CDO & MAPI Programming with Visual Basic:

Reading Mail

Reading mail is a two-step process. First, the MAPIMessages control’s Fetch method retrieves messages from the Inbox into the control’s read buffer. Then messages are read by setting and reading the control’s properties. These properties will be discussed shortly, after the Fetch method is described.

The Fetch method has no parameters. Rather, its behavior is modified by the settings of some of the properties of the MAPIMessages control.

The FetchUnreadOnly property is a Boolean flag that, if set to True, causes a subsequent call to Fetch to retrieve only those messages that haven’t been read (i.e., the MsgRead property is False). If the FetchUnreadOnly property is False, its default value, the next call to Fetch retrieves all messages from the Inbox.

The FetchSorted property is a Boolean flag that, if set to True, causes a subsequent call to Fetch to sort the retrieved messages according to the order in which they were received. If the FetchSorted property is False, its default value, the messages are sorted according to the order specified by the Inbox. The MAPI controls don’t provide a way to modify the Inbox sort order.

The FetchMessageType property is a string that allows you to fetch messages that belong to a certain message class. When this property contains a zero-length string (as it does by default), messages are retrieved without regard to their message class. However, when this property has some other value, a subsequent Fetch retrieves only those messages ...