Getting into a folder by path using EWS

Exchange Web Service is very powerful but everything has some limitations.

I've been struggling with one limitation that you cannot access any folder in Mailbox using its path like

/Inbox/MyFolder1/MyAnotherFolder/ThisIsTheFolderIWant

Client is not aware of the folder hierarchy on server side so you cannot access any folder directly, you need to create your own mechanism for that.

I am sharing the sample code I have created to Traverse down to the Folder path one by one and finally return the last folder.

Approach

- Suppose you want to get into “/Inbox/First/Second/Final” folder

- Get root folder’s ID

- Find Inbox using root folder’s ID

- Find First using Inbox folder’s ID

- and so on till Final folder

- Remember you should call FindFolder with FullString ContainmentModeType to get the desired result, otherwise you might get wrong folder

Code

Note: I have tested this code on Exchange 2007 RTM with Visual Studio 2005 , and it should work fine

 class Program
{

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

        ExchangeServiceBinding esb = new ExchangeServiceBinding();
        esb.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("UserName", "Password");
        esb.Url = "https://YourExchangeServerHere/ews/exchange.asmx";

        BaseFolderType bft = GetFolderByPath(esb, "/Inbox/Folder1/Folder2/Folder3/FinalFolder");

        if (null == bft)
            Console.WriteLine("Folder not found.");
        else
            Console.WriteLine("Folder Found: " + bft.DisplayName);
        return;

    }


    static public BaseFolderType GetFolderByPath(ExchangeServiceBinding esb, string szFolderPath)
    {
        if (null == szFolderPath)
            return null;

        if (szFolderPath.IndexOf("/") == -1)
            return null;

        if (szFolderPath.Substring(0, 1).CompareTo("/") == 0)
            szFolderPath = szFolderPath.Substring(1);

        string[] Path = szFolderPath.Split('/');
        string szParentFolderId = null;

        BaseFolderType bft = null;

        for (int i = 0; i < Path.GetLength(0); i++)
        {
            if (null == szParentFolderId)
                szParentFolderId = GetRootFolderId(esb);

            bft = GetFolder(esb, szParentFolderId, Path[i]);
            if (null == bft)
                return null;
            else
                szParentFolderId = bft.FolderId.Id;
        }
        return bft;
    }

    static public BaseFolderType GetFolder(ExchangeServiceBinding esb, string szParentFolderId, string szFolderName)
    {
        if (null == esb || null == szFolderName)
            return null;

        //get the root folder ID
        FolderIdType[] fit = new FolderIdType[1];
        fit[0] = new FolderIdType();
        fit[0].Id = szParentFolderId;

        //set the props that we want to retrieve
        FolderResponseShapeType frst = new FolderResponseShapeType();
        frst.BaseShape = DefaultShapeNamesType.AllProperties;

        //restrict the search on the folder name
        PathToUnindexedFieldType ftFolderName = new
        PathToUnindexedFieldType();

        ftFolderName.FieldURI = UnindexedFieldURIType.folderDisplayName;

        ConstantValueType cvt = new ConstantValueType();
        cvt.Value = szFolderName;

        FieldURIOrConstantType ctFolderName = new FieldURIOrConstantType();
        ctFolderName.Item = cvt;
        ContainsExpressionType cet = new ContainsExpressionType();
        cet.Constant = cvt;
        cet.Item = ftFolderName;
        cet.ContainmentComparison = ContainmentComparisonType.IgnoreCase;
        cet.ContainmentComparisonSpecified = true;
        cet.ContainmentMode = ContainmentModeType.FullString;
        cet.ContainmentModeSpecified = true;
        RestrictionType rt = new RestrictionType();
        rt.Item = cet;

        //find the folder
        FindFolderType fft = new FindFolderType();
        fft.Traversal = FolderQueryTraversalType.Deep;
        fft.ParentFolderIds = fit;
        fft.FolderShape = frst;
        fft.Restriction = rt;
        
        FindFolderResponseType ffrt = esb.FindFolder(fft);
        
        ResponseMessageType rmt = ((ResponseMessageType)ffrt.ResponseMessages.Items[0]);

        if (rmt.ResponseClass == ResponseClassType.Success)
        {
            BaseFolderType[] bfts = ((FindFolderResponseMessageType)ffrt.ResponseMessages.Items[0]).RootFolder.Folders;
            if (bfts.GetLength(0) > 0)
                return bfts[0];
            else
                return null;
        }
        else
            return null;
    }
    static public string GetRootFolderId(ExchangeServiceBinding esb)
    {
        if (null == esb)
            return null;

        DistinguishedFolderIdType[] dfit = new DistinguishedFolderIdType[1];

        //get the root folder ID
        dfit[0] = new DistinguishedFolderIdType();
        dfit[0].Id = DistinguishedFolderIdNameType.root;

        //set the props that we want to retrieve
        FolderResponseShapeType frst = new FolderResponseShapeType();
        frst.BaseShape = DefaultShapeNamesType.AllProperties;

        //get the folder
        GetFolderType gftRoot = new GetFolderType();
        gftRoot.FolderIds = dfit;

        gftRoot.FolderShape = frst;
        GetFolderResponseType gfrt = esb.GetFolder(gftRoot);
        FolderInfoResponseMessageType firmt = ((FolderInfoResponseMessageType)gfrt.ResponseMessages.Items[0]);

        if (firmt.ResponseClass == ResponseClassType.Success)
            return ((FolderInfoResponseMessageType)gfrt.ResponseMessages.Items[0]).Folders[0].FolderId.Id;
        else
            return null;
    }
}

Comments

• Anonymous
  July 26, 2007
  This is an attempt to extend my previous code sample Getting into a folder by path using EWS With this

• Anonymous
  July 26, 2007
  This is an attempt to extend my previous code sample Getting into a folder by path using EWS With this

• Anonymous
  October 28, 2008
  Great POST!!!! Big thanx for helping us with your code. One question, what would I have to change if I want to find a a PUBLIC folder

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2009
  Do you know how to get the mail enabled public folder's email address(es) after I get there? Thanks, Rudi

• Anonymous
  February 05, 2010
  Do you know the root path of a public folder? If I have a test2010 folder would the path be "/test2010" or /Public/Test2010"? I tried both and it did not work. The Inbox code worked great! I have the ExchangeVersionType set to Exchange2010.