OL97: How to Update Existing Items to Use a New Custom Form

ID: Q170301

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 97

SUMMARY

This article describes how you can update items in a Microsoft Outlook 97 folder so they use a custom form instead of the standard Outlook form.

MORE INFORMATION

There are several situations in Outlook 97 where you might want to change the form that is used for all the items in a folder. For example:

You use the default Outlook form to enter 10 contacts into your contacts folder. You then create a special custom form for contacts and enter 10 additional contacts. You want the first 10 contacts, when opened, to use the new custom form.
You create a custom form for contacts and enter 10 contacts using the custom form. You then import 100 contacts from a text file. The 100 imported contacts use the default form instead of the custom form.
You have a public folder with 1000 posted items based on the default post form. You then create a custom form that shows the items in a way that is important to your work. You want to apply the new form to the 1000 existing items.

A property of the item called "message class" determines what form the item uses. You cannot change the message class of an item manually. However, you can write VBScript or Automation code to change the message class for all items in a folder.

When you create and publish a custom form, the form is assigned a message class. This message class determines which form is associated with an item. The format of the name is usually "IPM.<FolderType>.<FormName>", where <FolderType> is the type of folder (Contact, Task, and such.) and <FormName> is the name of the form. For example, if you create a new form named Revised and publish it to your contact folder, the message class is IPM.Contact.Revised.

The following table lists the various names used for Message Classes:

   Item           Default folder  Default Message Class
   -------------  --------------  ---------------------
   Contact        Contacts        IPM.Contact
   Task           Tasks           IPM.Task
   Appointment    Calendar        IPM.Appointment
   Note           Notes           IPM.StickyNote
   Journal Entry  Journal         IPM.Activity
   Mail           Inbox           IPM.Note

To see the message class for an existing item, add the message class field as one of the columns in the current view. Follow these steps to add the message class to your view:

1. On the View menu, click Field Chooser.

2. In the Field Chooser list, click to select All Contact Fields.

3. Drag the Message Class field to the view column header to add the

   field as a column.

The message class in this view is read-only; you cannot type in a different message class to change the form manually.

Changing the Message Class field of existing items requires that you use Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) code within an Outlook form, or Visual Basic for Applications code from another program to automate Outlook and change the Message Class fields.

The following are two methods of changing Message Class fields:

METHOD 1

Download Omsgclas.exe, which contains a Word 97 document with a macro utility that displays a dialog box with options for changing Outlook Message Classes. The macro runs automatically when you open the document.

For more information on obtaining the Omsgclas.exe file, including a link to the file, please see the following articlesin the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q169431
   Title     : OL97: Word 97 Document to Change Outlook Folder Message
               Class

METHOD 2

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/

Follow the steps below to create and run a VBScript routine that will change all the items in a folder to a specified form. This example assumes that you have published a new form called MyNewForm in the current folder. If you use a different title for your form, modify the form title used in the third line of code in the section "Enter the VBScript Code."

Create a new item to store the VBScript code
Enter the VBScript code
Run the VBScript code

Create a New Item to Store the VBScript Code

1. Open the folder that contains the items you wish to update.

2. On the File menu, point to New and click the appropriate item for

   example, if you want to create a new item in the Contacts folder, click
   Contact. You can later move the item to a different folder if you do not
   wish to keep this item in this folder, but the item must temporarily be
   in the folder in order for the VBScript code to function correctly.

3. On the Tools menu, click Design Outlook Form to enter the form design

   mode.

Enter the VBScript Code

1. On the Form menu, click View Code.

2. In the Script Editor, type the following code. You do not

   need to enter the lines that begin with an apostrophe, since these
   lines are comments that are ignored when executed.

   Sub Item_Open
   ' Change the following line to your new Message Class
   NewMC = "IPM.Contact.MyNewForm"
   ' Set cf to the current folder
   Set CurFolder = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder
   ' Loop through all of the items in the folder
   For I = 1 to CurFolder.Items.Count
      Set CurItem = CurFolder.Items.Item(I)
      ' Test to see if the Message Class needs to be changed
      If CurItem.MessageClass <> NewMC Then
         ' Change the Message Class
         CurItem.MessageClass = NewMC
         ' Save the changed item
         CurItem.Save
      End If
   Next
   MsgBox "Done."
   End Sub

3. On the Script Editor's File menu, click Close.

4. On the Tools menu, click Design Outlook Form to exit the form

   design mode.

5. On the item's toolbar, click Save and Close to save the item in the

   current folder. If this is an item without a "Save and Close" button,
   click the X in the upper-right corner of the item's window and then
   click Yes when asked to save changes.

Run the VBScript Code

1. To run the VBScript code, re-open the item. The code will run

   automatically because it was entered into an Item_Open event
   procedure. If you receive a macro warning, click Enable Macros.

2. Wait while the code changes the Message Class for all of the items in

   this folder. Depending on the number of items, this may take several
   minutes. When the code finishes, you should receive a message that
   says, Done.

If you wish to edit the VBScript code later, hold down the SHIFT key when you open the item. This prevents the VBScript code from executing and you can go into design mode and make changes to the VBScript code.

REFERENCES

For more information about creating solutions with Microsoft Outlook 97, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q166368
   Title     : OL97: How to Get Help Programming with Outlook

   Article-ID: Q170783
   Title     : OL97: Q&A: Questions about Customizing or
               Programming Outlook

Additional query words: OutSol OutSol97

Keywords          : kbcode 
Version           : 97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 19, 1999