Programmatically create reminders/tasks (A2k)

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I deal with many classes graduating on forecast dates. I would like to input a task or reminder saying Class XXXX-01 Graduate, set the date, and then have outlook auto-populate tasks backwards from that point (i.e. 7 days before graduation, create certificates; 14 days before graduation, verify personal information; etc…)

How can I do this?

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With a lot of VBA code, or a custom Task Form, or both. (I’m not being sarcastic. Outlook Tasks are not very powerful, probably because MS didn’t want to step on the toes of its Project application.)

If you want to use Tasks, search for ‘TaskItem” in this Forum and the Lounge VBA Forum. It could also be worth your time to search http://www.Outlookcode.com[/url%5D.

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John,
Thanks for your advice, but I’m completely at a loss. I have NO clue whatsoever as to where to begin. Outlook forms aren’t like Access forms (which are the only ones I have experience with), so I don’t even know where to start. I was able to get to the “design” view for a custom task form, however once there it was Greek to me (and I don’t speak Greek ). If anyone can give me some more basic advice on this advanced request, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!

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I don’t do Outlook Forms myself. Let me attempt something in VBA which you can work on. Do you work at all in VBA?

Oops, I see from your Access posts that you work in VBA. Welcome to the Outlook object model – any way you look at it, it sucks, partly because it’s a collage of interface and MAPI engine, and (I guess) partly because MS doesn’t expose it all because they are trying to prevent it being used as a spam or virus dissemination engine.

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John,
You made me chuckle with your statement “any way you look at it, it sucks”; I’ll check out what you’ve provided me tonight, and post back soon. Thanks so much for your help.

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Assuming you are comfortable with the MS VBE interface, the attached zip file contains a very basic form with the code embedded in it. Import the form into the Outlook VBE, then add a caller to a standard module:

Sub CreateGradClasstasks()
frmClass_Task_Creator.Show
End Sub

Since you have some familiarity with VBA, I don’t think you’ll have problems adding additional tasks and information to the basics provided. You can probably improve the code a lot, and there isn’t any error handling except date validity checks.

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John,
What you’ve given me is exactly what I needed. I’ve been able to figure a little more out, thanks a lot!

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PS., I couldn’t help but monkey with it for my own self-education. One thing, FWIW (first line unchanged):

dateDue = DateAdd(“d”, -CInt(Split(strDaysPrior, “;”, -1, vbTextCompare)(intC)), txtGradDate)
If Weekday(dateDue) = 1 Then dateDue = dateDue – 2 ‘ move Sun to preceding Fri
If Weekday(dateDue) = 7 Then dateDue = dateDue – 1 ‘ move Sat to preceding Fri

It would be nice to use the Calendar Control for date selection, but that’s out of my depth. If you build the original into something more powerful and not too narrow in use, please post it back to this thread for other Loungers.

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