HOWTO: Use MAPI.DLL to Invoke MS Mail from FoxPro for Windows

ID: Q102467

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 5.0, 6.0
Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5, 2.5a

SUMMARY

In FoxPro for Windows, you can use FOXTOOLS.FLL with MAPI.DLL to invoke Microsoft Mail version 3.0 so that you can send Mail messages while running your FoxPro program.

MORE INFORMATION

By using the RegFn() and CallFn() functions in FOXTOOLS.FLL to access the MAPI.DLL from Mail 3.0, you can send attachments or messages from within a FoxPro for Windows application.

The following sample code calls Microsoft Mail to bring up a Send Note dialog box and attaches the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to the Mail message that is going to be sent:


   SET LIBRARY TO SYS(2004) + "FOXTOOLS.FLL" ADDITIVE
   GetSysDir = RegFn("GetSystemDirectory","@CI","I")
   bigstr = REPLICATE(chr(0),144) &&creates a big string
   retlen = CallFn(GetSysDir, @bigstr,144)
   winsys = LEFT(bigstr,retlen)
   SendMail=RegFn("MAPISendDocuments","L@C@C@CL", ;
      "L", winsys+"\MAPI.DLL")
   T1=";"
   T2="C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT"
   T3=""
   X=CallFn(SendMail,0,@T1,@T2,@T3,0)
   RELEASE LIBRARY SYS(2004) + "FOXTOOLS.FLL"

GetSystemDirectory() is a Microsoft Windows application programming interface (API) function used to retrieve the Windows SYSTEM subdirectory. RegFn() returns a function handle to GetSysDir so that the handle can be accessed by CallFn(). CallFn() is used to determine the length of GetSysDir and assigns the numeric value to retlen. It also puts the string value of GetSysDir in the variable bigstr. At this point, the location of the MAPI.DLL file is known, and the MAPISendDocuments() function is used to send a standard Microsoft Mail message.

Now that MAPISendDocuments() has been registered, the SendMail variable can be used to start Mail. T1 refers to the delimiter between filenames. T2 is the list of files that you would like to send. T3 is a null character and is not necessary for this program. Therefore, if you want to send both the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files in your Mail message, you would use T2="C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT;C:\CONFIG.SYS". For more information on the MAPISendDocuments() function, see the Microsoft Mail "Technical Reference" manual.

REFERENCES

FOXTOOLS.WRI file

Microsoft Mail "Technical Reference," version 3.0, pages 76-81

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