Custom project form available

[Bollinger]

Hi all!

I've made my work on a custom project form for GTD available for download
as an attachement to this message. (See post http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3812 for details).

Disclaimer:
This is not a product of any kind, just an unsupported contribution to the forum of the custom form I'm using with GTD. Be careful when playing around with forms in Outlook so you don't loose any data.
This form is used with Outlook 2003 and the compatibility with other Outlook versions is unknown. I advise you to backup your existing data before use. Use it at your own risk.

Installation:
1. Unzip GTD-Template.fdm from attachment
2. Go to "Tools/Options/Other/Advanced options/Custom Forms"
3. Make sure "Personal Forms" is choosen in the upper right textbox
4. Choose "Install" and point to the extracted GTD-Template.fdm file
5. Change the default "Task folder" property "When posting to this folder, use:" to the newly installed form. ("Forms../Personal Forms Library")
6. Mark "Use custom form in Task folder" under "Other settings" in GTD-properties ("Tools/Options/Getting things done")
7. Now hopefully when creating new projects from the GTD-addin should result in using the new form.
8. If you want to choose "Master project" in the new form, register a new GTD-project for each master project with prefix "$MP:". ex "$MP:Home" adds
a entry to the list named "Home". Master projects can be filtered out from
project views in outlook just by adding a filter "Subject + doesn't contain + $MP:"

Converting existing projects (again, be careful...):
Exisiting GTD-projects must be converted to use the new form insted of the stadard Task-form. This can be done with programs changing the messageclass of Outlook items, for example DocMessageClass.

Be careful not changing the whole Task-folder to the new message class. This would force all existing NA-items to use the form and that is not the intention. Just the GTD project tasks should be converted

Instead move all GTD-projects to a newly created task folder and change the messageclass of that folder from "IPM.Task" to "IPM.Task.GTD-Template". Then move the projects back to the original folder.

There might be a problem converting "start dates"/"due dates"/"reminder dates" to the new form so write it down before converting existing projects and register them again after conversion.

Outlook views can be customized to include sorting/filtering on the custom fields in the new form. In "Field Chooser" select "User-defined fields in folder" and include any of the items starting with "GTD" in the view.

Voila, now everything should work as expected (hopefully).

If anybody has problems, I'll try to be as helpful as I can.

Regards
Mattias

Attached files image_4.zip (15.8 KB) 

 

[olemann]

Problem installing new custom form

Dear Mattias,

I was thrilled when I saw your project form the othe day in the discussion forum. This seemed to be what so many of us have been looking for for quite some time - and which would strongly add to the functionality of the Add-In.

Thank you very much for sharing: I'm quite sure you must have invested a considerable amount of work in the design. It is therefore with some reluctance I come forward with my problem: I tried your excellent step-by-step instruction, but I still get the regular task-form when I select New Task!

The task form shows Untitled - GTD Template at the top and contain the regular GTD Add-In menu bar.

When selection Actions/New GTD-Template from the Outlook menu, I get the same form. I've checked that GTD-Template is selected when I look up in "Properties/General/When posting to this folder". Also that I have checked "Using custom form" under the GTD settings.

Any help/pointers or experience others have had to in how to make the form work, would be very much welcome (I easily admit that I do not have any expertise in using Outlook forms).

kind regards,
Ole

 

[Bollinger]

Hi Ole!

You are doing everything right! The form should work as described in your post.

Because this form only applies to GTD-projects and not regular NA and regular tasks the customized form will not appear until you create a project using the GTD addin's "Manage projects" button ("Tools/Options/Getting Things Done").

It seems like the GTD addin is doing some hidden operations when creating a project using the "Manage projects" wich I could not repeat in my form.

Therefore you'll have to create a project "the old way," via the GTD addin, and then open the newly created project. Then the custom form should appear!

Regards
Mattias

 

[rwichmann]

Installed fine, working great so far

I have converted my projects all over to the new form, and I plan on using this for 21 days to judge the form. So far it looks great and seems to perform well.

Thanks!

Roger Wichmann

 

[olemann]

Form working fine!

Hi Mattias,

thanks for the comment. Got it now: the form works fine. I have now converted my old projects using the new form and feel I have a much better overview of my projects.

Thanks,

Ole

 

[joeycan]

Mattias,

So far I am very impressed with this form and basically will allow my implementation for GTD to improve even further and I am looking forward to the task forms.

