Filling Forms from Contacts Records

[Paul Martin]

Hi All

I am about to start in the world of Outlook forms and just wonder if the
following is possible.

I have a public folder using the default Contacts Form with all our
customers. I want to produce a public folder with a custom form for new jobs
from these customers.

Would it be possible to drag a Customer record into this new folder and have
the fields e.g. name, address, etc filled in automatically?


THanks
Paul

 

[psb]

2 ways to do this:

1st: Using CDO you can access the address book.
2nd: Use a ms database as an intermediary. When you save
and close a new contact,it writes to the database. Any
time you need it, call the database using some functions
and you have your records. I have done this with a lot of
success, so if you need some code i can help.

THere is a good book on CDO, CDO programming by Wrox
publishing, goes into depth getting contact information.

-We develop office add-ins too! www.abistech.com
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Hollis D. Paul]

Would it be possible to drag a Customer record into this new folder and have
the fields e.g. name, address, etc filled in automatically?

When you drag and drop, you get an exact copy of the dragged item. If it had
your custom fields filled in, then they will be filled in in the new item.
Otherwise, no. So the drag and drop mechanism will not move values from one
field to another field. To do that, you have to write custom code that opens
the old item, creates a new item in the new location using the custom form,
and then copies the values from the old item into the custom fields of the new
item. Finally, close and save the new item.

Hollis D. Paul [MVP - Outlook]
(e-mail address removed)
Using Virtual Access 4.52 build 277 (32-bit), Windows 2000 build 2195
http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

Mukilteo, WA USA

 

[Paul Martin]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the info.

So would I be correct in saying if the field in the contact BUSINESS NAME
for instance existed in the Task form the data from the Contact would
transfer to the Task form?

Paul

Would it be possible to drag a Customer record into this new folder and have
the fields e.g. name, address, etc filled in automatically?

When you drag and drop, you get an exact copy of the dragged item. If it had
your custom fields filled in, then they will be filled in in the new item.
Otherwise, no. So the drag and drop mechanism will not move values from one
field to another field. To do that, you have to write custom code that opens
the old item, creates a new item in the new location using the custom form,
and then copies the values from the old item into the custom fields of the new
item. Finally, close and save the new item.

Hollis D. Paul [MVP - Outlook]
(e-mail address removed)
Using Virtual Access 4.52 build 277 (32-bit), Windows 2000 build 2195
http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

Mukilteo, WA USA

 

[Hollis D. Paul]

So would I be correct in saying if the field in the contact BUSINESS NAME
for instance existed in the Task form the data from the Contact would
transfer to the Task form?

Business Name would have to be a custom field, so, no, it would not be
transferred to a task form. Are you really asking about the Company field?

Tasks are really my weak suit, because I don't use the calendar or tasks in
my daily usage. However, when I did this operation of dragging a contact
item to the task folder, I discovered that the resulting item is really an
email message, and the Company name isn't used in a task form. It
automatically addressed the message to the fax number of the business, as
it didn't have an email address. When I tried it with a business that had
an email address, it addressed it to both email addresses. In both cases,
the name in the Contact Address was linked in the Contacts list. The
contact record can be called up from the Contacts list, so you really do
not need to have the Company Name in the Task form, then you will have to
write your own code to copy the value from the contact form to the task
form.

The best way to do this, is to design custom Contact form, with a command
button on a back page, and write code in the command button click_event
handler to create a task item from a custom Task Item form, and stuff the
values from the contact form into the new Task item. I would suggest that
you get a book on Outlook programming. Www.slipstick.com is the premier
site for all this Outlook and Exchange. You can find examples there; and
it has a library section which will list the good books that are out there.

Hollis D. Paul [MVP - Outlook]
(e-mail address removed)
Using Virtual Access 4.52 build 277 (32-bit), Windows 2000 build 2195
http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

Mukilteo, WA USA