making forms

[michael]

I am having a bit of trouble making a simple form where a user fill in a few
fields and sends it off to me.
Nothing at all elaborate.
I am having a problem however:
I have created the form in the Compose view. When I tried saving it to my
personal file and use it the following happens:
I can fill out the form and send it, but it comes in as totally blank (grey).
Is there a matching set of information that is required in the Read view? or
is it the other way around?
If so how do I do it.
Do I need to post the form to the "global" co. directiry or can I have
individual users dowload it to their personal files?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
And if anyone knows of a good basic forms book, I would appreciate the title.
Thank you

 

[Hollis D. Paul]

I can fill out the form and send it, but it comes in as totally blank (grey).
Is there a matching set of information that is required in the Read view? or
is it the other way around?

You have fallen victim to having the default form, when it is opened in design
mode, is set to a split form. If your form is as simple as you say, then you
do not need a split form. From the Forms menu, uncheck the button that says
checked. This way your form will be readable in both compose and read mode.

I think the Outlook developers were real jerks to change the default setting to
split. Then, of course, we had lots of questions about how to split the form.
It would lead one to believe that there is no way to win or to get users to
read help information before they blunder into a quagmire. Nor afterwards,
actually. Sigh.

Hollis D. Paul [MVP - Outlook]
(e-mail address removed)
Using Virtual Access 4.52 build 277 (32-bit), Windows 2000 build 2600
http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

Mukilteo, WA USA

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Yes, you either need matching controls on the Read layout or you need to do
away with separate Compose and Read layouts.

What kind of form -- message, contact, etc.? Are you using Microsoft
Exchange as your mail server?

See my signature for a book that covers the basics.

 

[michael]

Hollis,
Thank you very much. That worked fine.
Another question:
How do I take this form up 1 notch and have the "read" portion show the text
that has been entered into the flds?
I have tried but no success.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I can fill out the form and send it, but it comes in as totally blank (grey).
Is there a matching set of information that is required in the Read view? or
is it the other way around?

You have fallen victim to having the default form, when it is opened in design
mode, is set to a split form. If your form is as simple as you say, then you
do not need a split form. From the Forms menu, uncheck the button that says
checked. This way your form will be readable in both compose and read mode.

I think the Outlook developers were real jerks to change the default setting to
split. Then, of course, we had lots of questions about how to split the form.
It would lead one to believe that there is no way to win or to get users to
read help information before they blunder into a quagmire. Nor afterwards,
actually. Sigh.

Hollis D. Paul [MVP - Outlook]
(e-mail address removed)
Using Virtual Access 4.52 build 277 (32-bit), Windows 2000 build 2600
http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

Mukilteo, WA USA

 

[Hollis D. Paul]

How do I take this form up 1 notch and have the "read" portion show the text
that has been entered into the flds?
I have tried but no success.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The only reason to have split forms is if you want something on the compose
form to not show on the read form--so what you do is create the form in
non-split form, then split it, and then delete whatever controls you don't want
to be read by the receiver. This has the advantage that all the controls on
the read form are the same as are on the compose form.

Hollis D. Paul [MVP - Outlook]
(e-mail address removed)
Using Virtual Access 4.52 build 277 (32-bit), Windows 2000 build 2600
http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

Mukilteo, WA USA

 

[michael]

Thanks Sue.
I emailed you as well, but you can disregard it now.
The form is just a simple message. I am using it for status updates.
So what you are telling me is that I can just cut any field from the COMPOSE
portion and paste it to the READ portion?
Exchange is used at this company.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Copy and paste works most but not all of the time, so you'll want to check
the properties of the pasted controls to make sure they're bound to the
desired properties.

You will want to publish it to the Organizational Forms library on the
Exchange server so that it can be used by everyone else.

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