CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#vstooutlook-addinoutlook-2010
user1675891
user1675891

Reputation:

Can't remove contacts from an address book in Outlook 2010

I can add a contact to a address book but for some reason I can't remove it. The code I'm executing is as follows.

String abName = "Name ofthe targetted address book";
Outlook.Folder addressBook;
if (targetFolder.Folders.OfType<Outlook.Folder>().Any(element
  => element.Name == abName))
  addressBook = targetFolder.Folders[abName] as Outlook.Folder;
else
  addressBook = targetFolder.Folders.Add(
    abName, Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderContacts) as Outlook.Folder;
addressBook.ShowAsOutlookAB = true;

for (int i = addressBook.Items.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
  if (!stringList.Any(element 
    => element == addressBook.Items.OfType<Outlook.ContactItem>()
      .ToList()[i].Email1Address))
    addressBook.Items.OfType<Outlook.ContactItem>().ToList().RemoveAt(i);

The fetching of the address book works and the matching for strings too. I get into the RemoveAt line for the exactly correct contacts. There's no error or other message when I execute the removal. Still, the contact list remain unaffected.

  1. Why?
  2. What can I do to actually remove the contacts?

I suspect that I may be working on a copy of the actual list containing the contacts. The problem is that if I don't create a List, I'm not sure how to alter the list of contacts.

So, the most helpful answer would shed some light on how to alter addressBook (or perhaps addressBook.Items) given certain condition. E.g., say that we'd like to remove all the contants the name of whom starts with the letter "Q".

At this moment I can only think of a super ugly work-around and it's so rectum-ugly that I don't even mention it here. Really ugly...

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1527

Answers (2)

Dung Le
Dung Le

Reputation: 96

Here is a solution

    private void ClearContact(Outlook.Application outlookApplication)
    {
        Outlook.MAPIFolder contactFolder = outlookApplication.Session.GetDefaultFolder(OlDefaultFolders.olFolderContacts);
        int total = contactFolder.Items.Count;
        while (total > 0)
        {
            // first index number is 1 not 0
            var contact = (Outlook.ContactItem)contactFolder.Items[1];
            contact.Delete();
            total = contactFolder.Items.Count;
        }
    }

I use netoffice outlook api http://netoffice.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Outlook_Example05 And use while loop to delete all contact

Upvotes: 1

Dmitry Streblechenko
Dmitry Streblechenko

Reputation: 66306

You ae not removing an Outlook contact. You are removing an OUtlook object from your own List object.

You need to call ContactItem.Delete.

As a side note, do not use multiple dot notation when working with COM objects, especially in a loop - you will receive a brand new COM object for each dot.

Upvotes: 1

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