How to Drag and Drop Outlook Attachments into a .NET MAUI Application?

Ansh 25 Reputation points
2024-10-02T21:03:12.09+00:00

I’m working on a .NET MAUI application that allows users to drag and drop file attachments from Outlook. I have successfully implemented drag-and-drop functionality for files from Windows Explorer, but I’m facing challenges when trying to do the same with Outlook attachments.

Currently, I have the following implementation to handle file drops from Windows Explorer:

<telerik:RadRichTextEditor.GestureRecognizers>
    <DropGestureRecognizer AllowDrop="True" />
</telerik:RadRichTextEditor.GestureRecognizers>
public static void RegisterDrop(UIElement element, Action<IList<FileAttachment>> onFilesDropped)
{
    element.Drop += async (s, e) =>
    {
        if (e.DataView.Contains(StandardDataFormats.StorageItems))
        {
            var items = await e.DataView.GetStorageItemsAsync();
            var attachments = new List<FileAttachment>();
            foreach (var item in items)
            {
                if (item is StorageFile file)
                    attachments.Add(new FileAttachment(file.Name, file.Path));
            }

            if (attachments.Count > 0)
            {
                onFilesDropped?.Invoke(attachments);
            }
        }
    };
}


For Outlook attachments, I found a solution intended for WPF, which uses FileGroupDescriptorW. Here's a simplified version of what I'm trying to implement:

if (e.DataView.Contains("FileGroupDescriptorW"))
{
    try
    {
        // Read file descriptor and contents here
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Debug.WriteLine("Error in DragDrop: " + ex.Message);
    }
}

However, I am not receiving the expected data, as it does not contain the FileGroupDescriptor.

I came across a few resources, but they seem outdated or not directly applicable to .NET MAUI:

CodeProject WPF Drag-and-Drop Solution

GitHub Outlook File Drag - This one is for HTML5-based web applications.

Stack Overflow Post on WPF DataGrid

The third method implemented by my colleague four years ago in WPF application is also not functioning now (FileGroupDescriptor not found).

else if (((DataObject)args.Data).GetDataPresent("FileGroupDescriptor"))
 {
     var list = new List<DropFilesStream>();
     OutlookDataObject dataObject = new OutlookDataObject((DataObject)args.Data);
     string[] filenames = (string[])dataObject.GetData("FileGroupDescriptor");
     MemoryStream[] fileContent = (MemoryStream[])dataObject.GetData("FileContents");
     for (int fileIndex = 0; fileIndex < filenames.Length; fileIndex++)
     {
         DropFilesStream dropFilesStream = new DropFilesStream();
         dropFilesStream.FileName = filenames[fileIndex];
         dropFilesStream.FileStream = fileContent[fileIndex];
         list.Add(dropFilesStream);
     }
     data = list;
 }        

Has anyone successfully implemented dragging and dropping Outlook attachments into a .NET MAUI application? Any guidance or code examples would be greatly appreciated!

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
11,703 questions
Outlook
Outlook
A family of Microsoft email and calendar products.
3,987 questions
.NET MAUI
.NET MAUI
A Microsoft open-source framework for building native device applications spanning mobile, tablet, and desktop.
3,587 questions
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