The File: URL Scheme
Topic Last Modified: 2006-06-12
When constructing a URL using the file: URL scheme for use with the Exchange OLE DB (ExOLEDB) provider, each URL has the following two forms. You use the first form to access a user's base mailbox folder. You use the second form to access items in public folder trees.
file://./backofficestorage/domain-name/MBX/user-alias/path
file://./backofficestorage/domain-name/public-folder-tree-name/path
domain-name
The fully qualified name of the domain that the user account is a part of, for example, "subdomain.example.com". Note that this domain name does not include the name of the server itself.
public-folder-tree-name
For private mailboxes, this is always "MBX". For items stored in a public store, this is the name of the public folder tree in which the item resides. Note that this is not the name of the public store that houses the public folder tree.
The following table lists the default names provided by Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 to access private mailboxes and the default public folder tree.
| Default folder tree name | Description |
|---|---|
MBX |
Contains all private mailboxes. |
Public Folders |
Contains the default public store installed with Exchange 2007. |
When you add new public stores and associated public folder trees, you use the name of that public folder tree in the URL. To access mailboxes in additional private stores, you always use "MBX".
user-alias
The user's Exchange mailbox alias, for example, User1.
path
The folder path to the item. This path consists of a series of folder names separated by "/" characters.
The ExOLEDB provider registers the File: OLE DB URL namespace with the OLE DB root binder. Therefore, you need not specify this provider explicitly when you use OLE DB, Microsoft ActiveX® Data Objects (ADO), or Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) objects to access items by using the File: URL scheme.
The URLs in the following examples use the File: scheme:
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/public folders/reports/report1.doc
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/public folders/reports/schema/
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/MBX/User1/Inbox
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/MBX/User1/Calendar
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/MBX/User1/Drafts
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/application1/app1/
file://./backofficestorage/sample.example.com/application1/app1/schema
The URLs in the following examples point to a user's mailbox folders (English).
| Folder | URL |
|---|---|
Calendar |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Calendar |
Contacts |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Contacts |
Drafts |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Drafts |
Inbox |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Inbox |
Journal |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Journal |
Notes |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Notes |
Outbox |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Outbox |
Sent Items |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/UserAlias/Sent%20Items |
Tasks |
file://./backofficestorage/example.com/MBX/USerAlias/Tasks |
Note
The URLs in the preceding table are only examples; you should not construct them manually in your application. You can retrieve all of the URLs in a user's localized mailbox folder by using the IMailBox Interface on a Person object or by retrieving properties on the base mailbox folder, such as inbox Field or calendar Field.