the internet hand

[WindAndWaves]

Hi Folks

I would like to improve the look and feel of my buttons as I do not like the
grey buttons that come with access.

Important to me are:
a. that it is clear to the user that the buttons can be clicked on
b. that the buttons can be formatted with colours, fonts, borders, etc....

I have analysed the situation and I see a couple of options:

1. use labels and add a hyperlink "#" so that the 'hyperlink' hand appears
when the user moves the cursor over the button. The drawback in this is
that if you place a button in a Continuous Forms than the focus does NOT
move to the record that the user clicked on.

2. instead, you can use textboxes, but there the drawback is that you can
not add anything to make it clear to the user that it is a button.

3. use a transparent text-box and make the font blue and underline, giving
it the appearance of an internet link.

4. avoid using buttons altogether.

At the moment, my question is if there anyway that I can get the internet
hand (as it appears when you move your cursor over a hyperlink) to appear
when moving over selected items in a form? I explored the
application.scr een.mousepointe r options, but they do not seem to cater for
this.

My second question is, if I apply method 1, is there a simple way to move
the focus to the record in which label is located.

I look forward to any reply

TIA

- Nicolaas

[Arno R]

Re: the internet hand

> Important to me are:[color=blue]
> a. that it is clear to the user that the buttons can be clicked on
> b. that the buttons can be formatted with colours, fonts, borders, etc....[/color]

It is very clear to me that ANY button can be clicked on...
In another recent thread ('button colour') you can read options to color your buttons
if you REALLY need that.


--
Arno R

[Trevor Best]

Re: the internet hand

WindAndWaves wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi Folks
>
> I would like to improve the look and feel of my buttons as I do not like the
> grey buttons that come with access.
>
> Important to me are:
> a. that it is clear to the user that the buttons can be clicked on
> b. that the buttons can be formatted with colours, fonts, borders, etc....
>
> I have analysed the situation and I see a couple of options:
>
> 1. use labels and add a hyperlink "#" so that the 'hyperlink' hand appears
> when the user moves the cursor over the button. The drawback in this is
> that if you place a button in a Continuous Forms than the focus does NOT
> move to the record that the user clicked on.
>
> 2. instead, you can use textboxes, but there the drawback is that you can
> not add anything to make it clear to the user that it is a button.
>
> 3. use a transparent text-box and make the font blue and underline, giving
> it the appearance of an internet link.
>
> 4. avoid using buttons altogether.
>
> At the moment, my question is if there anyway that I can get the internet
> hand (as it appears when you move your cursor over a hyperlink) to appear
> when moving over selected items in a form? I explored the
> application.scr een.mousepointe r options, but they do not seem to cater for
> this.[/color]

MouseMove event and LoadCursor API but may be a PITA, I used to make
buttons bold like this and implement ToolTips b4 they were implemented
in Access. You need to turn it all off in the mousemove event of the
rest of the form's background and it's possible to move the mouse so
quick and to somewhere where no code runs that this isn't caught all the
time.
[color=blue]
> My second question is, if I apply method 1, is there a simple way to move
> the focus to the record in which label is located.[/color]

I doubt the code would know where it was hovering in relation to a
subform's record unless you know the x.y co-ords and know which record
is being displayed first, how tall each is, etc. but I would expect that
to happen natrually as you clicked on it.


--
Pretentious? Moi?

[Arno R]

Re: the internet hand

I 'played' a bit with hyperlinks this afternoon after my initial answer:

When you need the 'hand' to display when you hover on a normal button, you can just add "#" for the
HyperlinkSubAdd ress property.
(You are not limited to labels to do this)
So the button performs the action like it always did, but now you see the 'hand'.
Nothing else needed (No API, no Mousemove-event)
You will need to set also the ControlTipText to something meaningful or else it will show "#"

In addition with other options to color your buttons it seems to me that you can do just what you
want to do.

--
Hope this helps
Arno R



"Arno R" <arracomn_o_s_p _a_m@tiscali.nl > schreef in bericht
news:41624e43$0 $44107$5fc3050@ dreader2.news.t iscali.nl...[color=blue][color=green]
>> Important to me are:
>> a. that it is clear to the user that the buttons can be clicked on
>> b. that the buttons can be formatted with colours, fonts, borders, etc....[/color]
>
> It is very clear to me that ANY button can be clicked on...
> In another recent thread ('button colour') you can read options to color your buttons
> if you REALLY need that.
>
>
> --
> Arno R
>
>
>
>
>
>[/color]

[Rick Brandt]

Re: the internet hand

"Arno R" <arracomn_o_s_p _a_m@tiscali.nl > wrote in message
news:4162af00$0 $44065$5fc3050@ dreader2.news.t iscali.nl...[color=blue]
> I 'played' a bit with hyperlinks this afternoon after my initial answer:
>
> When you need the 'hand' to display when you hover on a normal button,[/color]
you can just add "#" for the[color=blue]
> HyperlinkSubAdd ress property.
> (You are not limited to labels to do this)
> So the button performs the action like it always did, but now you see the[/color]
'hand'.[color=blue]
> Nothing else needed (No API, no Mousemove-event)
> You will need to set also the ControlTipText to something meaningful or[/color]
else it will show "#"[color=blue]
>
> In addition with other options to color your buttons it seems to me that[/color]
you can do just what you[color=blue]
> want to do.[/color]

You can also just enter a single space in the HyperlinkSubAdd ress property.


--
I don't check the Email account attached
to this message. Send instead to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com

[Arno R]

Re: the internet hand

> You can also just enter a single space in the HyperlinkSubAdd ress property.

Thanks Rick, I learned something new again...
I am starting to even like the 'hand' ;-)


Arno R

[WindAndWaves]

Re: the internet hand

Hi Arno et al.

Thank you for your answers. It sounds actually that the button may do the
trick. I guess, after all, it was developed to perform the button
function...

I had a look at http://www.peterssoftware.com/bp.htm, and Peter seems to
have a very nice solution for buttons.

I will look into it a bit more.

Thank you for your ideas.

- Nicolaas
"Arno R" <arracomn_o_s_p _a_m@tiscali.nl > wrote in message
news:4162ecbd$0 $44082$5fc3050@ dreader2.news.t iscali.nl...[color=blue][color=green]
> > You can also just enter a single space in the HyperlinkSubAdd ress[/color][/color]
property.[color=blue]
>
> Thanks Rick, I learned something new again...
> I am starting to even like the 'hand' ;-)
>
>
> Arno R
>
>[/color]