A Recipe for a Simple Outlook Application

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The Recipe

The following sequence of steps allows you to create an in/out board in Microsoft Outlook. It is a simple but entirely useful Outlook application which shows off the full range of Outlook concepts:

Service: a general application category of Outlook/Exchange. The in/out board is initially created as a post folder (like a bulletin board) within a Personal Folder service.
Item: a collection of items makes up the contents of a folder. In the in/out board an item corresponds to a single co-worker's in/out status and is implemented as a message with custom fields that gets posted to a folder.
View: a format for looking at multiple items simultaneously and, optionally, modifying them. In the in/out board there is exactly one view, which depicts the in/out status of co-workers in a series of rows representing the in/out board. Co-workers can edit rows in the view directly to reflect changes in their in/out status or activate a form for the same purpose by double-clicking a row.
Form: a window layout for creating a new item or looking at a single item separately from the others. In the in/out board there is a single form with separate compose and read pages for adding a new co-worker and updating in/out status respectively.
Script: a programmed set of steps to be carried out in response to events that occur in conjunction with forms. The in/out form's compose and read pages both have "done" buttons that activate scripts when clicked.

1. Create a personal folder, which will hold the in/out board while it is under development.

From the outlook main menu select Tools>Services...
Choose Add...
Select Personal Folders from the Add Service dialog box. Click OK.
In the file pick dialog, enter a filename (.pst) The data for the personal folder you are creating will reside here. Click Open
In the Create Microsoft Personal Folder dialog box, choose a name for this personal folder (e.g. InOut Project Folder). Leave the other options as they are.
Choose OK
Choose OK in the Services dialog box as well.

You have just created a new top-level folder in your Outlook hierarchy.

2. Now create a new folder inside the top-level personal folder that you just created.

From the main Outlook menu select File>New>Folder...
Type in the folder name, e.g. Acme In/Out Board
Make sure the Folder contains entry shows Mail Items
Highlight the name of the personal folder in the Outlook hierarchy and choose OK

You should now have a subfolder with your chosen name inside the personal folder you created in step 1.

3. Now create a new view of the subfolder and format it.

The Outlook window is divided into an optional number of panes. Check if the folder hierarchy pane is showing (between the vertical Outlook bar and the main folder view). If the folder hierarchy pane is hidden, you can temporarily make it visible by clicking on the current folder name in the gray bar above the main view. Highlight the subfolder you created in step 2. Its default view (the right of the hierarchy pane) should be visible and should be indicating that there are no items in that folder.
From the main Outlook menu, choose [Outlook 98] View>Current View>Define Views... or [Outlook 97] View>Define Views...
Select New...
Name your view In/Out and leave the other options as they are. Choose OK.
Select Fields...
Shift-click all the default-view fields in the right list except for Subject and then use <-Remove to remove them. Check that Subject is the only remaining field.
Create the field In by using New Field... Select the type Yes/No from the drop-down list. Note that its format changes to Icon. This is what we want.
Create the fields Return and Note by using New Field... and accepting the default type and format of Text.
Select Date/Time fields from the drop-down at the bottom left of the dialog and add the field Modified. Make sure the fields are in the order In, Subject, Return, Note, and Modified. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to rearrange them if not.
Choose OK.
Select Sort...
At the bottom of the Sort dialog box is a dropdown list Select available fields from:. Use it to select All Post fields.
Select Subject in the Sort items by list at the top. Select Ascending. Select OK.
Select [Outlook 98] Other Settings... or [Outlook 97] Format
Under Rows, Check Allow in-cell editing.
Change Grid line style to Small dots
Uncheck Show preview pane (if that option appears)
Select OK then OK again treturn to the Define Views dialog.
In the Define Views dialog, check Only show views created for this folder, then click Apply view.
Make sure your new view is showing by choosing View>Current View>In/Out.
Now right-click on the column headings and choose Format Columns...
In the list of fields, select one-by-one Subject, Return, Note, and Modified and change their labels respectively to Who, Will Return, Notes, and Last Changed. Choose OK.

