Parse winmail.dat (TNEF/MAPI) in Delphi¶

In previous section, I introduced how to verify digital signature and decrypt email. In this section, I will introduce how to parse winmail.dat (TNEF stream) in Delphi.

Sections:

Introduction
[Delphi Example - Parse winmail.dat (TNEF stream)]
Parse TNEF (winmail.dat) by DecodeTNEF method

Introduction¶

When an Outlook user composes and sends a message using either Rich Text Format or HTML Format, Outlook automagically generates a file, winmail.dat, and attaches it to the end of the email. The winmail.dat contains the rich text body and original attachments. To parse winmail.dat (TNEF stream) file, we should use ParseTNEF method.

Note

Remarks: All of examples in this section are based on first section: A simple Delphi project. To compile and run the following example codes successfully, please click here to learn how to create the test project and add reference to your project.

[Delphi Example - Parse winmail.dat (TNEF stream)]¶

The following example codes demonstrate how to parse MAPI winmail.dat.

Note

To get the full sample projects, please refer to Samples section.

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
    Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
    Dialogs, StdCtrls, EAGetMailObjLib_TLB;

type
    TForm1 = class(TForm)
        Button1: TButton;
        procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
    private
        { Private declarations }
        procedure ParseEmail(fileName: WideString);
    public
        { Public declarations }
    end;

const
    CRYPT_MACHINE_KEYSET = 32;
    CRYPT_USER_KEYSET = 4096;
    CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER = 65536;
    CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_LOCAL_MACHINE = 131072;

var
    Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.ParseEmail(fileName: WideString);
Var
    oMail: TMail;
    i, x, XBound: Integer;

    addrs: IAddressCollection;
    addr: IMailAddress;

    atts: IAttachmentCollection;
    att, tatt: IAttachment;

    oCert: TCertificate;
    oSignerCert: ICertificate;
    tatts: OleVariant;
begin
    oMail := TMail.Create(Application);
    oMail.LicenseCode := 'TryIt';
    oMail.LoadFile(fileName, false);

    if oMail.IsEncrypted then
        try
            // this email is encrypted, decrypt it by default user certificate
            oMail.ConnectTo(oMail.Decrypt(nil));
            // You can also use specified certificate like this
            // oCert := TCertificate.Create(Application);
            // oCert.LoadFromFile('c:\test.pfx', 'pfxpassword', CRYPT_USER_KEYSET);
            // oMail.Load(oMail.Decrypt(oCert.DefaultInterface).Content);
        except
            on ep: exception do
                ShowMessage('Decrypt Error: ' + ep.Message);
        end;

    if oMail.IsSigned then
        try
            // this email is digital signed, verify signature
            oSignerCert := oMail.VerifySignature();
            ShowMessage('This email contains a valid digital signature.');

            // You can add the certificate to your certificate storage like this
            // oSignerCert.AddToStore(CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER,
            // 'addressbook');
            // Then you can use send the encrypted email back to this sender.
        except
            on ep: Exception do
                ShowMessage('Verify signature Error: ' + ep.Message);
        end;

    // Parse email sender
    ShowMessage('From: ' + oMail.From.Address);

    // Parse email to recipients
    addrs := oMail.ToList;
    for i := 0 To addrs.Count - 1 do
    begin
        addr := addrs.Item[i];
        ShowMessage('To: ' + addr.Address);
    End;

    // Parse email cc recipients
    addrs := oMail.CcList;
    for i := 0 To addrs.Count - 1 do
        begin
            addr := addrs.Item[i];
            ShowMessage('Cc: ' + addr.Address);
        end;

    // Parse email subject
    ShowMessage('Subject: ' + oMail.Subject);

    // Parse email text body
    ShowMessage('Text body: ' + oMail.TextBody);

    // Parse email HTML body
    ShowMessage('HTML body: ' + oMail.HtmlBody);

    // Parse attachment
    atts := oMail.AttachmentList;
    for i := 0 To atts.Count - 1 do
        begin
            att := atts.Item[i];
            ShowMessage(att.Name);
            if LowerCase(att.Name) = 'winmail.dat' then
                begin
                    // this is outlook rtf (TNEF) attachment, decode it here
                    tatts := oMail.ParseTNEF(att.Content, true);
                    XBound := VarArrayHighBound(tatts, 1);
                    for x:= 0 to XBound do
                    begin
                        tatt := IDispatch(VarArrayGet(tatts,x)) as IAttachment;
                        ShowMessage('winmail.dat' + tatt.Name);
                    end;
                end
        end;

end;

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
    try
        ParseEmail('c:\test folder\test.eml');
    except
        on ep:Exception do
            ShowMessage('Error: ' + ep.Message);
    end;
end;

end.

