How To: Retrieve Outlook Contact items using Restrict method

In one of my previous articles, where I described how to use the Restrict method to retrieve Outlook mail items from a folder, I demonstrated the way of using the Restrict method against mail items. Now I am going to use this method against Contact items in Outlook.

I want to draw your attention to the fact that the Restrict method works much faster than the Find and FindNext methods if there is a large number of items in the folder and only a few items are expected to be found. Use the Find and FindNext methods in case of a relatively small number of items in a folder.

The code below gets the collection of contact items from the specified folder (using the Restrict method of the Items class), then iterates over the returned items and writes the first and last name of the particular contact item to the debug output. You can use the Output window in Visual Studio or the DebugView utility to intercept such output. In general, there are no breaking changes compared to using mail items. I have just modified the filtering criteria ;-)

C# and Add-in Express:

using System.Text;
using System.Diagnostics;
// ...
private void RestrictCoWorkers(Outlook.MAPIFolder folder)
{
    string restrictCriteria = "[CompanyName] = \"Add-in Express\" ";
    StringBuilder strBuilder = null;
    Outlook.Items folderItems = null;
    Outlook.Items resultItems = null;
    Outlook._ContactItem contact = null;
    int counter = default(int);
    object item = null;
    try
    {
        strBuilder = new StringBuilder();
        folderItems = folder.Items;
        resultItems = folderItems.Restrict(restrictCriteria);
        for(int i=1; resultItems.Count>=i; i++)
        {
            item = resultItems.Item(i);
            if (item is Outlook._ContactItem)
            {
                counter++;
                contact = item as Outlook._ContactItem;
                strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() +
                                      "\tFist Name: " + contact.FirstName+
                                      "\tLast Name: " + contact.LastName);
            }
            Marshal.ReleaseComObject(item);
        }
        if (strBuilder.Length > 0)
            Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString());
        else
            Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the "
                             + folder.Name + " folder.");
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
    finally
    {
        if (folderItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems);
        if (resultItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItems);
    }
}

VB.NET and Add-in Express:

Imports System.Text
Imports System.Diagnostics
' ...
Private Sub RestrictCoWorkers(folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder)
    Dim restrictCriteria As String = "[CompanyName] = ""Add-in Express"" "
    Dim strBuilder As StringBuilder = Nothing
    Dim folderItems As Outlook.Items = Nothing
    Dim resultItems As Outlook.Items = Nothing
    Dim contact As Outlook._ContactItem = Nothing
    Dim counter As Integer = 0
    Dim item As Object = Nothing
    Try
        strBuilder = New StringBuilder()
        folderItems = folder.Items
        resultItems = folderItems.Restrict(restrictCriteria)
        For i As Integer = 1 To resultItems.Count
            item = resultItems.Item(i)
            If TypeOf (item) Is Outlook._ContactItem Then
                counter += 1
                contact = item
                strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() + _
                                      " - Subject: " + contact.Subject)
            End If
            Marshal.ReleaseComObject(item)
        Next
        If (strBuilder.Length > 0) Then
            Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString())
        Else
            Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the " _
                             + folder.Name + " folder.")
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
    Finally
        If Not IsNothing(folderItems) Then Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems)
        If Not IsNothing(resultItems) Then Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItems)
    End Try
End Sub

C# and VSTO:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Diagnostics;
// ...
private void RestrictCoWorkers(Outlook.MAPIFolder folder)
{
    string restrictCriteria = "[CompanyName] = \"Add-in Express\" ";
    StringBuilder strBuilder = null;
    Outlook.Items folderItems = null;
    Outlook.Items resultItems = null;
    Outlook._ContactItem contact = null;
    int counter = default(int);
    object item = null;
    try
    {
        strBuilder = new StringBuilder();
        folderItems = folder.Items;
        resultItems = folderItems.Restrict(restrictCriteria);
        for (int i = 1; resultItems.Count >= i; i++)
        {
            item = resultItems[i];
            if (item is Outlook._ContactItem)
            {
                counter++;
                contact = item as Outlook._ContactItem;
                strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() +
                                      "\tFist Name: " + contact.FirstName +
                                      "\tLast Name: " + contact.LastName);
             }
             Marshal.ReleaseComObject(item);
         }
         if (strBuilder.Length > 0)
             Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString());
         else
             Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the "
                              + folder.Name + " folder.");
     }
     catch (Exception ex)
     {
         System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
     }
     finally
     {
         if (folderItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems);
         if (resultItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItems);
     }
}

VB.NET and VSTO:

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Diagnostics
' ...
Private Sub RestrictCoWorkers(folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder)
    Dim restrictCriteria As String = "[CompanyName] = ""Add-in Express"" "
    Dim strBuilder As StringBuilder = Nothing
    Dim folderItems As Outlook.Items = Nothing
    Dim resultItems As Outlook.Items = Nothing
    Dim contact As Outlook._ContactItem = Nothing
    Dim counter As Integer = 0
    Dim item As Object = Nothing
    Try
        strBuilder = New StringBuilder()
        folderItems = folder.Items
        resultItems = folderItems.Restrict(restrictCriteria)
        For i As Integer = 1 To resultItems.Count
            item = resultItems.Item(i)
            If TypeOf (item) Is Outlook.ContactItem Then
                counter += 1
                contact = item
                strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() + _
                                      " - Subject: " + contact.Subject)
            End If
            Marshal.ReleaseComObject(item)
        Next
        If (strBuilder.Length > 0) Then
            Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString())
        Else
            Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the " _
                             + folder.Name + " folder.")
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
    Finally
        If Not IsNothing(folderItems) Then Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems)
        If Not IsNothing(resultItems) Then Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItems)
    End Try
End Sub

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