Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000

Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Contents Overview Introduction to Outlook 2000 Forms Building a Simple Outlook 2000 Form 10 Working with Controls 26 Working with Fields 31 Performing Actions 44 Using Office Document Forms 49 Persisting Form Design 54 Lab A: Building the Computer Services Task Form 70 Review 88 Information in this document is subject to change without notice The names of companies, products, people, characters, and/or data mentioned herein are fictitious and are in no way intended to represent any real individual, company, product, or event, unless otherwise noted Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation If, however, your only means of access is electronic, permission to print one copy is hereby granted Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property  1999 Microsoft Corporation All rights reserved Microsoft, Active Desktop, Active Directory, ActiveX, BackOffice, Developer Studio, FrontPage, JScript, MSDN, MSN, NetMeeting, Outlook, PivotChart, PivotTable, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual FoxPro, Visual InterDev, Visual J++, Visual SourceSafe, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows Media, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A and/or other countries The names of companies, products, people, characters, and/or data mentioned herein are fictitious and are in no way intended to represent any real individual, company, product, or event, unless otherwise noted Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners Project Advisor: Janet Wilson Project Lead and Instructional Designer: Anne Bockman (Excell Data Corporation) Instructional Designers: Josh Barnhill (Volt Technical) and Jo Berry (Exchange) Lead Program Manager: Greg Bott Program Managers: Colleena Carr and Chris Boar (Intl Vendor) Graphic Artist: Andrea Heuston (Artitudes Layout and Design) Editing Manager: Lynette Skinner Editor: Jennifer Kerns (S&T Onsite) Copy Editor: Shari G Smith (R & S Consulting) Online Program Manager: Arlo Emerson (Aditi) Production Support: Irene Barnett (Barnett Communications) Manufacturing Manager: Bo Galford Manufacturing Support: Mimi Dukes (S&T Onsite) Development Services: Kimber Dodge Lead Product Manager: Mary Larson Group Product Manager: Robert Stewart Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Instructor Notes Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Presentation: 150 Minutes This module shows students how to develop simple and complex custom forms by using Microsoft® Outlook® 2000 Lab: 60 Minutes At the end of this module, students will be able to build simple forms that use fields, standard controls, and Microsoft ActiveX® controls, and set form and control properties Students will be able to describe how data is stored with an item and how controls are bound to fields Students will be able to work with fields and define custom fields for their forms They will also learn about form actions and how default and custom actions can be used Students will be able to create custom forms that are based on Microsoft Office documents Finally, they will learn how to save a form and make it available to other users Materials and Preparation This section provides you with the materials and preparation needed to teach this module Materials To teach this module, you need the following materials:
Microsoft PowerPoint® file 1593a_03.ppt
Module 3, “Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000” Preparation To prepare for this module, you should:
Read all the materials for this module
Read the instructor notes and margin notes for the module
Complete the lab
Rehearse the practices
Rehearse the demonstration iii iv Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Module Strategy Use the following strategy to present this module:
Introduction to Outlook 2000 Forms Provide an introduction to Outlook 2000 forms by describing the various form types Then, describe the various elements that students can use to customize forms Most of these elements are described in this module, while others (scripting and the Script Editor) are described in subsequent modules Define the purpose of the message class
Building a Simple Outlook 2000 Form Describe how to build a simple Outlook 2000 form by using the Outlook Form Designer Explain how to avoid common design mistakes for Outlook 2000 forms that will be converted into Web forms by using the Outlook HTML Form Converter
Working with Controls Explain how to perform advanced customization by setting standard and advanced control properties, setting the tab order of controls on a form, and binding standard and ActiveX controls to form fields
Working with Fields Describe three types of custom fields and how they are created: simple, formula, and combination fields Provide an overview of how to restrict field access by using scripting Describe how to ensure that users enter values or valid data into fields by using field validation
Performing Actions Describe how to invoke forms through actions performed by users and how to create custom reply forms
Using Office Document Forms Show how to use a Microsoft Office document within a form
