Public Free/Busy from Outlook using Extended Mapi

Hi all,

I'm working on a new personal learning project attempting to create an
add-in for Outlook using VB/VB.NET and Extended MAPI that returns
Free/Busy time for public resources (i.e. meeting rooms). I'd like to
bypass the security patch for Outlook so the Outlook Model is out as
is CDO. I've been using the Outlook Redemption library and the
GetFreeBusy method, but I've found the reponse time to be poor. So, I
was attempting to access the information directly from the IMAPIFolder
Contents Table of the PR_FREE_BUSY_FOR_LOCAL_SITE_ENTRYID from the
Public Folder. I've based the approach on the information found at
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts...mapi-l&P=R14480
.. However, I'm stuck at converting the Delphi syntax back to VB.
Specificly converting the following Delphi constructs:

//minutes from Jan. 1, 1601
PR_FREEBUSY_START_RANGE = (ULONG($6847) shl 16) or PT_LONG;
//minutes from Jan. 1, 1601
PR_FREEBUSY_END_RANGE = (ULONG($6848) shl 16) or PT_LONG;

//all events (no matter if they are busy, tentitative or OOF)
PR_FREEBUSY_ALL_MONTHS = (ULONG($684F) shl 16) or PT_MV_LONG;
PR_FREEBUSY_ALL_EVENTS = (ULONG($6850) shl 16) or PT_MV_BINARY;

In addition, after converting and retrieving the values, I'm not clear
what the values will conatin. For example will PR_FREEBUSY_START_RANGE
and PR_FREEBUSY_END_RANGE contain only minutes that are busy (i.e.
tentative, busy, out of office) and how to compare the values to a
user entered date/time range for checking to see if the resource is
available.

I apologize if this post was a bit long winded, but if anyone can
provide some direction I'd greatly appreciate it.

***************
- So how come if it's a penny for your thoughts you have to put your
two cents in? Isn't someone making a penny?

Send me an e-mail to my private address if you are interested in a beta copy
of Redemption that handles f/b quite a bit faster.
(ULONG($6847) shl 16) or PT_LONG
is 0x68470003

Dmitry Streblechenko (MVP)
http://www.dimastr.com/
OutlookSpy - Outlook, CDO
and MAPI Developer Tool


"Edward W." <slngbl8d@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1634799f.0402180716.65213490@posting.google.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm working on a new personal learning project attempting to create an
> add-in for Outlook using VB/VB.NET and Extended MAPI that returns
> Free/Busy time for public resources (i.e. meeting rooms). I'd like to
> bypass the security patch for Outlook so the Outlook Model is out as
> is CDO. I've been using the Outlook Redemption library and the
> GetFreeBusy method, but I've found the reponse time to be poor. So, I
> was attempting to access the information directly from the IMAPIFolder
> Contents Table of the PR_FREE_BUSY_FOR_LOCAL_SITE_ENTRYID from the
> Public Folder. I've based the approach on the information found at
> http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts...mapi-l&P=R14480
> . However, I'm stuck at converting the Delphi syntax back to VB.
> Specificly converting the following Delphi constructs:
>
> //minutes from Jan. 1, 1601
> PR_FREEBUSY_START_RANGE = (ULONG($6847) shl 16) or PT_LONG;
> //minutes from Jan. 1, 1601
> PR_FREEBUSY_END_RANGE = (ULONG($6848) shl 16) or PT_LONG;
>
> //all events (no matter if they are busy, tentitative or OOF)
> PR_FREEBUSY_ALL_MONTHS = (ULONG($684F) shl 16) or PT_MV_LONG;
> PR_FREEBUSY_ALL_EVENTS = (ULONG($6850) shl 16) or PT_MV_BINARY;
>
> In addition, after converting and retrieving the values, I'm not clear
> what the values will conatin. For example will PR_FREEBUSY_START_RANGE
> and PR_FREEBUSY_END_RANGE contain only minutes that are busy (i.e.
> tentative, busy, out of office) and how to compare the values to a
> user entered date/time range for checking to see if the resource is
> available.
>
> I apologize if this post was a bit long winded, but if anyone can
> provide some direction I'd greatly appreciate it.
>
> ***************
> - So how come if it's a penny for your thoughts you have to put your
> two cents in? Isn't someone making a penny?