OL98: How to Simulate a Form "Create" Event in VBScript (180899)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 98
This article was previously published under Q180899

SUMMARY

Microsoft Outlook 98 does not provide a Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) event that executes only when a new Outlook item is created. This article describes a method you can use to simulate this functionality.

MORE INFORMATION

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When a new form is created, Outlook executes an Item_Open event in VBScript. However, once the item is saved in a folder, the Item_Open event also executes when the item is reopened. In addition, Outlook also executes the Item_Read event when an item is opened from a folder.

The following sample VBScript code illustrates how you can place code in the Item_Open event so it will only run when the item is first created. It checks to see if the Created field of the item is populated. If the Created field does not have a date value, the item must be a new item. If the Created field is populated with a date value, the item has already been saved and is therefore being reopened. 

   Sub Item_Open()

      MsgBox "This is the Item_Open event."

      ' 1/1/4501 represents a date field with no value.
      If Item.CreationTime = #1/1/4501# Then
         MsgBox "Open: Code to run when item created goes here."
      Else
         MsgBox "Open: Code to run when item opened goes here."
      End If

   End Sub

   Sub Item_Read()

      MsgBox "This is the Item_Read event."

   End Sub

REFERENCES

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

180826 OL98: Resources for Custom Forms and Programming

182349 OL98: Questions About Custom Forms and Outlook Solutions

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/23/2005
Keywords:kbcode kbhowto kbProgramming KB180899
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