Persisting Form Design Describe how to test, save, and publish a form Define the forms cache and demonstrate how to clear the forms cache Explain how to use the MessageClass property of an item, and the DefaultItemType and DefaultMessageClass properties of a folder to control how a solution views and edits items Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Overview Slide Objective To provide an overview of the module topics and objectives Lead-in In this module, you will learn about building custom forms in Outlook 2000
Introduction to Outlook 2000 Forms
Building a Simple Outlook 2000 Form
Working with Controls
Working with Fields
Performing Actions
Using Office Document Forms
Persisting Form Design At the end of this module, you will be able to:
Select the type of Microsoft® Outlook® 2000 form that is most appropriate for a given scenario
Create a new form by setting form properties, adding standard and Microsoft ActiveX® controls, and setting their properties
Bind controls to fields
Define custom formula and combination fields for a form and use field validation
Create a Reply form that controls how users reply to a form
Create a new form that is based on a Microsoft Office document
Save and publish a form so that it is available to other users Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000
Introduction to Outlook 2000 Forms Slide Objective To outline this topic Lead-in There are a variety of form types and customization tools you can use to build Outlook 2000 forms
Types of Outlook 2000 Forms
Outlook 2000 Form Components
Introduction to the Message Class Outlook 2000 provides a number of built-in form types that can be customized Recognizing these types and understanding their specific capabilities can save development time by taking advantage of the built-in functionality of each form type Outlook 2000 also provides tools that you can use to customize forms You can use these tools to add additional controls and fields to forms, to respond to user activity, or to add script code to further customize the built-in forms When working with forms in the Outlook 2000 design environment, you have to base the design of custom forms on built-in forms Unlike Microsoft Visual Basic® forms, it is impossible and unnecessary to start with a blank Outlook 2000 form Because an Outlook 2000 form will always be sent or posted, you always start with a Send form or a Post form After you customize your form, you can publish it When you publish your form, a message class is automatically generated by Outlook 2000 from the form name and is assigned with the form The message class is an internal identifier used by Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Exchange Server to locate and activate a form When a form with that message class is selected, Outlook 2000 loads and displays an instance of that form Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Types of Outlook 2000 Forms Slide Objective To list and describe the types of Outlook 2000 forms
Lead-in
Mail Message Forms
Outlook 2000 comes with a variety of forms that you can customize for your specific needs Post Forms

Applications with threaded conversation views Modifying Other Built-In Forms

Request forms, survey forms, and report forms Appointment, contact, distribution list, journal entry, and task Office Document Forms
Message or post forms with an embedded Office document You can create custom forms more efficiently when you fully understand the different types of forms that are available The design environment for Outlook 2000 forms is called the Outlook Form Designer Another term used to describe the design environment is “design mode.” The Outlook Form Designer provides the following form types as a starting point for a new custom form Mail Message Forms Use the mail message form to build custom forms for structuring information, requesting services, or collecting information When you use a mail message form, you inherit all the built-in capabilities of the form, such as automatic name resolution and nickname support, and most fields on the form can be customized The only field that your new form will inherit that cannot be changed is the Send button at the top of the form With a mail message form, a user can send information to another user, distribution list (DL), or folder within a site or across the Internet You should base your custom form on a mail message form when you need the ability to send information across the e-mail system The following are examples of custom mail message forms that can be developed with the Outlook Form Designer:
Request forms Use these forms for purchase orders, copier services, business cards, travel requests, and so on
Survey forms Use these forms to collect feedback from coworkers For example, an Employee Satisfaction Survey form enables Outlook 2000 users to provide feedback by filling in the form, and then routing the form to the Employee Satisfaction public folder
Report forms Use these forms to structure and distribute information For example, status reports, weekly time sheet forms, or mileage reports Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Post Forms Most collaborative solutions make use of the post form The post form is best used in an application that posts and retrieves messages in a public folder The following are examples of custom post forms:
Forms for a technical user group Use these forms to enable users to submit problems and solutions to problems, as well as to review and respond to submitted problems
