Overriding auto-generation of calendar entries for contact birthda

[Keith S.]

Hello MVP Wizards,

I'm using Outlook 2003, and the default behavior when defining a birthday or
anniversary for a contact is to put an annually recurring entry in the
Calendar corresponding to that date and person. Is the function that does
this exposed in some way; i.e.: can this behavior be extended, modified, or
overridden?

I ask because I would like to extend this functionality in two ways. The
"easy" enhancement is to assign the calendar entry to a specific category
(Birthday or Anniversary, respectively). The less easy enhancement is to have
the entry indicate the number of the birthday or anniversary each year; this
would mean creating several individual entries for the next N years, rather
than a single recurring entry. I think I can figure out the code to create
the entries with the right text; for me, the main issue is figuring out how
to avoid the duplicate entry.

If it's not possible to do override this built-in behavior, would it be
possible to define an Item_Write function on my contact form that would both
create these Calendar entries *and* delete the default recurring one created
by Outlook?

The only workaround I've come up with is to do everything manually: put in
the birthday or anniversary, then delete the automatically-created entry, and
create the individual entries for the next few years. Not a big deal to do
this for the occasional rate at which I need to define new contacts, but I
always prefer the more "elegant" approach, where possible.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/age_form.htm

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Keith S. asked:

| Hello MVP Wizards,
|
| I'm using Outlook 2003, and the default behavior when defining a
| birthday or anniversary for a contact is to put an annually recurring
| entry in the Calendar corresponding to that date and person. Is the
| function that does this exposed in some way; i.e.: can this behavior
| be extended, modified, or overridden?
|
| I ask because I would like to extend this functionality in two ways.
| The "easy" enhancement is to assign the calendar entry to a specific
| category (Birthday or Anniversary, respectively). The less easy
| enhancement is to have the entry indicate the number of the birthday
| or anniversary each year; this would mean creating several individual
| entries for the next N years, rather than a single recurring entry. I
| think I can figure out the code to create the entries with the right
| text; for me, the main issue is figuring out how to avoid the
| duplicate entry.
|
| If it's not possible to do override this built-in behavior, would it
| be possible to define an Item_Write function on my contact form that
| would both create these Calendar entries *and* delete the default
| recurring one created by Outlook?
|
| The only workaround I've come up with is to do everything manually:
| put in the birthday or anniversary, then delete the
| automatically-created entry, and create the individual entries for
| the next few years. Not a big deal to do this for the occasional rate
| at which I need to define new contacts, but I always prefer the more
| "elegant" approach, where possible.
|
| Thanks,
| Keith

 

[Keith S.]

Hi Milly,

Thanks, but that has nothing to do with my question. The link you mention
talks about adding a person's age to the Contact form, which is a far easier
task.

I am asking about overriding or extending the behavior that creates CALENDAR
entries from a contact's birthday or anniversary.

Keith

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Once you add the age to the contact form, it is added to the calendar entry as well. Perhaps I misunderstood your question but this is what I read that you wanted.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Keith S. asked:

| Hi Milly,
|
| Thanks, but that has nothing to do with my question. The link you
| mention talks about adding a person's age to the Contact form, which
| is a far easier task.
|
| I am asking about overriding or extending the behavior that creates
| CALENDAR entries from a contact's birthday or anniversary.
|
| Keith
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/age_form.htm
||
|| --Â
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Keith S. asked:
||
||| Hello MVP Wizards,
|||
||| I'm using Outlook 2003, and the default behavior when defining a
||| birthday or anniversary for a contact is to put an annually
||| recurring entry in the Calendar corresponding to that date and
||| person. Is the function that does this exposed in some way; i.e.:
||| can this behavior be extended, modified, or overridden?
|||
||| I ask because I would like to extend this functionality in two ways.
||| The "easy" enhancement is to assign the calendar entry to a specific
||| category (Birthday or Anniversary, respectively). The less easy
||| enhancement is to have the entry indicate the number of the birthday
||| or anniversary each year; this would mean creating several
||| individual entries for the next N years, rather than a single
||| recurring entry. I think I can figure out the code to create the
||| entries with the right text; for me, the main issue is figuring out
||| how to avoid the duplicate entry.
|||
||| If it's not possible to do override this built-in behavior, would it
||| be possible to define an Item_Write function on my contact form that
||| would both create these Calendar entries *and* delete the default
||| recurring one created by Outlook?
|||
||| The only workaround I've come up with is to do everything manually:
||| put in the birthday or anniversary, then delete the
||| automatically-created entry, and create the individual entries for
||| the next few years. Not a big deal to do this for the occasional
||| rate at which I need to define new contacts, but I always prefer
||| the more "elegant" approach, where possible.
|||
||| Thanks,
||| Keith

 

[Keith S.]

I am not seeing that behavior. Are you using Outlook 2003? I tried
downloading the sample template on the page you referenced and used it to
define a new contact; when I supplied a birthday, the age field populated,
but the entry added to calendar just contains the name in the subject,
nothing else -- same as the normal Contact form.

However, if you go back and look at my original posting, you'll see that
adding the age is just one of two things I really want to do. That's why I
was asking about customizing the built-in behavior.

Thanks,
Keith

Once you add the age to the contact form, it is added to the calendar entry as well. Perhaps I misunderstood your question but this is what I read that you wanted.

--Â
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Keith S. asked:

| Hi Milly,
|
| Thanks, but that has nothing to do with my question. The link you
| mention talks about adding a person's age to the Contact form, which
| is a far easier task.
|
| I am asking about overriding or extending the behavior that creates
| CALENDAR entries from a contact's birthday or anniversary.
|
| Keith
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/age_form.htm
||
|| --ÂÂ
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Keith S. asked:
||
||| Hello MVP Wizards,
|||
||| I'm using Outlook 2003, and the default behavior when defining a
||| birthday or anniversary for a contact is to put an annually
||| recurring entry in the Calendar corresponding to that date and
||| person. Is the function that does this exposed in some way; i.e.:
||| can this behavior be extended, modified, or overridden?
|||
||| I ask because I would like to extend this functionality in two ways.
||| The "easy" enhancement is to assign the calendar entry to a specific
||| category (Birthday or Anniversary, respectively). The less easy
||| enhancement is to have the entry indicate the number of the birthday
||| or anniversary each year; this would mean creating several
||| individual entries for the next N years, rather than a single
||| recurring entry. I think I can figure out the code to create the
||| entries with the right text; for me, the main issue is figuring out
||| how to avoid the duplicate entry.
|||
||| If it's not possible to do override this built-in behavior, would it
||| be possible to define an Item_Write function on my contact form that
||| would both create these Calendar entries *and* delete the default
||| recurring one created by Outlook?
|||
||| The only workaround I've come up with is to do everything manually:
||| put in the birthday or anniversary, then delete the
||| automatically-created entry, and create the individual entries for
||| the next few years. Not a big deal to do this for the occasional
||| rate at which I need to define new contacts, but I always prefer
||| the more "elegant" approach, where possible.
|||
||| Thanks,
||| Keith