outlook.py

'''
outlook.pyw (OutLook editor launcher) -- allows one to edit an open e-mail
      mesg from Outlook using Emacs or *Vi* rather than "Notepad--".  :-)
      NOTE:  requires Python 1.6 and newer (use of string methods)

created by John Klassa (klassa at employees.org) on 2001 May 29
updated by Wesley Chun (cyberweb at rocketmail.com) on 2002 Feb 28

$Id: outlook.pyw,v 0.2 2002/08/28 18:04:06 wesc Exp wesc $
'''

from os import spawnv, P_WAIT, unlink
from tempfile import mktemp
from Tkinter import Tk, Button, Frame, Label
from Tkconstants import *
from win32com.client import Dispatch

def launch():
    '''launch() spawns your favorite editor to edit the Outlook compose 
    window (either new or reply), then returns that data to Outlook...
    change the 'ed' variable to switch editors.'''

    # Get a handle to Outlook.
    o = Dispatch("Outlook.Application")

    # Work our way down to the reply (a "MailItem").
    insp = o.ActiveInspector()
    if insp == None: return
    item = insp.CurrentItem
    if item == None: return

    # Grab the message body in the reply.
    body = item.Body

    # Write the body... need to "encode" the string because Outlook uses
    # Unicode with bunch of unprintables (ASCII chars > 128).  Also, since
    # we are going from DOS2UNIX2DOS, we have the \r\n vs \n issue, re-
    # sulting in those fabulous ^M characters.  A persistent, bound-to-a-
    # key Emacs macro takes care of that nicely, but the solution imple-
    # mented here is to just wipe the '\r's now, then add them back when
    # we reread this file back before returning the body to Outlook.
    tmp = mktemp()                  # generate a unique tmp filename
    fh = open(tmp, "w")
    fh.write(body.encode('ascii', 'ignore').replace('\r\n', '\n'))
    fh.close()

    # Launch editor to edit the file (should make this configurable).
    #ed = r"d:\emacs-20.7\bin\emacs"            # emacs editor binary
    ed = r"c:\tools\vim\vim72\gvim.exe "   # *vi*  editor binary
    spawnv(P_WAIT, ed, [ed, tmp])

    # Read edited file back into memory, restore '\r's, and kill tmp file.
    fh = open(tmp)
    body = fh.read().replace('\n', '\r\n')
    fh.close()
    unlink(tmp)

    # Store it as the body of the reply.  Note that we are merely
    # sending this data back to Outlook -- it does not prevent MS from
    # mucking with your message.  For example, it may add your signature
    # again, or it may remove newlines.  MS software... what can you do?
    item.Body = body

# Create the Tk(inter) GUI app with the appropriate label and buttons.
if __name__=='__main__':
    tk = Tk()
    f = Frame(tk, relief=RIDGE, borderwidth=2).pack()
    Label(f, text="Outlook Edit Launcher v0.2").pack()
    Button(f, text="Edit", fg='blue', command=launch).pack(fill=BOTH)
    Button(f, text="Quit", fg='red', command=tk.quit).pack(fill=BOTH)
    tk.mainloop()