# Win32OLE doesn't work with Outlook Express? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 12, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-doesnt-work-with-outlook-express/85272 "2007-02-12T07:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/baon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-doesnt-work-with-outlook-express/85272/1 "2007-02-12T07:17:23Z")
Hi there, I am trying to retrieve some mails from my Outlook Express mail-box. However, when using the ‘WIN32OLE.connect(‘Outlook Express.Application’)’, I will get the following error message: WIN32OLERuntimeError: unknown OLE server: `Outlook Express.Application' HRESULT error code:0x800401f3 Invalid class string from (irb):23:in`initialize’ from (irb):23:in `new’ from (irb):23 I have tried ‘Outlook’, ‘Outlookexpress’ with upper/lower case as well. It doesn’t work anyway. It seems to me that WIN32OLE could support Outlook, but not Outlook Express. Is that true? If so, would you guys please give me some ideas on how to accomplish my task of retrieving data from Outlook Express (\*.dbx formats) using Ruby? Regards and Thanks, Bob ---
**Author:** ![baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/baon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 12:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-doesnt-work-with-outlook-express/85272/2 "2007-02-12T12:13:46Z")
Hi baon, > I am trying to retrieve some mails from my Outlook Express mail-box. > > However, when using the ‘WIN32OLE.connect(‘Outlook Express.Application’)’, I > will get the following error message: Outlook Express doesn’t have a COM interface. See here for some ways you can deal with .dbx files: [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/230261](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/230261) Cheers, Dave ---
**Author:** ![baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/baon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 12:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-doesnt-work-with-outlook-express/85272/3 "2007-02-12T12:56:51Z")
Hello, In message “Win32OLE doesn’t work with Outlook Express?” on 07/02/12, “baon” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes: > I have tried ‘Outlook’, ‘Outlookexpress’ with upper/lower case as well. It > doesn’t work anyway. > > It seems to me that WIN32OLE could support Outlook, but not Outlook Express. > Is that true? Yes. because Outlook Express does not provide the OLE automation interface, but Outlook does. Win32OLE access the OLE automation interface. Unfortunately, you can not control Outlook Express like Outlook using any other Language (VBScript, Perl, Python, … etc.) which access the OLE automation interface. > If so, would you guys please give me some ideas on how to accomplish my task > of retrieving data from Outlook Express (\*.dbx formats) using Ruby? Sorry, the site is written by Japanese only, but I hope the following URL help you. [RubyでOutlook Expressのdbxファイルを読み、spamの統計をとってみる実験 - J0hn D0e の日誌](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/j0hn/20070102/1167725911) Regards, Masaki S. ---
**Author:** ![baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/baon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 9:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-doesnt-work-with-outlook-express/85272/4 "2007-02-13T09:46:28Z")
Hi Dave, Thanks for your link. Anyway, I think I will try to find a Ruby parser or something like that. It is not a easy task for me to integrate C++ with Ruby (using SWIG for some wrapping work maybe). Regards and Thanks, Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: “Dave B.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ruby To: “ruby-talk ML” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 7:10 PM Subject: Re: Win32OLE doesn’t work with Outlook Express? Hi baon, > I am trying to retrieve some mails from my Outlook Express mail-box. > > However, when using the ‘WIN32OLE.connect(‘Outlook Express.Application’)’, > I > will get the following error message: Outlook Express doesn’t have a COM interface. See here for some ways you can deal with .dbx files: [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/230261](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/230261) Cheers, Dave ---
**Author:** ![baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@baon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/baon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 9:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-doesnt-work-with-outlook-express/85272/5 "2007-02-13T09:25:27Z")
Hi Masaki, Your message is really helpful! Thanks a great deal! Regards, Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: “Masaki S.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) To: “ruby-talk ML” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 3:49 PM Subject: Re: Win32OLE doesn’t work with Outlook Express? Hello, In message “Win32OLE doesn’t work with Outlook Express?” on 07/02/12, “baon” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes: > I have tried ‘Outlook’, ‘Outlookexpress’ with upper/lower case as well. It > doesn’t work anyway. > > It seems to me that WIN32OLE could support Outlook, but not Outlook > Express. > Is that true? Yes. because Outlook Express does not provide the OLE automation interface, but Outlook does. Win32OLE access the OLE automation interface. Unfortunately, you can not control Outlook Express like Outlook using any other Language (VBScript, Perl, Python, … etc.) which access the OLE automation interface. > If so, would you guys please give me some ideas on how to accomplish my > task > of retrieving data from Outlook Express (\*.dbx formats) using Ruby? Sorry, the site is written by Japanese only, but I hope the following URL help you. [RubyでOutlook Expressのdbxファイルを読み、spamの統計をとってみる実験 - J0hn D0e の日誌](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/j0hn/20070102/1167725911) Regards, Masaki S.