Adding Text To Message Body in Outlook Custom Form

I had a simple request to add some canned text to the message body of a Outlook custom form when the form was first opened, so I did this in VBScript:

Sub Item_Open()
  ...
  Item.HTMLBody = "Blah blah blah"
  ...
End Sub

Yet when I created a new item, the message body was empty! The same problem occurs with Item.Body. After the usual bit of trial-and-error, I discovered that the text only appears if you use HTMLBody or Body on the RHS of a statement:

  Dim strTest
  strTest = Item.HTMLBody
  Item.HTMLBody = "Blah blah blah"

More concisely:

  Item.HTMLBody = "Blah blah blah" & Item.HTMLBody

The text also appears if I display a message box after I add text to the message box.

It seems like the HTMLBody or Body field is not instantiated or refreshed unless it is used.

References

• Description of the Message or Notes field in Outlook 2002