Building a custom form and need to hide the first page of templat.

[Guest]

I'm creating a custom .oft form to be put on our internal web site. This
form is call IT Requisition Form and is used to set up new employees with
network access, desktop/laptop, software needs, etc. The form opens fine.
The problem happens when it is sent. It just shows up as a regular email. I
created the form from a message template. And that's just what the receiver
see's, a plain message email. I've created a few templates, designing the
2nd page as the form and leaving the 1st message page alone. This emails
fine. So i guess my questions are: How do i hide the first page.
What works best when trying to build a custom form? One that can be viewed
when a user has either rich text editor or word editor.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Message forms by default have separate compose and read layouts. Did you
populate your read layout with the desired controls? Did you check the "send
form definition with item" box on the (Properties) page? If not, no one else
can see the form design.

Best practice, BTW, is to use .oft files only for backup copies of form and
use only published forms. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/formpub.htm

 

[Guest]

Sue,
I tried all day yesterday and this morning to respond back to you but
everytime i tried, the response window said "your session had expired and i
had to log back in"
Response from yesterday:
Sue,
Thank you for you timely response. You were right! I had to populate the
read layout. You have been a tremendous help!
I must say that of all information i have read on creating forms, it's not
clear that you need to populate "BOTH COMPOSE AND READ LAYOUTS" in order for
the receiver to see the form design.
The "send form difinition with item" was already checked.
I have saved the template as an oft. locally and published the form in
public folders.
As far as putting the form on the internal web site, couldn't i just use the
..oft file on the site?
Thx so much again for you help.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If you have or ever want to have any kind of code behind your form, an .oft
file is not an option, because items created with .oft files use one-off
forms (form definitions embedded in the item) and, therefore, cannot run
code. Code runs only on published forms.

The same goes for forms with "send form definition with item" checked: They
create one-off form items, which can never run code.

Furthermore, you didn't say what kind of form it is -- message, contact,
etc. -- but if it's a message form, publishing in Public Folders is not
appropriate. Think about it: How would Outlook know to look in that folder
out of possibly thousands to find the form definition associated with a
message you received? A message form should be published either in the
Organizational Forms library or in the Personal Forms library of each user.

However, if you never plan to put code behind the form and don't care that
items created with the .oft are potentially much larger than normal items,
there's not harm in using an .oft file to create items.

 

[Guest]

Sue,
Thank you for your assistance. You have been a great help.
Sue the form i created was a message form.
For the time being until i become more familiar with creating forms, i'll
use the .oft files on the site.

Again, your help is greatly appreciated.