Wrap body.getAsync() inside a sync function

Question

So I was following a tutorial to build an Outlook Add-in. However, the demo does not display the body of the message.

I also learned from the doc that I can call the getAsync to access to the body but it does not work. Do I need to use async await here?

Here is the code:

function loadProps() {
  $("#attachments").html(buildAttachmentsString(item.attachments));
  $("#cc").html(buildEmailAddressesString(item.cc));
  $("#conversationId").text(item.conversationId);
  $("#from").html(buildEmailAddressString(item.from));
  $("#internetMessageId").text(item.internetMessageId);
  $("#normalizedSubject").text(item.normalizedSubject);
  $("#sender").html(buildEmailAddressString(item.sender));
  $("#subject").text(item.subject);
  $("#to").html(buildEmailAddressesString(item.to));
  $("#body").text(buildEmailBodyString()); //async function
}

function buildEmailBodyString() {
  Office.context.mailbox.item.body.getAsync(Office.CoercionType.Text, function callback(resText) {
    return resText.value;
  });
}

Answer 1

Your issue is that your buildEmailBodyString fires off getAsync and exists immediately. It isn't returning restText.value from the function because the function already existed.

function buildEmailBodyString() {
  // 1. Fires function
  Office.context.mailbox.item.body.getAsync(Office.CoercionType.Text, function callback(resText) {
    // 3. returns a value to nothing
    return resText.value;
  });
  // 2. Exits function
}

One solution here would be to set $("#body") from within the callback:

function buildEmailBodyString() {
  Office.context.mailbox.item.body.getAsync(Office.CoercionType.Text, function callback(resText) {
    $("#body").text(resText.value);
  });
}

You could also drop buildEmailBodyString entirely and call it within loadProps directory. This would simplify the code so it's a bit easier grok down the road:

function loadProps() {
  $("#attachments").html(buildAttachmentsString(item.attachments));
  $("#cc").html(buildEmailAddressesString(item.cc));
  $("#conversationId").text(item.conversationId);
  $("#from").html(buildEmailAddressString(item.from));
  $("#internetMessageId").text(item.internetMessageId);
  $("#normalizedSubject").text(item.normalizedSubject);
  $("#sender").html(buildEmailAddressString(item.sender));
  $("#subject").text(item.subject);
  $("#to").html(buildEmailAddressesString(item.to));

  // Retrieve Email Body
  Office.context.mailbox.item.body.getAsync(Office.CoercionType.Text, function callback(resText) {
    $("#body").text(resText.value);
  });
}