12 - Coding Key Custom Form Scenarios

Abstract

The Visual Basic (VB) Script code behind the Outlook custom forms is event-driven. The code behind a form runs when the user's interaction with a form causes item and control events to fire. Writing a code to respond to such user interaction is a large part of the job of an Outlook form designer. A basic custom form coding task is to determine whether the form is displaying a new item or an existing item, or whether the form is displaying the read layout or the compose layout, or whether a new message is completely new or is a reply or forward. By investigating the order in which the related events fire, one can gain better control over the behavior of the Outlook forms. Outlook custom forms are limited in the control events they support.