OL97: How to Start Another Program from an Outlook Form

This article describes how you can start another program from a Microsoft Outlook 97 form using Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) and Automation.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:

Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104 (https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104)

Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice)

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms) You can use the Item_Open event from within a form to start another program when you open the form. The program must support Automation since VBScript and the Outlook object model do not support any other methods of running programs other than using the CreateObject and GetObject methods. In the following example, the Open event starts Microsoft Internet Explorer and opens the Microsoft Web home page. This example assumes that you have installed Microsoft Internet Explorer and are using a Microsoft Exchange server as your e-mail server.

Follow these steps to create a mail form that will open the Microsoft Web home page:

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Mail Message to open a new mail message.
2. On the Tools menu of the new mail message, click Design Outlook Form.
3. On the Form menu, click View Code to open the Script Editor.
4. In the Script Editor, type the following code:

      Sub Item_Open()
         Set MyApp = Item.Application
         Set Web = MyApp.CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
         Web.Visible = TRUE
         Web.Navigate "www.microsoft.com"
      End Sub
   						

5. On the Script Editor File menu, click Close to return to the form.
6. On the Tools menu, click Design Outlook Form to quit Design mode.
   
   NOTE: If the Script Editor detects an error in your code, it will display a message at this point.
7. On the File menu, click Publish Form As.
8. In the Form Name box, type Web. Ensure that next to the Publish In button you see Personal Forms, and then click the Publish button.
9. Close your new message without saving.

Follow these steps to use your form:

1. On the Compose menu, click Choose Form.
2. In the Personal Forms list, click Web to choose your published form.
3. Click OK to open the form.

Once the form opens, Internet Explorer should automatically open to the Microsoft Web home page.

For more information about creating solutions with Microsoft Outlook 97, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: