How to call Outlook's Desktop Alert from VBA Code

Question

I have Outlook 2003 running on Win XP. My Desktop Alert is turned on and running smoothly.

But recently I created a VBA Macro that sorts incoming emails into several different folders (via item_add event in ThisOutlookSession). This somehow stopped the desktop alert from showing.

Is there any way to call the Desktop Alert from the VBA code manually? Maybe a function of some sorts.

P.S: I can't sort my emails through rules, that's not an option

Basically I'm looking with RegEx for 6 digit code in email

My code (sorry, it's a bit of patchwork from other pieces of code I found on the Internet

Option Explicit

Private WithEvents olInboxItems As Items

Private Sub Application_Startup()
Dim objNS As NameSpace
Set objNS = Application.Session
Set olInboxItems = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Items
Set objNS = Nothing
End Sub

Private Sub olInboxItems_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object)
On Error Resume Next

Dim targetFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Dim myName As String

Dim Reg1 As RegExp
Dim M1 As MatchCollection
Dim M As Match

Set Reg1 = New RegExp
myName = "[MyName]"

' \s* = invisible spaces
' \d* = match digits
' \w* = match alphanumeric

With Reg1
    .Pattern = "\d{6}"
    .Global = True
End With

If (InStr(Item.To, myName) Or InStr(Item.CC, myName)) Then    ' if mail is sent or cced to me
    If Reg1.test(Item.Subject) Then
        Set M1 = Reg1.Execute(Item.Subject)
        For Each M In M1
            ' M.SubMatches(1) is the (\w*) in the pattern
            ' use M.SubMatches(2) for the second one if you have two (\w*)
            Set targetFolder = GetFolder([folderPath])  ' function that returns targetFolder
            Exit For
        Next
    End If
    If Not targetFolder Is Nothing Then
        Item.Save
        Item.Move targetFolder
    End If
End If   
End Sub

Many thanks

Answer 1

The Outlook object model doesn't provide anything for managing notifications. Instead, you may consider developing an add-in instead where you can use third-party components that allows to imitate the buit-in behavior. For example, take a look at the RadDesktopAlert component.

See Walkthrough: Creating Your First Application-Level Add-in for Outlook for more information.