How to: Send the Mail-Merge Document as an E-Mail

• Oct 08, 2023
• 4 minutes to read

The following example describes how to send the mail merge result as an e-mail.

Refer to the Mail Merge topic for an example on how to create a mail-merge document. Follow the steps below to export the result as a Microsoft® Outlook® mail item.

• Create an Exporter class
• Send the result to the Microsoft® Outlook® application

Create an Exporter Class

1. Add a reference to the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook assembly.

2. Create an exporter class that implements the IUriProvider interface. Declare the class constructor as follows:

   C#

   using DevExpress.Office.Services;
   using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;
   
   public class RichEditMailMessageExporter : IUriProvider
   {
     readonly RichEditControl control;
     readonly Outlook.MailItem mailItem; 
   
     public RichEditMailMessageExporter(RichEditControl control, Outlook.MailItem mailItem)
    {
       Guard.ArgumentNotNull(control, "control");
       Guard.ArgumentNotNull(mailItem, "mailItem");
   
       this.control = control;
       this.mailItem = mailItem;
    }
   }
   

   VB.NET

   Imports DevExpress.Office.Services
   Imports Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook
   
   Public Class RichEditMailMessageExporter
       Inherits IUriProvider
   
       ReadOnly control As RichEditControl
       ReadOnly mailItem As Outlook.MailItem
   
       Public Sub New(ByVal control As RichEditControl, ByVal mailItem As Outlook.MailItem)
           Guard.ArgumentNotNull(control, "control")
           Guard.ArgumentNotNull(mailItem, "mailItem")
           Me.control = control
           Me.mailItem = mailItem
       End Sub
   End Class
   

3. Implement the Export method to retrieve the document text in HTML format and convert it into the message body. Subscribe to the RichEditControl.BeforeExport event.

   C#

   string tempFiles = Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), "TempFiles");
   
   public virtual void Export()
     {
        if (!Directory.Exists(tempFiles))
        Directory.CreateDirectory(tempFiles);
   
        control.BeforeExport += OnBeforeExport;
        string htmlBody = control.Document.GetHtmlText(control.Document.Range, this);
        control.BeforeExport -= OnBeforeExport;
   
        mailItem.BodyFormat = Outlook.OlBodyFormat.olFormatHTML;
        mailItem.HTMLBody = htmlBody;
      }
   

   VB.NET

   Private tempFiles As String = Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), "TempFiles")
   
   Public Overridable Sub Export()
           If Not Directory.Exists(tempFiles) Then Directory.CreateDirectory(tempFiles)
           control.BeforeExport += AddressOf OnBeforeExport
           Dim htmlBody As String = control.Document.GetHtmlText(control.Document.Range, Me)
           control.BeforeExport -= AddressOf OnBeforeExport
           mailItem.BodyFormat = Outlook.OlBodyFormat.olFormatHTML
           mailItem.HTMLBody = htmlBody
       End Sub
   

4. Specify the HtmlDocumentExporterOptions.Encoding property in the BeforeExport event handler.

   C#

   private void OnBeforeExport(object sender, BeforeExportEventArgs e)
     {
        HtmlDocumentExporterOptions options = e.Options as HtmlDocumentExporterOptions;
        if (options != null)
        {
           options.Encoding = Encoding.UTF8;
        }
     }
   

   VB.NET

   Private Sub OnBeforeExport(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As BeforeExportEventArgs)
           Dim options As HtmlDocumentExporterOptions = TryCast(e.Options, HtmlDocumentExporterOptions)
   
           If options IsNot Nothing Then
               options.Encoding = Encoding.UTF8
           End If
       End Sub
   

5. Implement the interface’s IUriProvider.CreateCssUri and IUriProvider.CreateImageUri methods. In this example, the IUriProvider.CreateImageUri method retains the document images and attaches them to the mail message.

   C#

   int imageId;
   
   public string CreateCssUri(string rootUri, string styleText, string relativeUri)
   {
      return String.Empty;
   }
   
   public string CreateImageUri(string rootUri, OfficeImage image, string relativeUri)
   {
      string imageName = String.Format("image{0}.png", imageId);
      imageId++;
   
      string imagePath = Path.Combine(tempFiles, imageName);
   
      image.NativeImage.Save(imagePath, ImageFormat.Png);
   
      mailItem.Attachments.Add(imagePath, Outlook.OlAttachmentType.olByValue, 0, Type.Missing);
   
      return "cid:" + imageName;
   }
   

   VB.NET

   Private imageId As Integer
   
   Public Function CreateCssUri(ByVal rootUri As String, ByVal styleText As String, ByVal relativeUri As String) As String
      Return String.Empty
   End Function
   
   Public Function CreateImageUri(ByVal rootUri As String, ByVal image As OfficeImage, ByVal relativeUri As String) As String
     Dim imageName As String = String.Format("image{0}.png", imageId)
     imageId += 1
     Dim imagePath As String = Path.Combine(tempFiles, imageName)
     image.NativeImage.Save(imagePath, ImageFormat.Png)
     mailItem.Attachments.Add(imagePath, Outlook.OlAttachmentType.olByValue, 0, Type.Missing)
     Return "cid:" & imageName
   End Function
   

Send the result to the Microsoft® Outlook® application

Declare a new Outlook application object and create a new mail item in the main class. Create a new RichEditMailMessageExporter instance and pass the RichEditControl and the MailItem objects as parameters. Call the Export method.

In this example, the document is sent as a mail item on a “Send Mail” button click.

C#

private void btnSend_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if ((edtTo.Text.Trim() == "") || (edtSubject.Text.Trim() == ""))
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Fill in required fields");
                return;
            }
            try
            {
                Outlook.Application application = new Outlook.Application();
                Outlook.MailItem mailItem = (Outlook.MailItem)application.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);

                mailItem.To = edtTo.Text;
                mailItem.Subject = edtSubject.Text;

                RichEditMailMessageExporter exporter = new RichEditMailMessageExporter(richEdit, mailItem);
                exporter.Export();

                mailItem.Display(false);
            }
            catch (Exception exc)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(exc.Message);
            }
        }

VB.NET

Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    If (edtTo.Text.Trim() = "") OrElse (edtSubject.Text.Trim() = "") Then
        MessageBox.Show("Fill in required fields")
        Return
    End If

    Try
        Dim application As Outlook.Application = New Outlook.Application()
        Dim mailItem As Outlook.MailItem = CType(application.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem), Outlook.MailItem)
        mailItem.[To] = edtTo.Text
        mailItem.Subject = edtSubject.Text
        Dim exporter As RichEditMailMessageExporter = New RichEditMailMessageExporter(richEdit, mailItem)
        exporter.Export()
        mailItem.Display(False)
    Catch exc As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(exc.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Note

A full code example is available in the How to export the RichEditControl document into an Outlook mail item repository on GitHub.