Field validation popup mesage

[Long Nguyen]

Hi,

(Outlook 2002 SP2)

My custom outlook form has a strange behaviour where while the users are
filling out the form at times a message "Backout Plan field must not be
blank:" is popped up. (They will then press the OK button to turn it off).

The form has many fields and one of the field is called BackoutPlan. For
most of the fields I validate them to ensure they are not empty. For the
BackoutPlan field I have got the formula [BackoutPlan] <> " " and the
message to be displayed when validation fails is "Backout Plan field must
not be blank". The field is not set with an initial value. Other fields in
the form are validated in the similar way.

I believe that the way it works is that when the users press the Send button
to send the form the fields would be validated then. That's why I don't
understand why the "Backout Plan field must not be blank" message is
displayed WHILE the users are filling out the form. ( And it is always this
message which is popped up, not the validation mesages for other fields.)

I did try to remove the field and added it in again but it did not seem to
help.

Could someone give me advices?

Thanks
Long

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Your formula doesn't look right:

[BackoutPlan] <> " "

tests for a value that isn't equal to a space. To require a non-blank value,
you should use:

[BackoutPlan] <> ""

 

[Long Nguyen]

Thanks Sue.

However I have similar validation formulas for other fields on the form and
they seem working ok. I think I did try "" (without space in between ) and
it did not work. Probably I need to test this out again.

Now reading you outlook 200 Programming book I think the problem may be to
do with removing control from the form white the validation still active.
Possibly I did remove this Backout field control before and added it in
again. But I guess when you added it back in it should not cause any
problem.

Regards
Long

Your formula doesn't look right:

[BackoutPlan] <> " "

tests for a value that isn't equal to a space. To require a non-blank value,
you should use:

[BackoutPlan] <> ""

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

Hi,

(Outlook 2002 SP2)

My custom outlook form has a strange behaviour where while the users are
filling out the form at times a message "Backout Plan field must not be
blank:" is popped up. (They will then press the OK button to turn it off).

The form has many fields and one of the field is called BackoutPlan. For
most of the fields I validate them to ensure they are not empty. For the
BackoutPlan field I have got the formula [BackoutPlan] <> " " and the
message to be displayed when validation fails is "Backout Plan field must
not be blank". The field is not set with an initial value. Other fields in
the form are validated in the similar way.

I believe that the way it works is that when the users press the Send
button
to send the form the fields would be validated then. That's why I don't
understand why the "Backout Plan field must not be blank" message is
displayed WHILE the users are filling out the form. ( And it is always
this
message which is popped up, not the validation mesages for other fields.)

I did try to remove the field and added it in again but it did not seem to
help.

Could someone give me advices?

Thanks
Long

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If you add the field back, you can check the validation formula through the
control again.

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

Thanks Sue.

However I have similar validation formulas for other fields on the form
and
they seem working ok. I think I did try "" (without space in between ) and
it did not work. Probably I need to test this out again.

Now reading you outlook 200 Programming book I think the problem may be to
do with removing control from the form white the validation still active.
Possibly I did remove this Backout field control before and added it in
again. But I guess when you added it back in it should not cause any
problem.

Regards
Long

Your formula doesn't look right:

[BackoutPlan] <> " "

tests for a value that isn't equal to a space. To require a non-blank value,
you should use:

[BackoutPlan] <> ""

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

Hi,

(Outlook 2002 SP2)

My custom outlook form has a strange behaviour where while the users
are
filling out the form at times a message "Backout Plan field must not be
blank:" is popped up. (They will then press the OK button to turn it off).

The form has many fields and one of the field is called BackoutPlan.
For
most of the fields I validate them to ensure they are not empty. For
the
BackoutPlan field I have got the formula [BackoutPlan] <> " " and the
message to be displayed when validation fails is "Backout Plan field must
not be blank". The field is not set with an initial value. Other fields in
the form are validated in the similar way.

I believe that the way it works is that when the users press the Send
button
to send the form the fields would be validated then. That's why I don't
understand why the "Backout Plan field must not be blank" message is
displayed WHILE the users are filling out the form. ( And it is always
this
message which is popped up, not the validation mesages for other fields.)

I did try to remove the field and added it in again but it did not seem to
help.

Could someone give me advices?

Thanks
Long

 

[Scott]

The validation formula will pop-up if you have autosave turned on. Outlook
will attempt to save the item to the drafts folder while the user is working
on it but it will go through all the validations before it will save it.

I don't know the order it will try to validate them but it will always come
up with the same one first.

Scott