Open .eml file in Outlook 2010 using ActiveX

Question

I am working on a document management intranet application. Files will be on a shared network drive; users will click on a link and that file will open in its native application (Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.). I have all of the Office files opening using ActiveX except for eml. When I try to open eml files in Outlook 2010, I get an invalid path error when debugging in IE.

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Here is the link html:

<a class="documentLink" href="file:///E:\FileShareDocs\996-0-Client\test 107 Copy.eml">test 107 Copy</a>

and the js:

var ua = window.navigator.userAgent;
var msie = ua.indexOf("MSIE ");
if (msie > 0 || !!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv\:11\./)) {
    $('.documentLink').click(function () {
        var app;
        var path = $(this).attr('href');
        var extension = path.split('.').pop();
        switch(extension) {
            case "docx":
            case "doc":
            case "rtf":
                app = "Word.Application";
                try {
                    var objword = new ActiveXObject(app);
                } catch (e) {
                    alert(e);
                }
                if (objword != null) {
                    objword.Visible = true;
                    objword.Documents.Open(path);
                }
                break;
            case "xlsx":
            case "xls":
                app = "Excel.Application";
                    try {
                        var objexcel = new ActiveXObject(app);
                    } catch (e) {
                        alert(e);
                    }
                if (objexcel != null) {
                    objexcel.Visible = true;
                    objexcel.Workbooks.Open(path);
                }
                break;
            case "pptx":
            case "ppt":
                app = "PowerPoint.Application";
                try {
                    var objppt = new ActiveXObject(app);
                } catch (e) {
                    alert(e);
                }
                if (objppt != null) {
                    objppt.Visible = true;
                    path = path.substring(8, path.length);
                    objppt.Presentations.Open(path);
                }
                break;
            case "msg":
            case "eml":
                app = "Outlook.Application";
                try {
                    var objoutlook = new ActiveXObject(app);
                    var objNS = objoutlook.GetNameSpace('MAPI'); 
                } catch (e) {
                    alert(e);
                }
                if (objoutlook != null) {
                    path = path.substring(8, path.length);
                    var mailItm = objoutlook.Session.OpenSharedItem(path);
                    mailItm.Display();
                }
                break;
            case "tiff":
            case "tif":
            case "pdf":
                app = "AcroExch.AVDoc";
                try {
                    var objacro = new ActiveXObject("AcroExch.App");
                    var objpdf = new ActiveXObject(app);
                } catch (e) {
                    alert(e);
                }
                if (objacro != null && objpdf != null) {
                    path = path.substring(8, path.length);
                    objpdf.Open(path,$(this).html());
                    objacro.Show();
                }
                break;
            case "txt":
            case "htm":
                path = path.substring(8, path.length);
                var shell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.shell");
                var command = "NOTEPAD.EXE " + path;
                shell.run(command, 3);
                //document.execCommand("SaveAs",true,path);
                break;
            default:
                //Open file's containing folder in explorer
                path = path.substring(8, path.length);
                path = path.substring(0, path.lastIndexOf('\\'));
                var shell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.shell");
                var command = "explorer " + path;
                shell.run(command, 3);
        }   
    });
}

I've tried commenting out the line below, which would leave the 'file:///' in the path, but IE still throws an error saying it cannot find the file.

path = path.substring(8, path.length);

Dmitry Streblechenko Dmitry Streblechenko · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-11T20:44:21

Outlook does not provide any MIME (EML) related functionality through its object model. You can

Use IConverterSession built-in MAPI interface - it can only be used from C++ or Delphi, not from Java Script
Parse the EML file yourself
Use Redemption - it will let you create a temporary MSG file using RDOSession.CreateMesageFromMSGFile and then import an EML file using RDOMail.Import followed by RDOMail.Display.

On a side note, if all you are trying to do is display the EML file to the user, why not simply create an instance of WScript.Shell to call Run() passing the EML filename as the parameter?

Open .eml file in Outlook 2010 using ActiveX

1 Answers