Convert Byte Array to Outlook Mail Item object

Question

Convert Byte Array to Outlook Mail Item object

Tobias Price 0

Hello,

I have a blazor application, which consumes an API, which sends it .msg files as byte arrays.

I cannot download or save the byte array anywhere, so I wondered if it is at all possible to read the byte array into something like an Outlook Mail Item, in memory, so I can access the Subject, body etc. and display them?

Open to using 3rd party libraries, or a complete viewer solution.

At the moment, the only was I can access them is to save them, and it isn't a solution going forward.

Any help, suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

RLWA32 49,536 Reputation points

2023-04-05T11:22:24.2366667+00:00

Just checking back to see if you've made any progress towards a solution.

2 answers

Your answer

RLWA32 49,536 Reputation points

2023-04-05T11:22:24.2366667+00:00

Just checking back to see if you've made any progress towards a solution.

Answer 1

Bruce (SqlWork.com) 77,686 Volunteer Moderator

Try

https://github.com/Sicos1977/MSGReader

Tobias Price 0 Reputation points

2023-03-30T15:37:44.73+00:00

Thanks, I have looked at that, but I can't see a method that accepts a byte array. It seems to want a path to an msg file

RLWA32 49,536

@Tobias Price I think you missed an important fact when you considered the MsgReader suggestion from @Bruce (SqlWork.com) . The class that creates an Outlook Message object has a constructor that accepts a Stream. You could load your byte array into a memory stream and pass that to the constructor. A proof of concept using a MsgReader test file -

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    byte[] bytearray = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(@"C:\Users\RLWA32\source\repos\msgreader\MsgReaderTests\SampleFiles\HtmlSampleEmailWithAttachment.msg");
    Stream stream = new MemoryStream(bytearray);
    using (var msg = new MsgReader.Outlook.Storage.Message(stream))
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"From: {msg.Sender.DisplayName}, Email Address: {msg.Sender.Email}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Sent date: {msg.SentOn}");
        Console.WriteLine($"To: {msg.ReceivedBy.DisplayName}, Email Address: {msg.ReceivedBy.Email}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Subject {msg.Subject}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Attachment: {((MsgReader.Outlook.Storage.Attachment)msg.Attachments.First()).FileName}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Text Body:\n{msg.BodyText}");
    }
}

Console output - Proof of concept

As displayed by the MsgViewer application -

Answer 2

RLWA32 49,536

.MSG files are compound files that can be accessed by the Structured Storage API. Their format is documented at [MS-OXMSG]: Outlook Item (.msg) File Format.

Conceptually, the CreateILockBytesOnHGlobal function and the StgOpenStorageOnILockBytes function could be used to obtain access to a .msg file in memory.

It goes without saying that this would not be a trivial undertaking. However, it might be worth investigating if you cannot find a simpler and more user-friendly alternative.

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Convert Byte Array to Outlook Mail Item object

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