Customized Contact Template

[locs]

I've created a customized contact form to store specific contact information
in my personal contacts folder in Microsoft Office Outlook
(Contacts-->Tools-->Forms-->Design a Form). However, when I create a new
contact using this form , the information I've entered is deleted as soon as
save & close the contact. Please help!

 

[Hollis Paul]

I've created a customized contact form to store specific contact information
in my personal contacts folder in Microsoft Office Outlook
(Contacts-->Tools-->Forms-->Design a Form). However, when I create a new
contact using this form , the information I've entered is deleted as soon as
save & close the contact. Please help!

Did you publish your newly designed form? And, could it possibly be that you
created a split design form, with a compose form and a read form, and you only
put stuff on the compose form?

 

[locs]

Yes I did publish the form. I did not specify it as a compose form or a read
form; in fact, I never came across any such option. Any more advice?

 

[Hollis Paul]

I did not specify it as a compose form or a read
form; in fact, I never came across any such option. Any more advice?

Well, you haven't said what version of Outlook you are using, but
Outlook 2003 presents the form in design mode split by default. You
have to click on the forms menu and uncheck the Edit Compose form
button. This was a really dumb design decision by Microsoft,
presumably attempting to remove all the questions about how to split a
form.

When you uncheck that button, it will give you a warning that anything
put on the read form will be lost. Since you did not intend to have a
split form, and didn't put anything there, you can accept the warning
and let the button do the conversion.

Then you should see your inputs when you re-open the form.

By the way, if you go to the all fields tab, you should be able to see
your input data in the relevant fields, even if you can't see anything
on the read form.

 

[locs]

I am using Outlook 2007 (I have a new laptop with Windows Vista). I've been
able to successfully design a custom form (Tools->Forms->Design a Form) and
retrieve that form (Tools->Forms->Choose a Form). After choosing the form,
filling in the information fields, saving it, and closing it, all seems fine.
However, once I open the newly saved contact in the contacts folder, all
information except the contact name has been erased. It's as if I never
entered anything more than the name.

 

[Hollis Paul]

However, once I open the newly saved contact in the contacts folder, all
information except the contact name has been erased. It's as if I never
entered anything more than the name.

I didn't realize that you are a habitual player of 2000 questions. I
suspect that that is how many questions it will take to elicit what you did
wrong.

You say you entered in more information besides the name. Into what did
you enter it? A text box, perhaps, that you dragged from the control box?
(Lets see if we can get two answers in one message cycle.) If yes, then
what Outlook field did you bind the control to?

 

[Hollis Paul]

After choosing the form,
filling in the information fields, saving it, and closing it, all seems fine.
However, once I open the newly saved contact in the contacts folder, all
information except the contact name has been erased.

Well, I started up my Vista client and opened Outlook 2007, brought up a blank
Contact form and couldn't figure out how to get into design mode. Help was no
help, either. But, eventually, I dismissed the blank form, found tools, forms,
and design a form, and got a contact form with the developer tab. I must say,
if I hadn't already decided to exit Outlook forms development, the ribbon would
certainly have driven me out. If this bastard creation from Microsoft irritates
you as much as it does me, you may want to look at the following:

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2007/04/27/office-2007-interesting-want-
your-classic-menu-back.aspx

Getting back to your problem, I was able to determine, sort of, that a form is
not opened in split mode when you get into the developer tab. So, you really
should see what you input. Which gets back to the basic understanding of what
an Outlook form is. An Outlook form is really only the template of how to
display the data in an Outlook data item. So, if you drop a control, like a
text box, onto the design worktable, then the parameters about that control are
placed in the format file, but no data is saved in the format file. So, if you
build a form, publish it, then open it again, type some data into a control then
save it, the instance of the form is lost, and just the data in Outlook fields
are saved to the data item. What you see on the screen, when you open a saved
data item, is the marriage of the formatting information contained in the
Outlook form that is saved to your personal forms library, and the data in
Outlook fields. To get your control inputs to be saved, you need to bind the
control to an Outlook field. You have to create those custom Outlook fields to
go with your custom controls that you drop onto the design workspace. If you
don't, none of the data that you enter gets saved.

I am betting that what you need to do is, open your custom form in design form,
right click your custom controls, and then select an existing Outlook field to
bind it to, or create a new custom Outlook field to bind the data to. Then,
republish the form using the canonical name of MyFormName_VerXXX. Including the
version number with the name will prevent you from having the common problem
with the forms cache, where you get the old form even though you have
republished the form with the same name.

 

[locs]

Yes, I created numerous textboxes by dragging them from the control box to
store additional information in the form. I brought them into the general
tab. We're on the right track now.

I started with the contact form from the standard forms library and made
modifications from there, removing and adding fields to suit my preferences.

 

[Hollis Paul]

Yes, I created numerous textboxes by dragging them from the control box to
store additional information in the form. I brought them into the general
tab. We're on the right track now.

In earlier versions of Outlook, it was considered a no-no to make any changes
to the general tab, as strange things would happen to the telephone and email
address controls. My advice would be to put all your changes on a different
tab of the form.

I started with the contact form from the standard forms library and made
modifications from there, removing and adding fields to suit my preferences.

Specifically, did you create any custom fields, and did you bind any controls
to these custom fields? And, equally important, did you create your custom
fields as custom fields defined in the folder?

Finally, if you are going to be doing any further Outlook custom form designs,
then you want to investigate the following web sites: www.outlookcode.com and
www.slipstick.com . These are primary resources for Outlook and Exchange
development.

 

[locs]

Each new field consists of a textbox and a label. That's it. I didn't take
any additional steps. I created an alternate form with all of the new fields
on the second tab without changing the general tab. I'm having the same
issue where the information vanishes after I attempt to open the saved form.
If you have any more insight, I'm glad to hear it. In the meantime, I'll
check out those websites.

 

[locs]

Also, when I publish the form, I am only able to publish it in the contacts
folder. When I try to publish it the personal forms library or some other
location, it doesn't save.

 

[locs]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290655/EN-US/

Thanks Paul. I found this article through the wesite you suggested and I
understand what I was doing incorrectly. I think I can get it working now.
Thanks again for putting up with my ignorance.

 

[Hollis Paul]

Each new field consists of a textbox and a label. That's it. I didn't take
any additional steps.

There is your first conceptual mistake. Your textbox and label are not a
field. They are a control and a label. Before the data you enter in the text
box is ever saved, it has to be moved to an Outlook field. That is done
automatically if you use the Bindery to bind the control to an Outlook field.
You generally have to create your own custom fields, and you should create them
as "fields in the folder". In earlier versions, one bound a control to a field
by right-clicking on it, choosing properties, not advanced properties, and, in
the dialog that comes up, telling it what Outlook custom field to bind it to.
You can create the field right there if you haven't already done so. But you
will never save your custom data until you bind your controls to custom fields.
You have another big part of designing forms yet to discovery.

 

[Hollis Paul]

Also, when I publish the form, I am only able to publish it in the contacts
folder. When I try to publish it the personal forms library or some other
location, it doesn't save.

Don't you get the option to "Publish As", in addition to "Publish"? Really,
both should allow you to publish to the personal forms library. You are doing
something else wrong.