Changed Message class; forms with data resist.

[swmagic]

Outlook 2007 w/Exchange. Have a client that created and published an IPM.Contact.Contact form years ago with many custom fields. After lengthy discussion we decided to return to standard form.

I ran a VBA routine to change all the message classes back to IPM.Contact (in Public Folder. However, any record with data in customized fields reverts back to displaying the old form even though it reports IPM.Contact class.

Is this a normal behavior as those customized fields would otherwise become inaccessible (even from All fields)?

How do I complete the conversion? The client is ok with a phone list view of those customized fields.

Paul

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

What's the size on those items? If it's larger than could be accounted for
by the field data alone, the form could have one-offed and become embedded
in the item. A check of the actual MessageClass value for those items could
help confirm the one-off situation.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54


"swmagic" <swmagic.40eylm@invalid> wrote in message
news:swmagic.40eylm@invalid...
>
> Outlook 2007 w/Exchange. Have a client that created and published an
> IPM.Contact.Contact form years ago with many custom fields. After
> lengthy discussion we decided to return to standard form.
>
> I ran a VBA routine to change all the message classes back to
> IPM.Contact (in Public Folder. However, any record with data in
> customized fields reverts back to displaying the old form even though it
> reports IPM.Contact class.
>
> Is this a normal behavior as those customized fields would otherwise
> become inaccessible (even from All fields)?
>
> How do I complete the conversion? The client is ok with a phone list
> view of those customized fields.
>
> Paul
>
>
> --
> swmagic
> http://forums.slipstick.com
>

[swmagic]

Upon reading your Chapter 20.2 and Microsoft's discussion http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919596 it makes sense to me that one-off forms are occurring.

I have yet to check the item sizes. But if they have ballooned and I have the one-off situation, at least I see the several ways this could have happened in their environment. (I don't quite understand why Microsoft would state that one-off's can create unexpected behavior and then turn around and explain how to intentionally create one, sigh).

But more to the point--how do I fix this mess? I used Ken's code to change them all back to IPM.Contact but it appears that some MUST be one-offed if they are in the default message class now but still showing the custom form.

Also I noticed that many, but not all, of the contact items had the post icon and not the contact icon. Did that come from some machines that had the "Send Form Definition with Item" checked?

Although I understand that clearing the forms cache might NOT resolve my issue, would you recommend that as first step and how do you do that in OL2007 (or Exchange 2007).

Any other ways to fix the one-off?


Paul

What's the size on those items? If it's larger than could be accounted for
by the field data alone, the form could have one-offed and become embedded
in the item. A check of the actual MessageClass value for those items could
help confirm the one-off situation.

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

The first step is to diagnose exactly what the problem is. I'm sure the Size
and MessageClass property values will give you good clues, especially if you
correlate those results with the icon appearance.

If the items are one-offed and you want to remove the embedded form, there
are code snippets that show how to do that. See
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=34, at the end of the article.

Clearing the forms cache is almost always non-invasive and worth trying, but
I suspect it's not relevant here. You can either delete the entire contents
of the FORMS folder or use the Clear Cache button on the Manage Forms dialog
to delete only the FrmCache.dat file in that folder.

There was a point in time where one-off forms had some utility, but that was
two versions of Outlook in the past.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54


"swmagic" <swmagic.40gunm@invalid> wrote in message
news:swmagic.40gunm@invalid...
>
> Upon reading your Chapter 20.2 and Microsoft's discussion
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919596 it makes sense to me that one-off
> forms are occurring.
>
> I have yet to check the item sizes. But if they have ballooned and I
> have the one-off situation, at least I see the several ways this could
> have happened in their environment. (I don't quite understand why
> Microsoft would state that one-off's can create unexpected behavior and
> then turn around and explain how to intentionally create one, sigh).
>
> But more to the point--how do I fix this mess? I used Ken's code to
> change them all back to IPM.Contact but it appears that some MUST be
> one-offed if they are in the default message class now but still showing
> the custom form.
>
> Also I noticed that many, but not all, of the contact items had the
> post icon and not the contact icon. Did that come from some machines
> that had the "Send Form Definition with Item" checked?
>
> Although I understand that clearing the forms cache might NOT resolve
> my issue, would you recommend that as first step and how do you do that
> in OL2007 (or Exchange 2007).
>
> Any other ways to fix the one-off?
>
>
> Paul
>
> What's the size on those items? If it's larger than could be accounted
> for
> by the field data alone, the form could have one-offed and become
> embedded
> in the item. A check of the actual MessageClass value for those items
> could
> help confirm the one-off situation.

[swmagic]

All Good information Sue, thanks.

Before I invest in learning Redemption I'll just ask a simple question.

I noticed on the converted data (from the custom to ipm.contact) that those custom fields don't show up in All Fields. Are they hidden, gone? Are they recoverable? Would manual conversion be easier?

Thanks.

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Did you look under both User Fields in Item and User Fields in Folder? Did
you originally define those fields at the folder level? If not, try adding
the folder-level field definition.

Outlook Spy or MFCMAPI.exe will tell you whether the data is still
available.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54


"swmagic" <swmagic.40hbsa@invalid> wrote in message
news:swmagic.40hbsa@invalid...
>
> All Good information Sue, thanks.
>
> Before I invest in learning Redemption I'll just ask a simple
> question.
>
> I noticed on the converted data (from the custom to ipm.contact) that
> those custom fields don't show up in All Fields. Are they hidden, gone?
> Are they recoverable? Would manual conversion be easier?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> --
> swmagic
> http://forums.slipstick.com
>