{"id":438,"date":"2019-06-07T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T06:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chuchuva.com\/pavel\/?p=438"},"modified":"2019-06-07T16:14:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T06:14:55","slug":"how-to-update-outlook-signature-automatically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chuchuva.com\/pavel\/2019\/06\/how-to-update-outlook-signature-automatically\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Update Outlook Signature Automatically"},"content":{"rendered":"\nI created a fun little program a while ago. It updates my Outlook signature with the current temperature in Melbourne, Australia.\n\n\n\nHere is C# source code:\n\n\n\n\n
class Program\n{\n    static void Main(string[] args)\n    {\n        try\n        {\n            decimal temperature = GetCurrentTemperature();\n            UpdateSignature(temperature);\n            Console.WriteLine(temperature);\n        }\n        catch (Exception e)\n        {\n            Console.WriteLine(e);\n            Environment.ExitCode = 1;\n        }\n    }\n\n    private static decimal GetCurrentTemperature()\n    {\n        var webClient = new WebClient();\n        webClient.Headers.Add(\"user-agent\", \"Mozilla\");\n        string json = webClient.DownloadString(\"http:\/\/www.bom.gov.au\/fwo\/IDV60901\/IDV60901.95936.json\");\n        dynamic observations = new JavaScriptSerializer().DeserializeObject(json);\n        return observations[\"observations\"][\"data\"][0][\"air_temp\"];\n    }\n\n    private static void UpdateSignature(decimal temperature)\n    {\n        const string SignatureFile = @\"C:\\Users\\pchuchuv\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Signatures\\Temperature.htm\";\n        string signature = File.ReadAllText(SignatureFile);\n        string newSignature = Regex.Replace(signature, \"Pavel<br>.*<\/p>\",\n            string.Format(\"Pavel<br>{0}&deg;<\/p>\", \n            Math.Round(temperature, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero)));\n        File.WriteAllText(SignatureFile, newSignature);\n    }\n\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nThe program fetches the temperature from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website.\n\n\n\nI created a Visual Basic Script to run so that I don’t see a black console window every time the programs gets executed:\n\n\n\n\n
CreateObject(\"Wscript.Shell\").Run \"C:\\etc\\TemperatureToSignature.exe\", 0, True<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nOpen Outlook options, switch to Mail tab and click ‘Signatures’ button:\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCreate a new signature and give it ‘Temperature’ name. Edit the Temperature.htm file in C:\\Users\\<your username>\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Signatures folder and make sure it has this line:\n\n\n\n\n
<p class=MsoAutoSig>Pavel<br><\/p><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nDon’t forget to change Pavel to your name \ud83d\ude42\n\n\n\nNext, open Task Scheduler.\n\n\n\n\n