Filtering on a user-defined date field

[Orion Lukasik]

I do not profess myself to be a programmer or extremely knowledgeable with
Outlook forms. That said:

Using Outlook 2003, designing a custom contact form for a stores customer
database. I have created the custom form and set it as the default form for
the customer contact folder. That works fine. The form comes up when a new
customer is created.

Here is the question: I have four date fields in the form that I created
relating to membership dates: created, last renewed, next renewal, and date
joined. The properties for these field shows them as date fields, and I even
compared to the properties of default date fields in outlook. However, when
I attempt to filter the view on one of my user-defined date fields, I do not
get the logical comparators that relate to date; yesterday, last week, on or
before, after, etc. I get the standard logical comparators; contains, does
not contain, is (exactly), etc.

I would like my date fields to be useful for filtering. Any suggestions in
accomplishing this would be greatly appreciated.

regards, Orion Lukasik

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Try deleting the date field from the folder. (This will not affect the
individual items.) Then add it back in, taking care to define it as a date
field.

 

[Orion Lukasik]

Thank you for your response, Sue.

I deleted the field from the form, deleted the user-definition, and
recreated the field and replaced in the form. The situation is as it was
before. When I attempt to filter on that field, the date related comparators
are not there.

Any further suggestions are appreciated.

regards, Orion Lukasik

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

That's not quite what I suggested. I suggested that you delete the field
definition from the *folder*. It's the folder definition that filters use.
Don't touch the form, at least not at this point.

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

 

[Orion Lukasik]

Ok, I see. This is where my ignorance steps in, I don't quite understand
where a field definition exists within the folder, and not sure what folder
we are talking about. If it is the actual contacts folder we are refereing
to, I don't know where field definitions are within that.

I am working with a copy of the working form, so I haven't disturbed the
original form, yet.

Again, thank you so much for your help.

Orion Lukasik

 

[Orion Lukasik]

Ok, I see. This is where my ignorance steps in, I don't quite understand
where a field definition exists within the folder, and not sure what folder
we are talking about. If it is the actual contacts folder we are referring
to, I don't know where field definitions are within that.

I am working with a copy of the working form, so I haven't disturbed the
original form, yet.

Again, thank you so much for your help.

Orion Lukasik

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Fields defined on a folder can be seen in the folder view with data in them.
Right-click the column headings and choose Field Chooser. This tool lets you
add new fields to a folder and remove existing fields. See
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/fields.htm for a more detailed explanation of
the relationship between folder, form, and item fields and some recommended
practices.

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

 

[Orion Lukasik]

Sue,

That did it, thank you so much. What threw me at first was 'column heading'.
Since this was a contact form, there were no column headings, but the link
you provided explained what I was looking for, and as soon as I deleted and
recreated the field, it gave me the logical comparators in the filter.

It is working just like I wanted. Again, many thanks.

regards, Orion Lukasik