Soliciting Custom Form Advice

[Tom at GSD]

Hi All,

I have spent the last 5-6 months developing a MAPI transport provider and
store and I have now arrived at the add-in part of this project. I want to
develop custom forms for my message class. I have been down the custom form
path before and this time before I start I thought I would solicit the
newsgroup for suggestions. We are developing the add-in in ATL/C++ and my
customer has a strict requirement and that is NO .NET whatsoever. Their first
target is Outlook 2003 and later this year Outlook 2007.

My forms require changing the background colors, adding images and really
redesigning the look and feel of the custom forms. I am asking if there is
any software out there that will aid in the design aspect or any real good
articles that will help me in the creation part of these forms. I have done
little custom form things in the past and I always say to myself that there
has got to be a better way. So I would appreciate any suggestions or advice.

Thanks,
Tom –

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Custom forms development hasn't changed much since the Outlook 97 days, and
remains a weak design environment where nothing but the MS Forms 2.0
controls are really guaranteed to work correctly. Forms code is still only
VBScript, the custom forms don't display in the preview pane, the forms
cache is still prone to corruption, and custom forms are to be polite "not a
robust solution" to quote an Outlook PM. Custom forms lose the Windows
theming and any new properties added since Outlook 97, such as contact
pictures. MS plans to spend no money in the future on custom forms.

Form regions work nicely in Outlook 2007, but only there.

Look at www.outlookcode.com for the best compendium of forms development
information.

Personally, unless the client absolutely insists, I try to avoid custom
forms like the plague. In that case I might or might not even take the job.

 

[Tom at GSD]

Hi Ken,

I was afraid I would get that feedback.

I have to create two forms one for the open message and one for the new
message. I did a prototype with dialogs but the customer wants all of the
Outlook editing toolbars - so obviously I have no choice but to create custom
forms. Uhg!

Thanks for your feedback

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

To add to what Ken said, custom message forms can also cause problems with attachments for recipients. I would avoid them at all costs, except for limited internal use in an Exchange environment. See http://outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=66 and http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=61 for more on issues involved in custom message forms.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54

Hi Ken,

I was afraid I would get that feedback.

I have to create two forms one for the open message and one for the new
message. I did a prototype with dialogs but the customer wants all of the
Outlook editing toolbars - so obviously I have no choice but to create custom
forms. Uhg!

Thanks for your feedback

Custom forms development hasn't changed much since the Outlook 97 days, and
remains a weak design environment where nothing but the MS Forms 2.0
controls are really guaranteed to work correctly. Forms code is still only
VBScript, the custom forms don't display in the preview pane, the forms
cache is still prone to corruption, and custom forms are to be polite "not a
robust solution" to quote an Outlook PM. Custom forms lose the Windows
theming and any new properties added since Outlook 97, such as contact
pictures. MS plans to spend no money in the future on custom forms.

Form regions work nicely in Outlook 2007, but only there.

Look at www.outlookcode.com for the best compendium of forms development
information.

Personally, unless the client absolutely insists, I try to avoid custom
forms like the plague. In that case I might or might not even take the job.

--
Ken Slovak
[MVP - Outlook]
http://www.slovaktech.com
Author: Professional Programming Outlook 2007
Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options
http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm

Hi All,

I have spent the last 5-6 months developing a MAPI transport provider and
store and I have now arrived at the add-in part of this project. I want to
develop custom forms for my message class. I have been down the custom
form
path before and this time before I start I thought I would solicit the
newsgroup for suggestions. We are developing the add-in in ATL/C++ and my
customer has a strict requirement and that is NO .NET whatsoever. Their
first
target is Outlook 2003 and later this year Outlook 2007.

My forms require changing the background colors, adding images and really
redesigning the look and feel of the custom forms. I am asking if there is
any software out there that will aid in the design aspect or any real good
articles that will help me in the creation part of these forms. I have
done
little custom form things in the past and I always say to myself that
there
has got to be a better way. So I would appreciate any suggestions or
advice.

Thanks,
Tom –

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Just remember that sending custom forms over the Internet is an arcane art
that is failure prone and that the recipient must also have the custom form
published, it must go in RTF so the TNEF wrapper is encapsulated in the
Winmail.dat attachment to be parsed on reception and that the server and
Outlook both must be set to send RTF over the Internet, send it for that
Recipient and not convert it to HTML.

Good luck.