform these functions as a Windows NT service.

If you are not using the GWSample code and are experiencing this problem, verify that you are using the correct account permissions with public folder affinity. The mysterious error condition can also be improved by writing a MAPI application that uses the return value of the GetContentsTable() call to accurately explain the condition in the event logs so that the problem may be fixed.