Objective: I would like my Outlook XP (client version) to extract a
parameter from an incoming email, perform a simple query on a
spreadsheet in memory, and reply to the sender with the results of the
query.

Deliverable: Commented Outlook programming code and detailed
step-by-step description of how to implement solution to example
problem below.  In addition to code I will need instructions on
setting up Outlook to run the code.

Example problem: 
-This problem is just a more complex version of the "out of office"
feature.  I send an email with the subject line "example:a" to another
address I control.  My Outlook verifies that the sender is
"example@6e.com"; if not it does nothing.  It then scans the subject
line, notices that it is of the form "example:"_parameter, and parses
out the parameter "a".  It then looks up "a" in the small spreadsheet
(.xls or .csv) below and creates an email with the returned value,
"Doug", in the body.  This email is then sent back to the sender
(example@6e.com).

Example Spreadsheet
-----------------------
a,Doug
b,Mary
c,Jim
d,Silvia
e,Rob

Hi I can create a VBA script for outlook that will do just this. I
just create a somewhat similar VBA script that will move messages that
are from ppl specified in an Excel file to a folder as specified in
the Excel file. I can modify that code and give it to you for $20.

A VBA script is fine.  I will also need instructions on how to set up
the script to run automatically in Outlook.  Post the script and
instructions and I'll sign off on the $20, thanks so much!
-6e