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a $ $ $ $ $ $ Customizing the Outlook Today Page
Microsoft Outlook2000 provides a unique view for displaying appointments, tasks, and other information in the form of a Web page. You can customize the Outlook Today page for your organization, or for individuals or groups within your organization, to display the information most relevant to them.
In this document
Giving Users the Most Important Information First
Adding Custom Content and Functionality
Choosing a Distribution Method
How to Publish Outlook Today as an HTM File
How to Publish Outlook Today in a DLL File
Addressing Browser Issues in Outlook Today
How to Disable Outlook Today
Giving Users the Most Important Information First
Outlook Today takes advantage of a familiar Web page format to display timely information from users' most important folders, including the following:
Upcoming appointments
Tasks that are due
Number of unread messages in e-mail folders
Each item on the Outlook Today page is a hyperlink to the corresponding Outlook item or folder, so users can easily gain access to more specific information about their most pressing engagements.
Because Outlook Today displays information in HTML, developers and solution providers can perform more advanced customizations. You can also add the information unique to your organization or department. For example:
Create a standard Outlook Today page that shows a bulletin of corporate news and a stock ticker tied to real-time market data taken from the Web.
Include information from account tracking or financial management software and create an Outlook Today page that is targeted to sales and marketing employees.
Note Users can also customize the appearance of the Outlook Today page by clicking the Customize Outlook Today button on the Outlook Today page. For example, users can alter the way the task list is sorted.
New and improved for Outlook 2000
In Outlook 2000, Outlook Today has updated appearance, more control over which folders are shown, and faster load performance and databinding speed for users who have Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. In addition, Outlook Today has undergone a few noteworthy changes to its security model.
Displaying folders in the Messages section
Outlook Today now allows users to choose which folders to show in the Messages section. Users can make this choice from the Customize Outlook Today page, but administrators can also can preconfigure the folders by changing settings in the Microsoft Windows registry. These folders are recorded as string values in the following subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook \Today\Folders
To add a new folder to your page, you add a numbered value entry and set its value data to the folders URL. For example, to include the Inbox, the Drafts folder, the Outbox, and a Group Contacts public folder, you might set the following value entries. (All of these values take the String data type.)
Value entryValue data0"inbox"1"drafts"2"outbox"3"\\public folders\favorites\group contacts
Choosing an Outlook Today style
Outlook Today uses the Url string value entry in the Windows registry to determine which page to display. This setting is located in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0 \Outlook\Today subkey. By modifying this setting, administrators can point users computers to a customized version of Outlook Today.
Alternatively, Outlook 2000 allows users to choose one of five styles for the default Outlook Today page. Outlook records which style is selected in the CustomUrl value entry. If no value is specified for the Url entry, Outlook uses the CustomUrl setting. (The CustomUrl value entries also take the String data type.)
Note The Url and CustomUrl value entry names are case-sensitive. Make sure you type Url and CustomUrl precisely as shown.
In the following example, Outlook 2000 displays the Outlook2.htm page (single-column style) that ships with Outlook 2000.
Value entryValue dataUrl(value not set)CustomUrl"outlook2.htm"
Any value specified for the Url entry overrides the CustomUrl setting. In the following example, Outlook displays the Outlook.htm page (default 3-column style) and ignores the CustomUrl setting.
Value entryValue dataUrl"Res://C:\ProgramFiles\MicrosoftOffice\Office \1033\Outlwvw.dll/outlook.htm"CustomUrl"outlook2.htm"
Showing information from other Calendar and Tasks folders
If you want to show appointments from a Calendar or Tasks folder other than your main Calendar or Tasks folder, you can specify a new folder path for the Outlook Today databinding controls.
Taking advantage of an updated security model
In Outlook 98, there are no security safeguards for links on the Outlook Today page that connect to an untrusted site. To take advantage of Web browser security, you must configure these links on the Outlook Today page to open a new browser window.
In Outlook 2000, however, browsing security is disabled only when Outlook Today displays its default page. When the user clicks a link and navigates to any other page within the Outlook Today view, Outlook activates browser security. This improvement allows you to author your links so that users can navigate to other pages safely, all within the Outlook Today view.
For example, if the Url value entry is set to http://www.microsoft.com, then security is disabled in the Outlook Today view when the Microsoft home page is displayed. However, when a user clicks a link to another page, Outlook Today activates browsing security.
Note If no Url value is set, but a CustomUrl value is defined, then security is still disabled until the user clicks a link to a different page.
If your default page is a frameset, then browsing security is disabled for as long as that frameset is the parent page in the Outlook Today view. Security is not enabled when the user navigates to one of the subframes. In this scenario, configure your links to navigate within the parent Outlook Today frame, rather than within a subframe.
Fixing common browser-related display errors
In Outlook 98, Outlook Today displays in a subset of the Internet Explorer browser. This feature can generate display errors when you use framesets, iframes, forms, or tabular data controls. In Outlook 2000, however, you can use the full version of Internet Explorer for Outlook Today, thereby eliminating these errors. For more information, see "Addressing Browser Issues in Outlook Today" later in this document.
Limitations of Outlook Today customizations
When you modify the Outlook Today page, keep in mind the following limitations.
Summary view only Outlook Today does not replace the Inbox, Calendar, or Tasks -- nor is Outlook Today intended to replace a Web browser. Consider Outlook Today a starting point for information delivery.
Confined to Outlook You cannot view the Outlook Today page within a Web browser, or add it as an Active Desktop item. The Outlook Today data tables function only when the page is hosted within the Outlook window.
Potential for reduced performance Modifying the Outlook Today page can result in reduced performance when information is retrieved and rendered on the page.