Product wish list forms Use these forms to submit ideas and requests to a Suggestions folder and to respond to suggestions Product planners can then review the folder for new product ideas
Help desk System Use these forms to post help desk requests to a public folder Help desk technicians can update the information in each request or mark it as resolved Concurrently, users can view the status of their requests By default, Exchange Server hides the addresses of public folders from the Global Address List (GAL) For this reason, before you can send an e-mail message to a public folder, you must either have the Exchange Server Administrator change the default settings to make the e-mail address of the public folder available from the GAL, or have users add the e-mail address of the public folder to their Contacts folder Modifying Other Built-In Forms The Outlook 2000 built-in forms (appointment, contact, distribution list, journal entry, and task) contain form-specific functionality, which you can customize by displaying additional form pages and adding controls However, it is not always possible to modify all of the pages of a form For example, you cannot modify the Appointment or Attendee Availability pages on the appointment form However, the other five pages on the contact form are modifiable Some controls, such as the Date and Time Picker selection control on the first page of a tasks form and appointment form can now be accessed by customizing the Toolbox and selecting Microsoft Date and Time Picker Control You should utilize the rich functionality of built-in forms whenever possible because these forms can provide valuable business functionality for very little development cost For example, assume that your solution includes a public folder that contains all the vendors used by your company If you implement this folder using a modified contact form, the functionality of the contact form, such as New Letter to Contact and New Mail to Contact becomes part of your application If you base the form on a post form instead, you would have to add this functionality through script code inside the form Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Office Document Forms Office document forms are either e-mail messages or post forms that contain an embedded Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint® document Wrapping an Outlook 2000 form around an Office document incorporates the features of the hosted document into the Outlook 2000 form These types of forms are best used when you want the replication and form library support of Outlook 2000, but you also want the functionality of other Office applications An example of an Office document form is an Expense Report application In an Expense Report application, an Excel spreadsheet is embedded in a post form Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Outlook 2000 Form Components Slide Objective To list the components that enable Outlook 2000 form development Lead-in Outlook 2000 supports a number of tools and technologies that you can use to customize forms
Compose and Read Pages
Standard Controls
Fields
Properties
Actions
Script Editor Because every item in Outlook 2000 is based on a form, understanding the components of a form is essential to creating forms that can distribute and collect information that is essential to your environment Compose and Read Pages Each page within an Outlook 2000 form can be split into two different pages, a compose page—the page that is displayed when the item is being composed— and a read page—the page that is displayed when the item is being read The compose page and the read page can either have minor differences or have a completely different look and feel An example of this is a standard e-mail message When composing an e-mail message, you can edit the To, Cc, and Subject fields When you read an e-mail message, these fields cannot be edited, because on the read page, these controls have been set read-only The read page of the Message tab also contains an additional field, Sent, that displays the date and time the e-mail message was sent Compose and read options apply to each page within a form You cannot specify individual fields within a page as compose or read If you want to use essentially the same page as both a compose and read page but want to make any changes at all to one or the other, you must create a duplicate of the first tab and then modify it To create a duplicate, create your page before separating it into a compose and read page You can also combine separated pages into one Doing so discards changes to one of the pages Standard Controls Controls determine how a user interacts with a form Outlook Form Designer provides a Toolbox that has 15 standard controls for custom form design You can customize the Toolbox by adding ActiveX controls and by adding more pages to the Toolbox ... Robert Stewart Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Instructor Notes Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Presentation: 150 Minutes This module shows students... iv Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Module Strategy Use the following strategy to present this module:
Introduction to Outlook 2000 Forms Provide an introduction to Outlook. .. form Module 3: Creating Forms by Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 Outlook 2000 Form Components Slide Objective To list the components that enable Outlook 2000 form development Lead-in Outlook 2000