Create a simple recurrent task item
Applies to: Outlook 2013 | Outlook 2016
MAPI can be used to create to create task items. This topic describes how to create a simple recurrent task item.
For information about how to download, view, and run the code from the MFCMAPI application and CreateOutlookItemsAddin project referenced in this topic, see Install the Samples Used in This Section.
To create a task item
Open a message store. For information on how to open a message store, see Opening a Message Store.
Open the Tasks folder in the message store. For more information, see PR_IPM_TASK_ENTRYID (PidTagIpmTaskEntryId).
Call the IMAPIFolder::CreateMessage method on the Tasks folder to create the new task item.
Set the dispidTaskRecur (PidLidTaskRecurrence) property and other task-related properties required to create a recurrent task.
Save the new task item.
The AddTask function in the Tasks.cpp source file of the CreateOutlookItemsAddin project demonstrates these steps. The AddTask function takes parameters from the Add Task dialog box that is displayed when you click Add Task on the Addins menu in the MFCMAPI sample application. The DisplayAddTaskDialog function in Tasks.cpp displays the dialog box and passes values from the dialog box to the AddTask function. The DisplayAddTaskDialog function does not relate directly to creating a task item using MAPI, so it is not listed here.
Important
The code in the MFCMAPI application does not ensure that the Tasks folder has been selected when you click the Add Task command on the Addins menu. Creating task items in a folder other than the Tasks folder can cause undefined behavior. Make sure that you have selected the Tasks folder before using the Add Task command in the MFCMAPI application.
The AddTask function is listed below. Note that the lpFolder parameter passed to the AddTask function is a pointer to an IMAPIFolder interface that represents the folder where the new task is created. Given the lpFolder that represents an IMAPIFolder interface, the code calls the IMAPIFolder::CreateMessage method. The CreateMessage method returns a success code and a pointer to a pointer to an IMessage interface. Most of the AddTask function code handles the work of specifying properties in preparation for calling the IMAPIProp::SetProps method. If the call to the SetProps method succeeds, the IMAPIProp::SaveChanges method is called to commit the changes to the store and create a new task item.
The AddTask function sets a number of named properties. For information about named properties and how they are created, see Using MAPI to Create Outlook 2007 Items. Because the named properties used for task items occupy multiple property sets, care must be taken when building parameters to pass to the IMAPIProp::GetIDsFromNames method.
The AddTask function uses the BuildWeeklyTaskRecurrencePattern helper function to build a structure representing a task recurrence for setting the dispidTaskRecur property. For information on the task recurrence structure the BuildWeeklyTaskRecurrencePattern function builds, see PidLidTaskRecurrence Canonical Property and PidLidRecurrencePattern Canonical Property.
Note that while a large variety of recurrence patterns are possible, the BuildWeeklyTaskRecurrencePattern function only builds a weekly recurrence pattern. It is also hard coded for a number of assumptions, such as the calendar type (Gregorian), the first day of the week (Sunday), and the number of modified or deleted instances (none). A more general purpose recurrence pattern creation function would need to accept these sorts of variables as parameters.
The following is the complete listing of the AddTask function.
HRESULT AddTask(LPMAPIFOLDER lpFolder,
SYSTEMTIME* lpstStart, // PidLidCommonEnd, PidLidTaskDueDate, PidLidTaskRecurrence
SYSTEMTIME* lpstEnd, // PidLidTaskRecurrence
SYSTEMTIME* lpstFirstDOW, // PidLidTaskRecurrence
DWORD dwPeriod, // PidLidTaskRecurrence
DWORD dwOccurrenceCount, // PidLidTaskRecurrence
DWORD dwPatternTypeSpecific, // PidLidTaskRecurrence
LPWSTR szSubject, // PR_SUBJECT_W
LPWSTR szBody) // PR_BODY_W
{
if (!lpFolder) return MAPI_E_INVALID_PARAMETER;
HRESULT hRes = S_OK;
LPMESSAGE lpMessage = 0;
// create a message and set its properties
hRes = lpFolder->CreateMessage(0,
0,
&lpMessage);
if (SUCCEEDED(hRes))
{
MAPINAMEID rgnmid[ulTaskProps];
LPMAPINAMEID rgpnmid[ulTaskProps];
LPSPropTagArray lpNamedPropTags = NULL;
ULONG i = 0;
for (i = 0 ; i < ulTaskProps ; i++)
{
if (i < ulFirstTaskProp)
rgnmid[i].lpguid = (LPGUID)&PSETID_Common;
else
rgnmid[i].lpguid = (LPGUID)&PSETID_Task;
rgnmid[i].ulKind = MNID_ID;
rgnmid[i].Kind.lID = aulTaskProps[i];
rgpnmid[i] = &rgnmid[i];
}
hRes = lpFolder->GetIDsFromNames(
ulTaskProps,
(LPMAPINAMEID*) &rgpnmid,
NULL,
&lpNamedPropTags);
if (SUCCEEDED(hRes) && lpNamedPropTags)
{
// Because the properties to be set are known in advance,
// most of the structures involved can be statically declared
// to minimize expensive MAPIAllocateBuffer calls.
