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jaw999jaw999 

adding a contact while creating an activity

This must not be a new idea. 
A salesperson starts to enter an Event, realizes their Contact isn't yet added to the CRM, and would like to add on the fly. 
Can we do this without canceling the entry and losing all that they have started to enter?
Things I have tried - 

 - a visualforce link to a New Contact page,  
 - a custom link to New Contact 
 - a custom button to New Contact

these all WON'T appear on the Edit screen. Any solutions? thanks all
jaw999jaw999
Also, a formula field doesn't work b/c again it doesn't show on the edit screen.
Krishna SambarajuKrishna Sambaraju
In the contact lookup popup window, you can find a "New" button. You can click this button to create a new contact. See the screenshot below.
Create new contact from lookup.
jaw999jaw999
I don't see that option. I have multiple person events enabled. Is this the issue?
multiple
Krishna SambarajuKrishna Sambaraju
Yes. If you have enabled the feature "Allow Users to Relate Multiple Contacts to Tasks and Events" in Activity Settings, you won't have this option. Unfortunately you need to contact Salesforce to disable this feature.
jaw999jaw999
Right, got it. This is a bad limitation. Any other custom solutions out there?
Krishna SambarajuKrishna Sambaraju
I don't how much you know about Visualforce and Cusom Controllers. You can create a custom lookup page using Visualforce and custom controller. Then you need to create another visualforce page for creating tasks and in this page you can open the custom lookup through javascript.
jaw999jaw999
So we're talking about making a totally custom visualforce page for a new event. I was hoping to avoid this. It seems like such a basic issue. I have seen this happen at every place I have worked. Right now it's probably beyond me to do from scratch. Surprised there aren't solutions to this out there.
Krishna SambarajuKrishna Sambaraju
If your org don't need the feature "Allow Users to Relate Multiple Contacts to Tasks and Events", contact Salesforce by opening a case to disable this feature and that will allow you to create new contact through the contact lookup.
jaw999jaw999
Sorry, multiple Contacts is needed, in case that wasn't clear. 
This is a sad limitation that it is not compitable with an on the fly lookup.
jaw999jaw999
Doesn't your method also require quick create enabled? another issue
jaw999jaw999
known issues with a visualforce page https://developer.salesforce.com/forums/?id=906F0000000BOg0IAG
jaw999jaw999
I have added a New Contact link on the sidebar which meets the functional need. Simple, not as elegant as I wanted, but does the job. Kind of obvious in retrospect.
Krishna SambarajuKrishna Sambaraju
As long as it is meeting your requirement, it is fine.