Parse TNEF (winmail.dat) by DecodeTNEF method¶

In EAGetMail 4.5, a new method named DecodeTNEF is introduced. It is easier to parse TNEF attachment. Please have a look at the following example codes:

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
    Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
    Dialogs, StdCtrls, EAGetMailObjLib_TLB;

type
    TForm1 = class(TForm)
        Button1: TButton;
        procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
    private
        { Private declarations }
        procedure ParseEmail(fileName: WideString);
    public
        { Public declarations }
    end;

const
    CRYPT_MACHINE_KEYSET = 32;
    CRYPT_USER_KEYSET = 4096;
    CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER = 65536;
    CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_LOCAL_MACHINE = 131072;

var
    Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.ParseEmail(fileName: WideString);
Var
    oMail: TMail;
    i: Integer;

    addrs: IAddressCollection;
    addr: IMailAddress;

    atts: IAttachmentCollection;
    att: IAttachment;

    oCert: TCertificate;
    oSignerCert: ICertificate;
begin
    oMail := TMail.Create(Application);
    oMail.LicenseCode := 'TryIt';
    oMail.LoadFile(fileName, false);

    if oMail.IsEncrypted then
        try
            // this email is encrypted, decrypt it by default user certificate
            oMail.ConnectTo(oMail.Decrypt(nil));
            // You can also use specified certificate like this
            // oCert := TCertificate.Create(Application);
            // oCert.LoadFromFile('c:\test.pfx', 'pfxpassword', CRYPT_USER_KEYSET);
            // oMail.Load(oMail.Decrypt(oCert.DefaultInterface).Content);
        except
            on ep: exception do
                ShowMessage('Decrypt Error: ' + ep.Message);
        end;

    if oMail.IsSigned then
        try
            // this email is digital signed, verify signature
            oSignerCert := oMail.VerifySignature();
            ShowMessage('This email contains a valid digital signature.');

            // You can add the certificate to your certificate storage like this
            // oSignerCert.AddToStore(CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER,
            // 'addressbook');
            // Then you can use send the encrypted email back to this sender.
        except
            on ep: Exception do
                ShowMessage('Verify signature Error: ' + ep.Message);
        end;

    // Decode winmail.dat (TNEF) automatically
    oMail.DecodeTNEF();

    // Parse email sender
    ShowMessage('From: ' + oMail.From.Address);

    // Parse email to recipients
    addrs := oMail.ToList;
    for i := 0 To addrs.Count - 1 do
    begin
        addr := addrs.Item[i];
        ShowMessage('To: ' + addr.Address);
    End;

    // Parse email cc recipients
    addrs := oMail.CcList;
    for i := 0 To addrs.Count - 1 do
        begin
            addr := addrs.Item[i];
            ShowMessage('Cc: ' + addr.Address);
        end;

    // Parse email subject
    ShowMessage('Subject: ' + oMail.Subject);

    // Parse email text body
    ShowMessage('Text body: ' + oMail.TextBody);

    // Parse email HTML body
    ShowMessage('HTML body: ' + oMail.HtmlBody);

    // Parse attachment
    atts := oMail.AttachmentList;
    for i := 0 To atts.Count - 1 do
        begin
            att := atts.Item[i];
            ShowMessage(att.Name);
        end;

end;

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
    try
        ParseEmail('c:\test folder\test.eml');
    except
        on ep:Exception do
            ShowMessage('Error: ' + ep.Message);
    end;
end;

end.

Next Section

At next section I will introduce how to convert email to HTML page and display it in Web browser.

Tutorial Index

Parse winmail.dat (TNEF/MAPI) in Delphi¶

Introduction¶

[Delphi Example - Parse winmail.dat (TNEF stream)]¶

Parse TNEF (winmail.dat) by DecodeTNEF method¶

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