Thanks for sharing this great tool.

Regards,

Joey

 

[MarcusSommer]

GTD - NO Other Settings :-(

Hi Mattias

would love to implement your custom form. However trying to open the GTD-Other Settings I receive an error that it failed. The Details of the error are:

PropPage.cmdOtherSettings_Click
Failed to update Settings
13 (D)

GTDCOntrols
Type mismatch

Unfortunately creating a new profile will not do the trick as it just happened that I recreated a new profile as we changed our servers.

I'm running concurrently FranklinCovey PlanPlus.

Any help much appreciated.

EnjoyLife&ShareIt,

Marcus

 

[KevinR]

Thanks Mattias, for sharing your custom form with the rest of us. It's working great

 

[Bollinger]

Hi Mattias

would love to implement your custom form. However trying to open the GTD-Other Settings I receive an error that it failed. The Details of the error are:

PropPage.cmdOtherSettings_Click
Failed to update Settings
13 (D)

GTDCOntrols
Type mismatch

Unfortunately creating a new profile will not do the trick as it just happened that I recreated a new profile as we changed our servers.

I'm running concurrently FranklinCovey PlanPlus.

Any help much appreciated.

EnjoyLife&ShareIt,

Marcus

Hi Marcus!

Your error is caused by the GTD-addin and not by the custom form.
When you access the "Other Settings" only code from the addin is executed.

Have you tried to reinstall the GTD-addin?

Regards
Mattias

 

[MarcusSommer]

GTD is re-installed

Hi Mattias

gosh, I should be old enough to have thought of that
I re-installed it and voila, here it was, the Other Settings dialog.

Your form seems to work fine now, following your instructions on how to create a project.

Now I am going to convert the old projects.
Thank you very MUCH!

EnjoyLife&ShareIt,

Marcus

 

[bhiggs]

How do you use new fields?

The form looks great!

How are you utilizing the Project/Goal drop down, the Master Projects, and Dependent Project lists?

Bill

 

[Unregistered]

Script error :-(

Hi Mattias

This looks SOOOOOO great - I'm getting a 'script error' as below

If objItem.Categories = "Projects" Then
If objItem.Complete = False Then
If Mid(objItem.Subject, 1, 3) "$MP" Then
linkProject.AddItem objItem.Subject
End If
End If
End If
Next

linkProject.AddItem "",0

End Function

What am I doing wrong - this looks like exactly what I need.

Any help very very much appreciated. Fiona

 

[Bollinger]

bhiggs:
The project/goal list is just a possibility to specify a goal rather then a project. I've followed the discussion regarding the difference of goals and projects there are many different opinions so I'd thought it would be nice to make it a personal decision to use it or not.
Master Projects is an option to group your projects instead of just having av long list of projects with no furher grouping. It gives you a greater overview of your projects.
You can utilize the Outlook views, meaning that you for example, could define a Outlook view named "Active Projects at Home" and just filter out all projects that have "Home" as a master project.
Dependent projects is a possibility to mark a relationship between two projects. Say you going to buy a new house and have a project for this. You'll certainly also have a project for selling your old house.
If project "Buy new house" should come to a successful outcome (or at least give you money to pay the house ), "Sell old house" must be achieved. So "Buy new house" is dependent of "Sell old house".

Fiona:
The code you are referring to is used to fill the list with "Dependent Project", i.e. all projects that are not complete or a master project.

Could you provide me with a few more details about this error? I guess you're getting the error when the form opens? Have you defined any GTD projects? Is your "Dependent Project" list empty after you get this error?

Regards
Mattias Sahlin

 

[Unregistered]

Open form error

Hi Mattias

Yes, I get this error when I open this form - It says 'an exception run time error has occured in script - if I choose NOT to debug it will open the new project form - but 'Projects' is in the 'Actions' field on the form - then the error says 'one or more items in the folder you were trying to synchronise does not match - delete the conflict etc...

I have defined GTD projects and get this error on trying to open them - the dependent project list is blank - but I have defined some major projects.

Regards, Fiona

 

[Unregistered]

Open form error

on looking further into this - the master project drop down is blank and the dependent project list is on filled with projects I have created since installing the new form - I have not change the old class of all my old projects yet

 

[Bollinger]

The list in "Dependent Projects" gets all GTD project tasks in the default task folder that are created from the GTD-addin "Manage Projects" dialog.