You should now be looking at an empty in/out board.

4. Now design a custom form that allows filling in the custom fields you created. It will have different Compose and Read pages. This means that when you add someone to the in/out board, you will use a different form than when you modify someone's entry (which is done by double-clicking on the entry).

Double-click anywhere on the view you created. This will bring up a generic post form.
Choose [Outlook 98] Tools>Forms>Design This Form... or [Outlook 97] Tools> Design Outlook Form...
Confirm that Form>Separate Read Layout is selected. Confirm that Form>Edit Compose Page is selected.
Delete everything on the form's Compose Page except the label Subject: and the white field to its right (including the large Message field and the Category fields. (Note that control-click allows multiple selection.) You should now be looking at a gray "canvas" with no items on it.
Click on the label Subject: and change it to Name:.
Click on the (All Fields) tab and then select User-defined fields in folder. Select the In field and enter the value Yes.
Click on the Message tab. Choose Form>Control Toolbox. Drag a CommandButton (middle row, rightmost tool) to the form. Right-click the button and in the Properties dialog, change the button's name to DoneButton (make sure to capitalize the D and the B and not to use any spaces). Change its caption to Add Name. Click OK.
Choose Form>View Code. Type the following script into the new window:

Sub DoneButton_Click 'Runs when DoneButton is clicked.
Item.Close(0) 'Close the form. (0) means don't ask for confirmation.
End Sub

Close the Script window.
Making sure the button is still selected, copy it to the clipboard.
Click on the Edit Read Page button. As before, delete everything except the label Subject: and the white entry field to its right.
In the Field Chooser, select User-designed fields in folder in the top drop-down.
Drag and drop the Note and Return fields from the field chooser ontthe form. Change the label of the latter to Will Return.
Choose Form>Control Toolbox if the Control Toolbox is not showing from before. Drag two OptionButtons (middle row, second tool from left) to the form. Caption one In and one Out, either directly on the form or on the property dialog (Form>Properties).
Review the properties of the In and Out radibuttons that you added to the form. Make either of them active by clicking on it. Then right-click and choose Properties and select the Value tab. Using Choose field select User-defined fields in folder and the In field. If you are editing the properties of the In button, change this value to Yes. If you are editing the Out button's properties, change the value to No. Now use the opposite value for the other button.
Paste the button that you placed on the clipboard onto the form page. Change its caption to Done. You can type directly into the button or use its property dialog as above. Since its name (although not its caption) is the same as the button on the compose page, when clicked it will also activate the DoneButton_Click script you typed in previously.
Choose [Outlook 98] Tools>Forms>Publish Form As... or [Outlook 97] File>Publish Form As... Type In/Out in the [Outlook 98] Display Name or [Outlook 97] Form name field of the dialog. Click the Publish button.
On the main Outlook menu, Choose File>Folder>Properties for "<the name of your in/out folder>" In the middle of the dialog you will see a dropdown called When posting to this folder, use. Select In/Out. This will substitute the custom form you just created for the generic post form as the default creation and read forms for this folder.
Click OK.

5. Now enter the names of your co-workers.

Double-click on your in/out board. This should bring up a compose form. Enter a name. Click Add Name. Now that name should appear in the in/out board with a checkmark to its left signifying "in." To add additional names, double click in the in/out board below the already-entered names and a new compose form will appear.

6. Test the in/out board board

Double-click on a co-workers' entry and enter text in the form that appears. When you click Done on the form, the text should appear in the view. Now edit the text directly in the view. Each method should accomplish the same thing.
Click several times in the In column of an entry and make sure the check mark toggles alternately on and off. Double-click on the row and test the option buttons. After clicking the Done button, see that the check mark reflects the last setting of the option buttons.
To improve the look of the in/out board, you can change column widths by horizontally dragging the lines between the columns.

Note that the in/out board must be published in a public folder to be accessible to co-workers. The use of public folders requires proper permissions. See your Exchange administrator for arrangements.