The SetColumns method in Outlook returns incorrect time values when used with tasks (208305)

WORKAROUND

Use either of the following methods to work around this behavior.

Method 1: Do not use the SetColumns method

Do not use the SetColumns method to retrieve dates with tasks. In most cases, this adversely affects your solution's performance.

Method 2: Retrieve and use an OffSet

Note If you are using Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript), you cannot access the system registry and this workaround does not apply.

If you are using Microsoft Visual Basic or Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, programmatically get the local time zone information from the computer running your application. This information is stored in the following location in the registry:

HKEY_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

The Bias value specifies the current bias, in minutes, for local time translation on the computer. The bias is the difference, in minutes, between local time and UTC. Use this value to correct the time retrieved using the SetColumns method.

MORE INFORMATION

The Date type is implemented as a floating-point value, measuring days from midnight, December 30, 1899. To interpret the time portion, take the absolute value of the fractional part of the number. Since the bias is measured in minutes however, you must divide the bias by the number of minutes in a day (1440) in order to perform the conversion. The formula is:

local time + (Bias / 1440 ) = UTC

For example, the Date value of a task to be started February 14, 1999 (UTC) should be 36205.0. However, if your application is run on a computer in New York, the Date value (local time) may be 36204.7916667 (February 13, 1999 7:00 P.M.). To perform the conversion, find the computer's bias from the registry, which is 0x0000012c (300 minutes). Using this in the formula, we have the following:

local time + (Bias / 1440 ) = UTC
36204.7916667 + (300/1440) = 36205.0
(February 13, 1999 7:00 PM + 5hrs) = February 14, 1999 0:00am

For more information about how to use Visual Basic to retrieve values from the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

145679 How to use the registry APIs to save and retrieve settings

Steps to reproduce the problem

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Create a new task in the default tasks folder.
Set the Subject to New Task.
Set the Start date to any date and time.
Save the task.

Enter the following automation code into Visual Basic or into Visual Basic for Applications.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
   Dim OutApp As Outlook.Application
   Dim oNameSpace As Outlook.NameSpace
   Dim oFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
   Dim oItems As Outlook.Items
   Dim oTask As Outlook.TaskItem

   Set OutApp = New Outlook.Application
   Set oNameSpace = OutApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
   Set oFolder = oNameSpace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderTasks)
   Set oItems = oFolder.Items

   Set oTask = oItems("New Task")
   MsgBox CDbl(oTask.StartDate)

   oItems.SetColumns "StartDate"
   Set oTask2 = oItems("New Task")
   MsgBox CDbl(oTask2.StartDate)
End Sub

Add a reference to the Microsoft Outlook 9.0 Object Library.
Run the code.