OL98: How to Automatically Close a Form When Calling an Action

ID: Q193460

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 98

SUMMARY

This article describes how you can automatically close a form after a second form is launched from the first.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft Support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

When you design a form solution in Microsoft Outlook 98, you can use actions on a form to launch a second form. You may want to have the first form close automatically when the second form is launched.

To do this, follow these steps:

Set Up the Folder

1. To store mail messages, create a new Public Folder.

2. Right-click the folder, click Properties, click the Administration tab,

   and then click the "Personal Address Book" button to add the folder's
   address to the Personal Address Book. If the button is not enabled,
   make sure you have a Personal Address Book service available in your
   Exchange profile.

Create the Second Form First

1. Open a new mail message.

2. Click "To:" on the form, select Personal Address Book from the

   list of available address books, select the name of the public folder,
   and then click "To:->". Click OK.

3. Change the Subject of the message to "This is Form2".

4. On the Tools menu, click Forms, and then click Design This Form.

5. On the Tools menu, click Forms, and then click Publish Form As. For this

   example, select the Personal Forms Library, although you can also
   publish the form to another location. Set the Display Name to Form2
   and then click Publish.

6. Close and do not save changes to this item.

Create the First Form

1. Open a new mail message.

2. Click "To:" on the form, select Personal Address Book from

   the list of available address books, select the name of the public
   folder, and then click "To:->". Click OK.

3. Set the Subject to "This is Form1."

4. On the Tools menu, click Forms, and then click Design This Form.

5. On the Actions page, click New. Set the name of the action to

   "Get Form2." In the "Form name" list, select Forms... and
   navigate to the Form2 form that was previously published in the
   Personal Forms Library. Change the setting to address form like a
   "Reply to Folder." Enable the option to "Send the form immediately."
   Click OK.

6. On the Form menu, click View Code. Type the following Visual Basic

   Scripting Edition (VBScript) code into the Script Editor and then
   close the editor:

   Function Item_CustomAction(ByVal Action, ByVal NewItem)
      Item.Close 1 'olDiscard
   End Function

7. On the Tools menu, click Forms, and then click Publish Form As.

   Change the "Look in" setting to Outlook Folders and then click
   Browse and navigate to the public folder previously created.
   Type Form1 as the Display Name of the form and then click Publish.

8. Close and do not save changes to the item.

Testing the Forms

1. With the folder selected, on the Actions menu, click New Form1.

2. Click Send.

3. Open the new item in the folder.

4. Click the "Get Form2" action.

You will now have no forms open and the folder will receive a new item with a Subject of "This is Form2".

NOTE: If you do not wish to use actions, you can also publish a second form (Form2) to a forms library and then create a command button on the first form (Form1) and add VBScript code similar to the following:

   Sub CommandButton1_Click()
      ' Create a reference to the Inbox
      Set MyInbox = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(6)
      ' Create a new instance of Form2
      Set NewItem = MyInbox.Items.Add("IPM.Note.Form2")
      ' Address the form and populate its fields
      NewItem.To = "emailname"
      NewItem.Subject = "This is form2"
      ' Send the second form
      NewItem.Send
      ' Close the current (first) form
      Item.Close 1
   End Sub

NOTE: One approach that will not work is trying to use Visual Basic Script to close an item from within its own Send event. Outlook will typically generate the following error:

   One or more parameter values are not valid.

REFERENCES

For more information about creating solutions with Microsoft Outlook 98, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q180826
   Title     : OL98: Resources for Custom Forms and Programming

   Article-ID: Q182349
   Title     : OL98: Questions About Custom Forms and Outlook Solutions

Additional query words: OutSol OutSol98

Keywords          : kbdta OffVBS 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999