Active Accessibility differences between 2 VDE machines

[JeroenOosterhol]

I've made an object to read the amount of unread emails from 4 shared mailboxes in Outlook. We are using 2 virtual desktops, 1 test and 1 production. These devices should be identical (in theory). However, in the application modeller, it seems that the active accessibility attributes differ between the devices. On the test device, the amount of unread emails are retrieved from the "Name" attribute (e.g. "Inbox: 1 unread message"). For the production device, the "Name" attribute is "Inbox", and the unread email text is stored in the "Value" attribute (e.g. "14 unread messages"). Can anyone advise which settings might have caused the differences in active accessibility attributes? Thanks, Jeroen

[DaveMorris]

Hi Jeroen, Short answer: I haven't seen that issue. But I have some suggestions/questions if you have time to indulge me. =) I have to ask this first. Are you sure that you need to spy the Outlook user interface? If the purpose is to read mail from shared mailboxes, it is possible to do this programmatically. You can write custom code to accomplish reading from shared mailboxes. Or, there is a new-ish VBO available from the Digital Exchange from NEOOPS that comes with an action for that. I haven't tested that action, but I imagine that it works if it's on the Digital Exchange. Try it out here: https://digitalexchange.blueprism.com/dx/entry/3351/solution/neoops-ms-… As far as AA differences go between machines, is this the same application model (and same object) that is being used between the two? Would you mind taking screenshots of the part of Outlook that you're spying? I don't know that I have an answer, but I wouldn't mind trying it out myself. Respectfully, Dave

[JeroenOosterhol]

Hi Dave, Thanks for your response. The initial reason for spying the UI was the fact that we were using MAPIEX, which doesn't seem to work with shared mailboxes (in our case at least). I'm not sure I have access to the Digital Exchange - is this the same MS Outlook Email VBO that comes automatically with Blue Prism 6.4? If yes, how would I go about specifying the sub-folders? It seems that it should be a sub-folder of the (personal) inbox. Of course I'd prefer a programmed VBO, but as we're based in a finance team there is no one with the knowledge to make a custom VBO. I've added an edited screenshot (for privacy reasons), there is 1 personal emailbox and a number of shared mailboxes. For each, I am trying to read the amount of emails in the ""Inbox"" and ""VMD"" folders. So I've spied each shared mailbox and the Inbox/VMD folders. Thanks and kind regards, Jeroen

[DaveMorris]

Hi Jeroen, I don't think there's any access restrictions on the digital exchange. If it says you need to login or create an account, you should be able to do that and then download the asset. The link in my previous post (https://digitalexchange.blueprism.com/dx/entry/3351/solution/neoops-ms-…) is to a VBO that is similar to the Outlook VBO that you mentioned, but it is not the same one. Both of them use interop, which means you need to download the interop dll and put it in the BP Automate folder for the VBO to work. Take a look at that VBO and see if the actions provided get you what you're looking for. As I mentioned, I haven't tested it but I imagine it would work. And the description of that VBO specifically points out it is used to access shared mailboxes. And you're right about the sub-folder thing. That's a limitation of MAPIEx as well as the Outlook VBO provided by Blue Prism. Both only get from the Inbox or subfolders of the Inbox. Let me know if the NEOOPS Outlook VBO works for you. Respectfully, Dave

[JeroenOosterhol]

Hi Dave,   I've tried using the NEOOPS, but it seems like it can only find my personal emailbox. Although I'm not entirely sure how it should be configured for it to function. Any suggestions?   Kind regards, Jeroen

[JeroenOosterhol]

Update: it's working now - thanks for recommending the VBO!