Good combo

"While working with forms, a split form can be a very useful view because you simultaneously get two views of the form that are connected to the same data source.
This demo shows you how to create a split form view where you can use the datasheet part of the form to quickly locate a record and the form portion to view or modify the record.

You will also learn how to enhance and customize a split form view to suit your needs."

Labels: Customize, Entries, Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Drag 'em on over

Labels: Customize, Forms, General, Reference, Reports, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Question and collection

"You begin with the Collect Data Through E-mail Messages Wizard, which guides you through the steps of creating a form.

The form is sent through Microsoft Office Outlook 2007-10 to your recipients, with your request for new or updated information.

When the recipients reply to your message, Access automatically enters their data into your database.

Labels: E-mail, Forms, General, Internet, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

It's fitting

Labels: Customize, Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Customize

Labels: Customize, Fonts, Forms, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

The whole thing

1. Open the query in Design view.
2. Display the query's Properties sheet
3. Set the Output All Fields property setting to Yes
4. Run the query

Labels: Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Show movement

Labels: Customize, Forms, General, Graphics, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Add action

"Publishing your Access forms on the Web? Add some fun with animated images! For example, say you want to publish a form that allows your users to enter a keyword that will search your software catalog for winter specials; to illustrate this, you’ve embedded an image of two boys hitting the a puck with their hockey sticks."

Labels: Forms, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Auto Shutdown

1. Open the first form in Design view.
   
2. Double-click the Form Properties button.
   
3. Click on the Event tab.
   
4. Click in the On Deactivate text box.
   
5. Select Event Procedure.
   
6. Click the Build button.
   
7. At the prompt, enter: Me.TimerInterval =1.
   (Try something like 30000 milliseconds)
   
8. Press [Alt][Q].
   
9. In the Form Properties window, click in the On Timer property text box.
   
10. Select Event Procedure.
    
11. Click the Build button.
    
12. At the prompt, enter: DoCmd.Close.
    
13. Press [Alt][Q].
    
14. Save the form.

Labels: Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials, VBA

You have a choice

1. Create a query to use as the RecordSource of your report.
   
2. In query design view, in the Criteria row under your date field, enter:
   
   Between [StartDate] And [EndDate]
   

• Flexible: user does not have to limit report to from and to dates.
  
• Better interface: allows defaults and other mechanisms for choosing dates.
  
• Validation: can verify the date entries.
  

Labels: Forms, Functions, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Just add Data

Labels: Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Use the keyboard

Labels: Forms, General, Queries, Reference, Shortcuts, Tables, Tips, Tutorials

Set new standards

1. Create your template form by specifying all the properties you want to maintain from form to form.
   
2. Then, save the form using any name.
   
3. Next, select Tools>Options from the menu bar and select the Forms/Reports tab.
   
4. Enter your template's name in the Form Template box to replace the Access default (Normal) and click OK.

Labels: Forms, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Alterations on the run

Labels: Customize, Forms, General, Properties, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Create a sorting function

"Chris Weber develops a solution that allows users to sort the data in their forms (or subforms) that you can add to your application easily.

• The sorting interface should be generic to any form in any database.
  
  
• It should also work with subforms.
  
  
• It needs to be implemented as expediently as possible to fulfill the bid, and be easily maintained in the future.
  
  
• It should be intuitive or reminiscent of other interfaces in Access and Windows.

Labels: Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Show your position

1. In Design View, in the Detail section, click the Control box.
   
2. On the Format menu, click Conditional Formatting.
   
3. Under Condition 1, chooseField Has Focus in the first box.
   
4. Click the arrow next to the Font/Fore Color button, click the yellow box, and then click OK.
   
   
   
   
5. On the File menu, click Save.
   
6. On the View menu, click Datasheet View to view the results.

Labels: Customize, Forms, Reference, Tutorials

Have more controls

Labels: Customize, Forms, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

It can still be done

1. Insert the Microsoft Office XP CD-ROM into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
   
2. If the Office XP Setup program does not start automatically, follow these steps:
   
   
   1. Click Start, and then click Run.
      
   2. In the Open box, type drive:\Setup.exe, where drive is the letter of your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
3. Start to step through the Setup process, and then select Customize for the type of Setup to perform.
   
4. When you reach the Selecting Features step, set each node of the Setup tree to Not Available.
   
5. Under Features to install, expand Office Tools.
   
6. Click Microsoft Photo Editor, and then click Run from My Computer.
   
7. Click Install Now.
   
8. Click OK when Office XP Setup has completed successfully.

"While it's possible to actually store the images within the database itself as OLE objects, normally it's not the preferred way. When you embed an OLE object in a table, you're storing a lot of overhead as well. This overhead is the information about the object (such as its parent application) that Access needs to store in order to render the object properly."

Labels: Forms, Graphics, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

GetFocus, Resize, Color Data

Formatting with GotFocus and LostFocus events

One of the most visually dramatic changes that you can make to a form involves changing the image that tiles across the background of a form.

Formatting with the Resize event

Since the inception of Access, form designers have been plagued by the ability of users to change the size and shape of a form. This is because controls on a form maintain their size and anchor their position to the form's top and left borders even while a form changes its size, shape, or both. Whenever a user changes the size or shape of a form, the form's Resize event fires.

Formatting Data

"It's typical for designers to need to dynamically alter formatting to reflect the value in a textbox or other controls. Here's an example of why it's important to understand how the Access events work. With the Current event:

• You can change the formatting whenever the user moves to a new record in the record source for a form.
  
• You can change formatting when a form initially loads data for display.
  
• However, the Current event doesn't fire when a user changes a value on the current row, so you can't use this event to respond to user input.

To respond to user-entered data, you can use the AfterUpdate event for a control to change the formatting for the value in a control after updating. While the Current event applies to a form overall, you can create an AfterUpdate event procedure for a whole form or a specific control on a form."

Look for a demo file called "502DOBSON.ZIP" (The image file in the code resides in the articles folder of the c:\ path. You'll probably need to update the path for the image files on your computer.)

Also see: Access MVPS.org:  

Colors and Continuous forms  

Changing the Background Color of the Current Record

Labels: Customize, Forms, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Examples to part out

Database of Access 2000 sample forms

The sample forms in this database demonstrate a variety of form types and techniques, including how to manipulate data, use controls, and create undo and redo operations.

• Bring a subtotal from a subform to a main form
  
• Create a running sum
  
• Create a stopwatch form
  
• Display line numbers on subform records
  
• Fill current record with data from previous record automatically
  
• Hide the combo box drop-down arrow
  
• Simulate drag-and-drop capabilities

Database of Access 2000 sample reports

The sample reports in this database demonstrate a number of techniques, including how to shade every other row or every nth row in a report, how to create a table of contents or an index for a report, and how to create a top 10 report.

Labels: Forms, General, Queries, Reference, Reports, Samples, Templates, Tutorials