SPropValue spvProps[NUM_PROPS] = {0};
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskMode].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskMode],PT_LONG);
spvProps[p_PidLidCommonEnd].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidCommonEnd],PT_SYSTIME);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskStatus].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskStatus],PT_LONG);
spvProps[p_PidLidPercentComplete].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidPercentComplete],PT_DOUBLE);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskState].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskState],PT_LONG);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskRecurrence].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskRecurrence],PT_BINARY);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskDeadOccurrence].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskDeadOccurrence],PT_BOOLEAN);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskOwner].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskOwner],PT_UNICODE);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskFRecurring].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskFRecurring],PT_BOOLEAN);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskOwnership].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskOwnership],PT_LONG);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskAcceptanceState].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskAcceptanceState],PT_LONG);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskFFixOffline].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskFFixOffline],PT_BOOLEAN);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskDueDate].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskDueDate],PT_SYSTIME);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskComplete].ulPropTag
= CHANGE_PROP_TYPE(lpNamedPropTags->aulPropTag[p_PidLidTaskComplete],PT_SYSTIME);
spvProps[p_PR_MESSAGE_CLASS_W].ulPropTag = PR_MESSAGE_CLASS_W;
spvProps[p_PR_ICON_INDEX].ulPropTag = PR_ICON_INDEX;
spvProps[p_PR_SUBJECT_W].ulPropTag = PR_SUBJECT_W;
spvProps[p_PR_MESSAGE_FLAGS].ulPropTag = PR_MESSAGE_FLAGS;
spvProps[p_PR_BODY_W].ulPropTag = PR_BODY_W;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskMode].Value.l = tdmtNothing;
SYSTEMTIME stStartUTC = {0};
TzSpecificLocalTimeToSystemTime(NULL,lpstStart,&stStartUTC);
SystemTimeToFileTime(&stStartUTC,&spvProps[p_PidLidCommonEnd].Value.ft);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskStatus].Value.l = tsvNotStarted;
spvProps[p_PidLidPercentComplete].Value.dbl = 0.0;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskState].Value.l = tdsOWNNEW;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskDeadOccurrence].Value.b = false;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskOwner].Value.lpszW = L"Unknown";
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskFRecurring].Value.b = true;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskOwnership].Value.l = tovNew;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskAcceptanceState].Value.l = tdvNone;
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskFFixOffline].Value.b = true;
SystemTimeToFileTime(lpstStart,&spvProps[p_PidLidTaskDueDate].Value.ft);
spvProps[p_PidLidTaskComplete].Value.b = false;
spvProps[p_PR_MESSAGE_CLASS_W].Value.lpszW = L"IPM.Task";
spvProps[p_PR_ICON_INDEX].Value.l = 0x501; // Unassigned Recurring Task
spvProps[p_PR_SUBJECT_W].Value.lpszW = szSubject;
spvProps[p_PR_MESSAGE_FLAGS].Value.l = MSGFLAG_READ;
spvProps[p_PR_BODY_W].Value.lpszW = szBody;
hRes = BuildWeeklyTaskRecurrencePattern(
lpstStart,
lpstEnd,
lpstFirstDOW,
dwPeriod,
dwOccurrenceCount,
dwPatternTypeSpecific,
&spvProps[p_PidLidTaskRecurrence].Value.bin.cb,
&spvProps[p_PidLidTaskRecurrence].Value.bin.lpb);
if (SUCCEEDED(hRes))
{
hRes = lpMessage->SetProps(NUM_PROPS, spvProps, NULL);
if (SUCCEEDED(hRes))
{
hRes = lpMessage->SaveChanges(FORCE_SAVE);
}
}
if (spvProps[p_PidLidTaskRecurrence].Value.bin.lpb)
delete[] spvProps[p_PidLidTaskRecurrence].Value.bin.lpb;
}
MAPIFreeBuffer(lpNamedPropTags);
}
if (lpMessage) lpMessage->Release();
return hRes;
}