Can "Tasks" be configured as expandable nodes that contain sublevels?

If Outlook 2003 does not support this feature natively, can it be programmed?

Any suggestions and sample codes will be appreciated.

Any book that discuss this requirement?

Thanks.

Outlook doesn't have "nodes" and "sublevels." It has folders and items. Whatever you want to do (and it's not at all clear what that is) must take place within that structure.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"te goody" wrote in message news
Can "Tasks" be configured as expandable nodes that contain sublevels?

If Outlook 2003 does not support this feature natively, can it be programmed?

Any suggestions and sample codes will be appreciated.

Any book that discuss this requirement?

Thanks.

Sorry I wasn't clear. Please let me try again.

In general, one has a "big" task and below it multiple subtasks, and below
these you'd have sub-subtasks, etc. -- which allows one to add detail to each
(sub)task - - much like an outline one would use in Word in order to develop
his document or write his/er book -- with the same idea in mind and with
similar benefits.

As any professional would tell you, simply writing a long laundry list of
tasks -- even when priorotized is not as useful as one that allows you to
break a task into smaller steps (sub-tasks) which also include steps ordering
-- which finally leads one to complete the "top" task.

I believe that Act allows for this feature, and certainly MS Project allows
for this feature. But without going into a whole new package, would it be
possible to program something like that in Outlook 2003? -- that is, task
outline or Tasks collapseable sublevels -- whichever you'd want to call this
feature.

Thanks for any help you might give me in this regard.

___________

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Outlook doesn't have "nodes" and "sublevels." It has folders and items. Whatever you want to do (and it's not at all clear what that is) must take place within that structure.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"te goody" wrote in message news
Can "Tasks" be configured as expandable nodes that contain sublevels?

If Outlook 2003 does not support this feature natively, can it be programmed?

Any suggestions and sample codes will be appreciated.

Any book that discuss this requirement?

Thanks.

Outlook does not have any subtask construct or outlinling feature, and that will not change in Outlook 2007. That leaves you with three ways to organize related tasks:

1) Through a common category (and this becomes a more powerful mechanism in OL2007)

2) By using not a task but a contact as the parent item, usually by developing a custom contact form that looks like a project instead of a contact. The reason this is useful is that Outlook does include a feature for linking a task (or any other type of item) with a related contact through the Contacts box at the bottom of the task form.

3) By devising some linking method of your own invention.

You might also want to explore the addins listed at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/tasks.htm

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"te goody" wrote in message ...
Sorry I wasn't clear. Please let me try again.

In general, one has a "big" task and below it multiple subtasks, and below
these you'd have sub-subtasks, etc. -- which allows one to add detail to each
(sub)task - - much like an outline one would use in Word in order to develop
his document or write his/er book -- with the same idea in mind and with
similar benefits.

As any professional would tell you, simply writing a long laundry list of
tasks -- even when priorotized is not as useful as one that allows you to
break a task into smaller steps (sub-tasks) which also include steps ordering
-- which finally leads one to complete the "top" task.

I believe that Act allows for this feature, and certainly MS Project allows
for this feature. But without going into a whole new package, would it be
possible to program something like that in Outlook 2003? -- that is, task
outline or Tasks collapseable sublevels -- whichever you'd want to call this
feature.

Thanks again.

As you must have already surmised from the posting itself, I'm pretty much
aware of your introductory statement and the limitations of OL.

Would you be kind enough to elaborate on points (2) and(3) with some
specifics on how I can go about implementing your suggestions?

Can you estimate difficulty of either of the approaches?

Would either (2) or (3) accomplish the bottom line requirement of
collasable/expandable tasks and subtasks, regardless of the actual OL item
that is used in the solution?

Thanks again.



"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Outlook does not have any subtask construct or outlinling feature, and that will not change in Outlook 2007. That leaves you with three ways to organize related tasks:

1) Through a common category (and this becomes a more powerful mechanism in OL2007)

2) By using not a task but a contact as the parent item, usually by developing a custom contact form that looks like a project instead of a contact. The reason this is useful is that Outlook does include a feature for linking a task (or any other type of item) with a related contact through the Contacts box at the bottom of the task form.

3) By devising some linking method of your own invention.

You might also want to explore the addins listed at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/tasks.htm

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"te goody" wrote in message ...
Sorry I wasn't clear. Please let me try again.

In general, one has a "big" task and below it multiple subtasks, and below
these you'd have sub-subtasks, etc. -- which allows one to add detail to each
(sub)task - - much like an outline one would use in Word in order to develop
his document or write his/er book -- with the same idea in mind and with
similar benefits.

As any professional would tell you, simply writing a long laundry list of
tasks -- even when priorotized is not as useful as one that allows you to
break a task into smaller steps (sub-tasks) which also include steps ordering
-- which finally leads one to complete the "top" task.

I believe that Act allows for this feature, and certainly MS Project allows
for this feature. But without going into a whole new package, would it be
possible to program something like that in Outlook 2003? -- that is, task
outline or Tasks collapseable sublevels -- whichever you'd want to call this
feature.

2) Just try it for yourself. Create a contact and give it the Full Name and File As "My Project." Link tasks to it. Look on the Activities tab to see how those linked tasks look there. Imagine what information you'd want to see on the customized form pages for such an item.

3) On a custom task form, you could have a custom field for MasterTaskID that would need to hold some unique value common to the master task and its subtasks, and a second field to indicate whether the current task is a top-level task or a subtask.

Collapsible/expandable are in the eye of the beholder. You might need to use at the very least a tree control on a form to get the display you want.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"te goody" wrote in message ...
Thanks again.

As you must have already surmised from the posting itself, I'm pretty much
aware of your introductory statement and the limitations of OL.

Would you be kind enough to elaborate on points (2) and(3) with some
specifics on how I can go about implementing your suggestions?

Can you estimate difficulty of either of the approaches?

Would either (2) or (3) accomplish the bottom line requirement of
collasable/expandable tasks and subtasks, regardless of the actual OL item
that is used in the solution?

Thanks again.



"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Outlook does not have any subtask construct or outlinling feature, and that will not change in Outlook 2007. That leaves you with three ways to organize related tasks:

1) Through a common category (and this becomes a more powerful mechanism in OL2007)

2) By using not a task but a contact as the parent item, usually by developing a custom contact form that looks like a project instead of a contact. The reason this is useful is that Outlook does include a feature for linking a task (or any other type of item) with a related contact through the Contacts box at the bottom of the task form.

3) By devising some linking method of your own invention.

You might also want to explore the addins listed at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/tasks.htm

"te goody" wrote in message ...
Sorry I wasn't clear. Please let me try again.

In general, one has a "big" task and below it multiple subtasks, and below
these you'd have sub-subtasks, etc. -- which allows one to add detail to each
(sub)task - - much like an outline one would use in Word in order to develop
his document or write his/er book -- with the same idea in mind and with
similar benefits.

As any professional would tell you, simply writing a long laundry list of
tasks -- even when priorotized is not as useful as one that allows you to
break a task into smaller steps (sub-tasks) which also include steps ordering
-- which finally leads one to complete the "top" task.

I believe that Act allows for this feature, and certainly MS Project allows
for this feature. But without going into a whole new package, would it be
possible to program something like that in Outlook 2003? -- that is, task
outline or Tasks collapseable sublevels -- whichever you'd want to call this
feature.