You can automate Outlook or other email programs to automatically generate emails that include data or text displayed on the screen.
If you prefer to run macros in pre-configured sessions instead of creating your own sessions, you can download the VBA Sample Sessions and open the generate-email.rd3x (IBM) and generate-email.rdox (Open Systems) files. The download package contains everything you need to run the macros in these files. See Download the VBA Sample Sessions.
This sample shows how to create an email that uses screen data for it's body text and adds an email address.
This sample runs a macro that creates an email if the program is on the INTERNATIONAL KAYAK ENTERPRISES screen.
To run this sample
- Create a new Ibm 3270 terminal session and enter "demo:ibm3270.sim" in the Host name / IP Address field.
- On the first screen, enter any credentials.
- On the second screen, enter "kayak".
- In the Visual Basic Editor Project window, under the session project folder, create a new module, copy the code into the new module, and press F5 to run the macro.
| Email screen data |
Copy Code
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Sub CreateEmail()
Dim myOutlookApp As Object
Dim mail As Object
Dim screenID As String
Const ERR_APP_NOTRUNNING As Long = 429
'Get text to identify screen
screenID = ThisIbmScreen.GetText(1, 25, 31)
'Don't run the macro unless the program is on the screen with the data
If screenID = "INTERNATIONAL KAYAK ENTERPRISES" Then
' Get a handle to the Microsoft outlook object
On Error Resume Next
Set myOutlookApp = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")
'If Outlook is not open, create an instance
If Err = ERR_APP_NOTRUNNING Then
Set myOutlookApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
End If
'Create an email message and pass in a null string to include all the screen text in the body
ThisIbmTerminal.Productivity.OfficeTools.CreateNewEmailMessage (vbNullString)
'Get the new email object
Set mail = myOutlookApp.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
'Use the HTML format
mail.olBodyFormat = olFormatHTML
'Get text from the screen for the subject
mail.Subject = ThisIbmScreen.GetText(3, 31, 20)
'Use a text string for the email address
mail.Recipients.Add ("salesGroup@xyz.com")
'uncomment to send the email automatically
'mail.send
Set myOutlookApp = Nothing
Set mail = Nothing
Else:
MsgBox ("You must be on the 'INTERNATIONAL KAYAK ENTERPRISES' screen to send a sales status email.")
End If
End Sub
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This example generates an email.
To run this sample
- Create a new VT terminal session and enter "demo:UNIX" in the Host name / IP Address field.
- On the first screen, enter any credentials.
- On the second screen, enter "demodata".
- In the Visual Basic Editor Project window, under the session project folder, create a new module, copy the code into the new module, and press F5 to run the macro.
| Email screen data |
Copy Code
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'This macro creates an email that uses screen data for its body text and adds an email address.
Sub CreateEmail()
Dim myOutlookApp As Object
Dim mail As Object
Dim screenID As String
Const ERR_APP_NOTRUNNING As Long = 429
'Get a handle to the Microsoft outlook object
On Error Resume Next
Set myOutlookApp = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")
'If Outlook is not open, create an instance
If Err = ERR_APP_NOTRUNNING Then
Set myOutlookApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
End If
'Create an email message and pass in a null string to include all the screen text in the body
ThisTerminal.Productivity.OfficeTools.CreateNewEmailMessage (vbNullString)
'Get the new email object
Set mail = myOutlookApp.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
mail.olBodyFormat = olFormatHTML
'Use text from the screen for the subject
mail.Subject = "Sales Data"
'Use a text string for the email address
mail.Recipients.Add ("salesGroup@xyz.com")
'Uncomment to automatically send email
'mail.send
Set myOutlookApp = Nothing
Set mail = Nothing
End Sub
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Concepts
This macro gets or creates an Outlook application object.
Then it uses the Reflection CreateNewEmailMessage method to create an email message. Passing in a null value captures the entire screen and places it in the body. (Another option is to pass a region of the screen to this method captured using a Reflection method such as the Screen object's GetText3 method.)
After you have an email object, you can set the format, subject, recipients, and other properties just as you would if you were writing an Outlook VBA macro.
