- Review the Design
- Creating the Folders and Fields for the Sample
- Customizing the Outlook Contact Form
- Building the Folder Event Agent
- Completing Outlook Client Configurations
- Chapter Summary
Completing Outlook Client Configurations
The last process involved in configuring SCOES is the creation of folder views that will commonly be used by all of ImagiNET's sales staff. Additionally, the Client Contacts form must also be assigned as the default Post form for the Client Contacts public folder. Sales people will also be required to have access to these contacts when offline, so the final step in this process is to configure the folder for offline access.
Modifying the Default Post Form
Start by setting the Client Contacts form as the default Post form for the Client Contacts public folder. To do this, view the property dialog box for the folder and select the General tab. From the When Posting to This Folder, Use: pull-down box, select the Client Contact form. Click OK when you're done. Now, whenever you double-click in the Client Contacts folder or choose to create a new contact when the Client Contacts folder is selected, the Client Contact form will appear.
Creating the Outlook Folder Views
Creating views is the final stage, and at this point, I'm going to assume that you remember how to create and customize views without needing to go through every detail. Tables 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, and 13.9 illustrate the specifications for the views that are required for this folder. See Figure 13.10 for additional information on the views required for SCOES.
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Table 13.6 View Definition for Client by Sales Person and Region
|
View Name |
Clients by Sales Person and Region |
|
Fields |
ContactID |
|
|
Full Name |
|
|
Type of Company |
|
|
Company |
|
|
Business Phone |
|
|
Business Fax |
|
Group By |
Contacts (Renamed to Display Sales Person) |
|
|
Region |
|
Other Properties |
Allow In cell editing: No |
|
|
Show New Item Row: No |
|
|
Filters: None |
|
|
AutoPreview: No |
|
|
Show Preview Pane: No |
Table 13.7 View Definition for Clients by Region and Sales Person
|
View Name |
Clients by Region and Sales Person |
|
Fields |
ContactID |
|
|
Full Name |
|
|
Type of Company |
|
|
Company |
|
|
Business Phone |
|
|
Business Fax |
|
Group By |
Region then by Contacts |
|
Other Properties |
Allow In cell editing: No |
|
|
Show New Item Row: No |
|
|
Filters: None |
|
|
AutoPreview: No |
|
|
Show Preview Pane: No |
Table 13.8 View Definition for Clients by Region
|
View Name |
Clients by Region |
|
Fields |
ContactID |
|
|
Full Name |
|
|
Type of Company |
|
|
Company |
|
|
Business Phone |
|
|
Business Fax |
|
Group By |
Region |
|
Other Properties |
Allow In cell editing: No |
|
|
Show New Item Row: No |
|
|
Filters: None |
|
|
AutoPreview: No |
|
|
Show Preview Pane: No |
Table 13.9 View Definition for Client by Sales Person
|
View Name |
Clients by Sales Person |
|
Fields |
ContactID |
|
|
Full Name |
|
|
Type of Company |
|
|
Company |
|
|
Business Phone |
|
|
Business Fax |
|
Group By |
Contacts |
|
Other Properties |
Allow In cell editing: No |
|
|
Show New Item Row: No |
|
|
Filters: None |
|
|
AutoPreview: No |
|
|
Show Preview Pane: No |
Figure 13.10
An example of one of the views required for SCOES: Clients by Region
and Sales Person.
Configuring the Client Contacts Folder for Offline Access
As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, all of the sales people have laptops and require access to their assigned clients when offline. Here are the steps required to accomplish this:
Make a reference to the Client Contacts folder in the Favorites public folder. Simply drag the public folder into the Favorites folder.
Ensure that the contents of this folder are available offline by viewing the properties of the Client Contacts folder that resides in Favorites and selecting the Synchronization tab. Select the When offline or Online option.
When offline, the sales staff only wants to view the contacts that have been assigned to them. To accomplish this, you can use a synchronization filter. Click the Filter button on the Synchronization tab to set a filter. The resulting filter criteria should look something like the filter displayed in Figure 13.11.
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After this last step, SCOES should be complete.
Figure 13.11
The Synchronization filter that is used to ensure that sales people
only view clients that they are assigned to when accessing the Client Contacts
folder offline.
Creating Contacts Offline
What happens if the sales staff creates new client contacts when they are not connected to the SQL Server? Remember that the OnMessageCreated event fires when new messages are created in the public folder stored on the Exchange Server. If sales people create client contacts when offline, the new entry is added to the OST file first. When the sales person returns to the office and synchronizes his offline store with Exchange, the appropriate events fire.