contact form

[Joel Allen]

Hello,

I've modified the standard Contact form and when I published it, I gave it
the same name - IPM.Contact. I open a contact and it still uses the old
form.

Can you not modify the original form?

Thanks for your help,
Joel

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Look again. It is not possible to publish a form with the message class IPM.Contact. Instead, it will be IPM.Contact.YourFormName. You would also need to convert existing items to use the new form by changing the value of their MessageClass property. See http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=39

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Hollis Paul]

I've modified the standard Contact form and when I published it, I gave it
the same name - IPM.Contact. I open a contact and it still uses the old
form.

Can you not modify the original form?

You can, and sometimes it will work without a hitch, and sometimes it won't.
If it doesn't, then there is a whole ball of wax about clearing cache, and
all the files from some folder. Instructions that I never learned because I
learned how to avoid that whole mess.

The one true cure to the problem is to include the version number in the form
name. That is the only way to force the file system to pull up the right
form, every time. So, your form name should be MyForm_VerNNN, and you
increase that number = NNN every time you publish. So, you can modify the
original form, you just should not republish with the same form name.

Yes, you do wind up with many versions of the same form in the Org Forms
Library, and it will give your Exchange administrator bulimia and the runs,
but you should follow this practice. You use the Forms Manager to delete the
old forms from the Org Forms Library. But make sure that you keep at least
three generations of the form at all times, so that if it one-offs during
your next change cycle, you do not have to start all over again.

 

[Joel Allen]

Paul,

That's very cool, and I tried it to see if it works. I named my form
Projects_Ver001.

Unfortunatley, it didn't work. Is there something else I have to do?

Thanks,
Joel

 

[Hollis Paul]

That's very cool, and I tried it to see if it works. I named my form
Projects_Ver001.

Unfortunatley, it didn't work. Is there something else I have to do?

You have to start with a form design that works, that is, is not
one-offed from the get go. Just to satisfy Sue's restriction, verify
that the full name of your form is IPM.Contact.Projects_Ver001, when you
open what-ever you open. If it is just IPM.Contact, then your form is
one-offed and you have to do something different so that it will not
one-off. Start again from a blank contacts form, and build your form
one control at a time, publishing each step as you go. When you no
longer see your changes, you know one thing that doesn't work. Try
something else.