Future changes Outlook Today is expected to change with future releases of the product. Therefore, any modifications that you make for Outlook 2000 might require additional modifications in future versions.
Adding Custom Content and Functionality
You can modify the appearance and functionality of the Outlook Today page in the following ways:
Add text, links, and images.
Change styles for backgrounds, fonts, and other display elements.
Show information from different Calendar and Tasks folders.
Add ActiveX components.
Add script.
Use framesets or iframes.
Outlook Today also offers some standard customization options for the Calendar, Messages, and Tasks data tables on the Customize Outlook Today page. However, these are the only customizations that you can make to the data tables. You cannot sort or filter the tables by adding script or by changing properties of the databinding objects.
How Outlook Today updates information
Outlook Today uses databinding, a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer, to link an HTML table on the page to a datasource - in this case, Outlook 2000 - through an ActiveX datasource control.
The Outlook Today page contains separate databinding tables for the Calendar, Messages, and Tasks sections. After the page loads, the datasource controls collect the appropriate Outlook information and display it in the databinding tables.
Whenever the source information is updated or new items are created, the databinding controls update the tables dynamically without requiring a refresh of the page.
Adding text and images
The Outlook Today page is coded with standard HTML tags and cascading style sheet (CSS) properties. You can add text and images to Outlook Today just as you can on any other HTML page.
The default Outlook Today page that comes with Outlook 2000 uses the res:// protocol to point to its images. If you supply your own image files, you can use any of the following protocols:
http://
For example, http://Images/myimage.gif
file://
For example, file://C:\My Documents\myimage.gif
res://
For example, res://C:\My Documents\outlwvw_custom.dll /myimage.gif
Adding links to Web pages
Outlook 2000 offers an enhanced security model that activates browser security as soon as the user navigates away from the default URL. This security feature allows you to add links that display pages within the Outlook Today view, rather than opening a new browser window.
To link to another Web page within Outlook Today, just use a standard HTML link. For example:
Untrusted
If any user views your customized Outlook Today page in Outlook98, you must take steps to ensure proper security. To link to an external Web site, do not use a simple HTML hyperlink. Instead, use the following HTML code to open the link in a new browser window, which allows you to take advantage of browser security:
Untrusted Site
Adding links to Outlook folders and items
You can add links to the Outlook Today page to give users quick access to Outlook folders, Microsoft Exchange Server public folders, or any Outlook item based on its subject or EntryID.
The EntryID is a property of each Outlook item and uniquely identifies it. You need the EntryID when you use script in your page to gain access to the Outlook object model. From the object model, you can get the EntryID for an item, and then programmatically insert a link to that item into your Outlook Today page.
Links in Internet Explorer 5
If your users have Internet Explorer 5 installed, you can use the following syntax to link to other Outlook folders and items.
To link to this itemUse this HTML codeAny Outlook folder in your default storeFolderInbox
Saved MailAny public or private folder outside your default store
For example:
FavoritesAn item based on its subjectItem
For example:
ItemAn item based on its EntryIDItem
Links in Internet Explorer 4.0
If your users have Internet Explorer 4.0 installed, then you must use the following syntax to link to other Outlook folders and items.
To link to this itemUse this HTML codeLocal Outlook folderFolder
For example:
Sent Items Microsoft Exchange Server public folderFolder
For example:
Favorites An item based on its subjectItem
For example:
ItemAn item based on its EntryIDItem
Changing font styles
You can change the styles of most fonts on the Outlook Today page by modifying CSS definitions at the top of the page. For example, the following lines define the text styles for a completed task, an important item, and the date:
.TskDone {font-size:8pt; color:gray; text-decoration: line-through; }
.itemImportant {color:red}
.date {font-size:11pt;font-family:arial;text-decoration: none; font-style:normal;color:white;font-weight:bold; }
Note In some cases, these styles are referenced directly in later lines of the page. But in other cases, such as TskDone and itemImportant, the lines that reference these styles are dynamically generated within the three main databinding tables (Calendar, Messages, and Tasks), and you never see them used literally in the HTML code.
Showing different Calendar and Tasks folders
By default, the Calendar and Tasks databinding tables show the information from your main Calendar and Tasks folders. However, you can point the databinding controls at other Calendar or Tasks folders. Just add a tag to the control object that specifies which folder path to use. For example:
You can specify the absolute path this way:
Or, if the desired folder is in your default store (the store that your mail is delivered to), you can omit the name of the store in your path:
Note You can specify a new folder path only in Outlook 2000.
Adding ActiveX controls
You can add ActiveX controls to the Outlook Today page, just as you can on any other HTML page. However, the standard Internet Explorer security safeguards for ActiveX controls have been disabled in Outlook Today. For this reason, you must verify the trustworthiness of the control before adding it to your page.
Adding script
With script, you can take full advantage of the Outlook object model. Be aware, however, that the more script you add, the slower your page loads.
The following sample JavaScript exposes the Outlook Application object, and uses that object to open the Inbox in a new Outlook window:
For optimal performance, avoid any scripting that occurs at load time. Load-time script requires that the Internet Explorer scripting engine be loaded, which can delay the appearance of your data by several seconds on some computers. The default Outlook Today page explicitly defers all of its script (by using the defer property on the script tag) until the page is fully loaded.
To allow users to reconfigure the layout of the page, however, you can use load-time script judiciously. For example, you might want to give your users the ability to show or hide sections of the page. In this case, you can use script at load time to retrieve the users settings and show or hide the designated sections.
Note You can also give users control over their configuration without requiring any client-side script by using server-side scriptingthat is, by publishing an Active Server Page (ASP) page on a Web server.
Using framesets or iframes
If your customized page uses