Various form issues

[attie]

I have made a custom email form that now includes a file number that is a required field before the email can be sent. I have made this the default form in the inbox with formswap.exe. The following issues need to be resolved, if possible:
* My custom form overrides the voting buttons form if I send it to the PC on which the custom form resides.
* When using the command "send to mail recipient, e.g. from a Word document, my custom form is not used?
* Can views be clustered in a subfolder. i.e. I have created a number of views but would like to organize them? .
* Can views be made read only?
* While I am busy completing an email I often get the response, a field on this form requires a value. Can I turn this off until I try to send?
* When I reply to an email, the replied icon does not show against the replied to email.
* When I reply to an email the cursor is located at the beginning of the To field instead of in the message field. How can I avoid this?

Thanks for your assistance.
Attie

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Comments inline.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers



I have made a custom email form that now includes a file number that is a
required field before the email can be sent. I have made this the default
form in the inbox with formswap.exe. The following issues need to be
resolved, if possible:
* My custom form overrides the voting buttons form if I send it to the PC
on which the custom form resides.

What do you mean by "voting buttons form"? If you create just a normal
message, this is expected behavior, because you told Outlook with
formswap.exe to override the layout of any incoming item and display your
custom form. Did you notice that you can finetune the forms substitution so
that it substitutes only on items you compose, not items you receive?

* When using the command "send to mail recipient, e.g. from a Word
document, my custom form is not used?

Again, normal behavior. That "send to" command uses Simple MAPI, not Outlook
directly. If you want to use your custom form, create the message, then
insert the file.

* Can views be clustered in a subfolder. i.e. I have created a number of
views but would like to organize them? .

No.

* Can views be made read only?

Not really. A user can always customize a view for their personal use,
although you can use VB/VBA code to make personal view customizations only
temporary by setting the View.LockUserChanges property in Outlook 2002 or
2003.

* While I am busy completing an email I often get the response, a field
on this form requires a value. Can I turn this off until I try to send?

That's Outlook's autosave feature kicking in and running up against
validation that you''ve set on the fields on your form. You can turn it off
for all messages on the Tools | Options | Email Options | Advanced Email
Options dialog. YOu cannot turn it off for individual items.


* When I reply to an email, the replied icon does not show against the
replied to email.

Normal behavior. Custom forms show only the icons on the (Properties) page.

* When I reply to an email the cursor is located at the beginning of the To
field instead of in the message field. How can I avoid this?

You can't control that behavior, and in fact, it varies a little with the
version of Outlook and the editor you're using.

 

[attie]

Thanks Sue,
Is the forms substitution fine tuning related to the Forms design, i.e.
edit read and edit compose pages, or with a formswap switch? This is just of
interest for future use, as in this case I do want to view received items
with my custom form to enable saving them, where relevant, with the custom
field "file number".
Also thanks for your excellent website which has helped me no end.
Regards
Attie

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Formswap: Look at the dialog and you'll see choices for read and compose,
IIRC.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers