where to keep data for list type controls

[Eric]

This is my first crack at trying to program Outlook. I've programmed some
Excel apps with VBA, and know that environment best right now.

I want to use Outlook as the basis for initiating requests in a ticketing
system, and will need some drop down lists - I don't want to store the data
in the control, and am wondering where one would typically keep it. I don't
want to mess with a db, even access at this point, and am thinking about
either an excel workbook or a text file, which would be kept in a shared
folder with no access restrictions on the server.

The data won't be completely static as we work through getting the system
up, but it won't be very dynamic after.

Any thoughts, tips to share?

I'd gladly invest in a book, but couldn't find any meaty ones in any of the
local stores (I'm using Patricia "Cordoza's Using Outlook 2003" as a
starting point right now)

TIA

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You're on the right track. Your choices will depend on whether the lists are
per-user or for group use and, if the latter, what kind of data sharing
options you have -- Exchange, shared database, shared network drive, etc. If
the choices were static, you could also store them as a delimited list in an
Outlook custom property on the form.

I think some of the examples at
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/database.htm#samples use lists in Access. That
would be a good choice if users also should have the ability to add new
items to the list that will then show up when others use the form. I've also
built forms that had per-user drop-down lists without Exchange Server, so we
saved them as text files on the local machine.