Filtering on SearchFilterCollection by using the EWS Managed API 2.0
Last modified: October 13, 2012
Applies to: EWS Managed API | Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) | Exchange Server 2010
Note: This content applies to the EWS Managed API 2.0 and earlier versions. For the latest information about the EWS Managed API, see Web services in Exchange.
You can use the Microsoft Exchange Web Services (EWS) Managed API to create a SearchFilter.SearchFilterCollection search filter. The SearchFilterCollection will enable you to search an Exchange mailbox for items or folders that satisfy the criteria of one or more search filters. Applications can use the SearchFilterCollection search filter to define complex searches such as "Condition1 AND Condition2".
To use a SearchFilterCollection search filter
Define a view along with a page size. The following example shows an ItemView with a page size of 10.
ItemView view = new ItemView(10);The page size is required to create an ItemView. Other optional parameters for the ItemView constructor are the Offset and the OffsetBasePoint. The Offset and OffsetBasePoint are used for subsequent paged calls.
Optionally, to enhance performance, identify the properties to return in the results set. The following example shows a property set that includes the item Id and Subject properties.
view.PropertySet = new PropertySet(BasePropertySet.IdOnly, ItemSchema.Subject);Create the search filter collection. In this code example, the SearchFilterCollection specifies that a search of "LogicalOperation.Or" is performed, which indicates that a search must satisfy at least one of the search filters.
SearchFilter.SearchFilterCollection searchFilterCollection = new SearchFilter.SearchFilterCollection(LogicalOperator.Or);Add one or more search criteria to the SearchFilterCollection. In this example, two search filters are added to the search filter collection.
Create the first search filter. In this example, the search filter searches for the word "extended" in the Subject line.
searchFilterCollection.Add(new SearchFilter.ContainsSubstring(ItemSchema.Subject, "extended"));Create the second search filter. In this example, the search filter searches the defined extended property for a value of six.
Guid MyPropertySetIdint = new Guid("{75A5486F-9267-49ca-9B4E-3D04CA9EC179}"); ExtendedPropertyDefinition extendedPropertyDefinitionint = new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(MyPropertySetIdint, "MyFlag", MapiPropertyType.Integer); searchFilterCollection.Add(new SearchFilter.IsEqualTo(extendedPropertyDefinitionint, 6));Send the request to search the mailbox and get the results. In this example, the search is limited to the mailbox user's Inbox.
FindItemsResults<Item> findResults = service.FindItems(WellKnownFolderName.Inbox, searchFilterCollection, view);Do something with the FindItemsResult object.
Example
The following example shows how to search an Exchange mailbox for a collection of search filters. The first search filter searches for the word "extended" in the Subject line of the item. The second search filter searches for the MyFlag extended property with a value of six. The example displays the total number of e-mail messages that satisfy the search filters.
// Obtain a collection of e-mail messages that satisfy a specified Search filter.
ItemView view = new ItemView(10);
view.PropertySet = new PropertySet(BasePropertySet.IdOnly, ItemSchema.Subject);
// SearchFilterCollection - Filter on mail with the word "extended” in the Subject
// or an extended property value of six.
SearchFilter.SearchFilterCollection searchFilterCollection = new SearchFilter.SearchFilterCollection(LogicalOperator.Or);
// Add the first search filter - search for the word "extended" in the Subject.
searchFilterCollection.Add(new SearchFilter.ContainsSubstring(ItemSchema.Subject, "extended"));
// Add the second search filter - search for the extended property value of six.
Guid MyPropertySetIdint = new Guid("{75A5486F-9267-49ca-9B4E-3D04CA9EC179}");
ExtendedPropertyDefinition extendedPropertyDefinitionint = new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(MyPropertySetIdint, "MyFlag", MapiPropertyType.Integer);
searchFilterCollection.Add(new SearchFilter.IsEqualTo(extendedPropertyDefinitionint, 6));
FindItemsResults<Item> findResults = service.FindItems(WellKnownFolderName.Inbox, searchFilterCollection, view);
This example assumes that the ExchangeService object named service is correctly configured for connecting to the user's Client Access server.
The following example shows the XML request that is sent by the client to the server when a SearchFilterCollection search filter is used to search an Exchange mailbox.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages"
xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:soap="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<soap:Header>
<t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2010" />
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<m:FindItem Traversal="Shallow">
<m:ItemShape>
<t:BaseShape>IdOnly</t:BaseShape>
<t:AdditionalProperties>
<t:FieldURI FieldURI="item:Subject" />
</t:AdditionalProperties>
</m:ItemShape>
<m:IndexedPageItemView MaxEntriesReturned="10" Offset="0" BasePoint="Beginning" />
<m:Restriction>
<t:Or>
<t:Contains ContainmentMode="Substring" ContainmentComparison="IgnoreCase">
<t:FieldURI FieldURI="item:Subject" />
<t:Constant Value="extended" />
</t:Contains>
<t:IsEqualTo>
<t:ExtendedFieldURI PropertySetId="75a5486f-9267-49ca-9b4e-3d04ca9ec179"
PropertyName="MyFlag" PropertyType="Integer" />
<t:FieldURIOrConstant>
<t:Constant Value="6" />
</t:FieldURIOrConstant>
</t:IsEqualTo>
</t:Or>
</m:Restriction>
<m:ParentFolderIds>
<t:DistinguishedFolderId Id="inbox" />
</m:ParentFolderIds>
</m:FindItem>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
The following example shows the XML response that is returned by the server after it parses the request from the client. The ItemId and ChangeKey attributes have been shortened to preserve readability.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<s:Header>
<h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="14" MinorVersion="0" MajorBuildNumber="499"
MinorBuildNumber="0" Version="Exchange2010"
xmlns:h="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" />
</s:Header>
<s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<m:FindItemResponse xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages"
xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
<m:ResponseMessages>
<m:FindItemResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
<m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
<m:RootFolder IndexedPagingOffset="8" TotalItemsInView="8" IncludesLastItemInRange="true">
<t:Items>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh=" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 8</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh =" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 8</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 5</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 5</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAABG1Sh8748rS6HAt4gVZYTuAAAKhDxs" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 4</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 6</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 6</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
<t:Message>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADBkODh" ChangeKey="CQAAABYAAA" />
<t:Subject>Saved with extendedPropertyDefinition (MyFlag) value of 6</t:Subject>
</t:Message>
</t:Items>
</m:RootFolder>
</m:FindItemResponseMessage>
</m:ResponseMessages>
</m:FindItemResponse>
</s:Body>
</s:Envelope>
Compiling the code
For information about compiling this code, see Getting started with the EWS Managed API 2.0.
Robust programming
Write appropriate error handling code for common search errors.
Review the client request XML that is sent to the Exchange server.
Review the server response XML that is sent from the Exchange server.
Set the service binding as shown in Setting the Exchange service URL by using the EWS Managed API 2.0. Do not hard code URLs because if mailboxes move, they might be serviced by a different Client Access server. If the client cannot connect to the service, retry setting the binding by using the AutodiscoverUrl(String) method.
Set the target Exchange Web Services schema version by setting the requestedServerVersion parameter of the ExchangeService constructor. For more information, see Versioning EWS requests by using the EWS Managed API 2.0.
Security
Use HTTP with SSL for all communication between client and server.
Always validate the server certificate that is used for establishing the SSL connections. For more information, see Validating X509 certificates by using the EWS Managed API 2.0.
Do not include user names and passwords in trace files.
Verify that Autodiscover lookups that use HTTP GET to find an endpoint always prompt for user confirmation; otherwise, they should be blocked.