Re: Request for help writing a short Entourage script

[Allen Watson]

Title: Re: Request for help writing a short Entourage script

Two FMP mail archive packages exist. One is quite simple and fast; it needs manual intervention (one Entourage folder at a time, archives just messages you select). The other is much more automated, has many more features, but may be more than you need. It is $15 shareware, while the first is free. Since you only need to archive a dozen or so messages weekly, I suggest the first option called the Crevier Archive package (written by Dan Crevier, now a member of the Microsoft development team for Entourage, for Claris Emailer originally, ported to Outlook Express and then to Entourage, by me). However, I don’t think It records the attachment names. The second package, eMessage Archiver, does record attachments.

NEITHER package preserves formatting and styled text; the text is saved in plain text. It is very tricky to do anything else because the styling information in FileMaker is quite different from that in HTML; if you attempt it, I can promise you it won’t be short or easy!!

1. Crevier Archive for Entourage: see my web page, in the Entourage -> Export/Import folder I think, as “Crevier Archive.sit”. <http://homepage.mac.com/allenwatson/>
   

  2.  Emessage Archiver: <http://homepage.mac.com/ThinkAgain/Mac/eMA/>

If you just want to extract the info yourself and do your own script and database:

1. To get a list of attachments, if you have a message referenced in the variable “theMsg”:
   

   set theSub to subject of theMsg
   try
       set nList to name of attachments of theMsg
   on error theErr
       display dialog theErr
   end try
   
    set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {return}
    set theList to nList as text
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelims
   set theList to "Attachments to message " & theSub & return & theList
   set the clipboard to theList
   display dialog theList

That gives you more than you need (you don’t need to do the display dialog, obviously; that’s just to confirm you got it right).

To add the headers and message content, the <easiest> thing is to just add:

 set theList to theList & return & source of theMsg

Take a look at some of my other scripts, or those by others on AppleScriptCentral.com, to get ideas for handling more specific fields.
--
Microsoft MVP for Entourage/OE/Word
Allen Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> XNS name: =Allen Watson
Applescripts for Outlook Express and Entourage: <http://homepage.mac.com/allenwatson/>

--
Microsoft MVP for Entourage/OE/Word
Allen Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> XNS name: =Allen Watson
Applescripts for Outlook Express and Entourage: <http://homepage.mac.com/allenwatson/>

From: Allan Davidson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "Entourage:mac Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 12:52:17 -0500
To: "Entourage:mac Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Request for help writing a short Entourage script

Hi

I need to be able add copies of some Entourage emails to a FileMaker database (I have to do this about 10 times a day). I’m currently doing most of it as manual cut and paste) but it’s painful, slow and error prone, so I’ve been working on a script to automate the process

I’ve got the FM part of the script working, but have had difficulty figuring out how to get the Entourage data into the clipboard in the way that I need it and also preserve as much of the message’s formatting and styles as possible. Ideally I’d need to place on the clipboard the following data for the selected message in the order below:

• The list of attachments
• A carriage return
• The address header  (this would be the same info as in a forward using the short header and preserving the colors and styles as much as possible
• The body of whichever message I’ve selected, including its formatting and styles (as much as possible) – I’m not worried about inline graphics, etc)
  

Is there somebody that has such an Entourage script or can help me put one together?

Thanks


Allan