publishing custom forms w/ exchange 2007

[code_runner]

Hi All,

I am back doing some outlook programming and have been tasked to find out
about two things that seem to be hurdles in developing some custom forms for
Outlook 2007 in concert with Exchange 2007

What I have heard:

Exchange public folders are going away.- is this true?

Organizational Forms Library is not available in Exchange 2007. - is this
true.

If these are true, then what is the suggested method for getting a custom
form to a number of clients that are using Exchange 2007?

Shouldn't this be pretty simple?

Thanks,

Paul Q

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Exchange public folders will be fully supported for another 10 years, through the support lifetime for Exchange 2007. However, they may not be present in the version of Exchange that follows Exchange 2007.

As in all versions, the Org Forms library does not automatically appear in Exchange 2007. It must be created, and that, in turn, has as a prerequisite the creation of a public folder store, also not automatic. In other words, if you want an Org Forms library, you will need to implement public folders.

Custom Outlook forms are a dead-end technology. Moving forward, the technology to use for some applications is form regions, implemented through a client add-in. For others, InfoPath forms would be more appropriate than Outlook forms.

 

[code_runner]

Thanks Sue,

I think I have enough information going forward now. I really just need to
create a custom form region that "inspects" the message and looks for
something to trigger whether it shows or not. I have written a lot of
custom forms in my day and was glad when I was able to put that behind me.
I don't even include it on a resume any more!!

I still get lots of people downloading the cusom form launcher which is
amazing to me. I really like MAPI and Exchange programming, but seems that
for the company I work for, that isn't where the $$ is, so I have really
gotten back into the application/web development world and this is the first
opportunity in a couple of years for me to get back in.

Thanks,

Paul Q


Exchange public folders will be fully supported for another 10 years,
through the support lifetime for Exchange 2007. However, they may not be
present in the version of Exchange that follows Exchange 2007.

As in all versions, the Org Forms library does not automatically appear in
Exchange 2007. It must be created, and that, in turn, has as a prerequisite
the creation of a public folder store, also not automatic. In other words,
if you want an Org Forms library, you will need to implement public folders.

Custom Outlook forms are a dead-end technology. Moving forward, the
technology to use for some applications is form regions, implemented through
a client add-in. For others, InfoPath forms would be more appropriate than
Outlook forms.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If you're looking for opportunities, I think that as organizations roll out Office 2007 + Exchange 2007, many will be wanting to evaluate existing applications that depend on Outlook forms. MOving them to form regions and InfoPath may be a growing market.