Have you cheked that your "old" GTD projects exists in the default task folder in Outlook? Also check if "When posting to this folder..." property on the default task folder points to the installed custom form.

"Master Projects" is a GTD-project prefixed with "$MP:" (entered the same way as above.). Have you created a project like that? Then it should appear
in the "master project" list on the form.

The error in your post (''one or more items in the folder you were trying to synchronise...') must be a GTD-addin specific message.

Maybe you should try to reinstall the addin if nothing else helps.

Regards
Mattias Sahlin

 

[MarcusSommer]

I just called, to say ...

Thank You Mattias.

Awesome.

EnjoyLife&ShareIt,

Marcus

 

[morberg]

Need help in converting old projects

This looks great, and I've managed to get it up and running for newly created projects. What I did not understand was how to convert old projects. Do I need to write some VB to take care of this, or is it possible to do manually?

Perhaps someone has already written the code needed to convert and could share it here?

 

[vauha27]

I do not get it to run

Mattias,

I'd really appreciate it, if you could elaborate a little bit more on the different steps of installing your form.

Whenever I try to access the form I get an scripting error and a debugger pops up showing an error in line 27.

"Microsoft Office Outlook: Die angegebene Seite existiert nicht oder unterstützt diesen Vorgang nicht."

This translates into something like:

"Microsoft Office Outlook: The referred page doesn't exist or does not support this procedure."

Dim objInsp
Dim objPage
Dim lstNA
Dim txtNA
Dim lstHistory
Dim linkProject
Dim masterProject
Dim dtStart
Dim dtDue
Dim dtReminderDate
Dim cboReminderTime
Dim chkReminder
Dim cboMasterProject
Dim objHistoryList
Dim cboType
Dim isProject

Function Item_Open()
Set objInsp = Item.GetInspector
If Item.Categories = "Projects" Then
objInsp.HideFormPage "Task"
objInsp.ShowFormPage "Project"
initializeProjectForm()
isProject = True
objInsp.SetCurrentFormPage("Project")
Else
objInsp.ShowFormPage "Task"
********************************* line above is marked with a yellow arrow
objInsp.HideFormPage "Project"
isProject = False
objInsp.SetCurrentFormPage("Task")
End If

End Function

My Win XP is "german" as my Outlook 2003. Could this be the reason for the form not running properly?

TIA

Volker

 

[Bollinger]

Morberg:

I've described this in my first post in this thread (under Converting old projects), but I'll try to give you a more detailed explanation:

There is something called "MessageClass" in Oulook. This messageclass
describes the different types of objects availible in Outlook (mail, task, contact etc).

The standard "MessageClass" for a Task is "IPM.Task". Because all GTD projects are Outlook Tasks they have the "IPM.Task" type.

The custom form I made has a different "MessageClass" called "IPM.Task.GTD-Template".

This means you'll have to convert your existing GTD project Tasks (type "IPM.Task") to "IPM.Task.GTD-Template". After that, when opening a converted task (project), the new form will appear.

So, for conversion of exsisting tasks "MessageClass" you can use a program (ex DocMessageClass ).
This program allows you to select a folder and convert between installed messageclasses (the cusom form installs the messageclass to use).

Try to follow this guide and you'll be up and running soon

0.5 I assume you did a correct installation as a first step.
1. Choose "Properties" for your default task folder (containing your projects and NA tasks) and select "Forms..." in the list right of option "When posting to this folder, use:".
2. Choose "Personal Forms Library" in "Look in" list at the top of the dialog.
3. Mark "GTD-Template" in list and select "Open"
4. Press "OK"
5. Create a new task folder in Outlook (ex "tmp") by right-clicking on default task folder and select "New folder"
6. Drag and drop only your old GTD projects tasks from default folder to the new folder.
7. Choose "Properties" for folder "tmp" and select "Forms..." in the list right of option "When posting to this folder, use:".
8. Choose "Personal Forms Library" in "Look in" list at the top of the dialog.
9. Mark "GTD-Template" in list and select "Open"
10. Press "OK"
11. Download and run DocMessageClass
12. Press the "Show Folders" button
13. In the list to the left in the program, select your "tmp" folder and select "IPM.Task" in list "Change messageclass from".
14. In "Change messageclass to" select "IPM.Task.GTD-Template"
15. Then press "Convert Messageclass"
16. Then you're up and running with the new form for your old projects!! :-D

Regards
Mattias Sahlin