Where is the best place to store values for combobox entries

[escamoteur]

Hi,

I want to add to my custom inspector form a combobox that contains values that the user can define. E.g. Project status.

If Outlook were a relational database I would store this values just in it's own table and populate the combobox from there.

How is the best way to achieve this in Outlook??

Best

Tom

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Databases, spreadsheets, text files, even Outlook items all can be used to
store such values. You'd use code behind the form to load them when the form
displays and to update the storage source with any new values the user might
have defined. The best approach for specific sceneario depends in part on
the intended scope of the row values. Are they specific to a single item? A
single user? All users?

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Is this a fixed list or a list that can change?

What version of Outlook?

 

[escamoteur]

Sorry for not beeing more specific.

It's Outlook 2007 and it will be a single user plugin that should be configurable by the user. I want to have everything stored in
the .pst file if possible.

Think of the list like the Categories of outlook items, only that this categories only belong to my item type. The user should be
able to add and delete categories that he needs.

Best

Tom

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

OK, if this is only for Outlook 2007 or later then I'd recommend using a
StorageItem for that. A StorageItem is what's know in MAPI circles as a
hidden item, in the Associated Contents table for a folder. You can use a
StorageItem in any folder and it's invisible to the user. It can only be
accessed using code, so users can't mess around with your hidden storage.

Using that you can store the list in the body of the hidden item as a
newline separated list and then just split the body on newlines (carriage
return + line feed) when you want to recover or modify the list.

That way the list will travel with the PST file and should do what you want.

 

[escamoteur]

Thanks a lot, that was what I was looking for.
Best
Tom