Last Update - 2018-07-18
Introduction:
The brainchild behind this article is to help establish some sort of common naming of the basic parts of form construction and controls to assist our Experts and Members describe what is happening.
While this would seem to be basic common knowledge, there have been many threads where a lot of confusion could have been avoided if we were using the same name for the same control/section of the form
This is a work in progress
Main Access Window
How to even get to where we need to be to start designing a form and where is the form located...
So to start a basic form design one can use the Wizard and while this is great for some basic things we need t be able open a new form for design
On the ribbon, create tab, forms group, form design
<01_AccessGUI >
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 82[/IMGnothumb] -Note: if any the images are too small (I'm in the bi-focal crowd myself :) ) right-click on the attachment below and open in a new window or tab to see the larger image.
<02_CreateFor m>
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 83[/IMGnothumb]
Notice the navigation form, these are NOT for the faint of heart, I'll have another article covering these love/hate forms... for a preview see here:
Post#2 these are very nice to use; however, have a lot of quirks
Also avoid split-forms - these are a nice concept; however, the implementation is difficult for many users to handle.
Ok if you have clicked on the correct control in the Ribbon>Create>F orms group it open a basic form in the design view - The initial form is blank and unbound
<03_FrmDsgnVw >
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 84[/IMGnothumb]
I've set the form's [Pop Up] property to true so you can more easily see the form separated from the Form's property sheet and added a few text boxes. Notice two things here; first, that I have the form selected as shown by the dot on the form and in the property section drop down list and second that this is an "unbound" form as I haven't set the [Record Source] property.
So the form when it's loaded for the user should look like this
<03_FrmDsgnVw >
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 85[/IMGnothumb]
Referring back to image <03_FrmDsgnVw.J PG> clicking on the tool box drop arrow will show all of the available controls one can add to a form
<05_FrmDsgnCtrl TBx.JPG> [imgnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 86[/imgnothumb]
Hovering you mouse over each tool will open a tool-tip that shows the name of the control, in order;
In <05_FrmDsgnCtrl TBx.JPG> the [select] tool is active as well as the "User Control Wizards" - normally I do not use the control wizards so one of the first things I do is toggle that setting off – other than toggling the Wizards, this article will not go into the “Set…” or “ActiveX…” options.
The [select] tool is the only tool that does not have a presence on the form itself; however, when it is active the select tool allows you to select the form, control object, or set of control objects on the form – hovering your mouse over this tool will provide you with a short description of its behavior
So, because there is a limit on the number of attachments for each post, I’ll be putting each control on its own post as it appears initially when added to a form in its unbound state along with its name and, when applicable, links to object references, etc… I invite my fellow moderators to edit each post to add any additional context.
>> In order to keep this article easy to read, please post any feedback, suggestions, or complaints to this thread:
instead posting into the Insight Article
Thank You
-Z
Introduction:
The brainchild behind this article is to help establish some sort of common naming of the basic parts of form construction and controls to assist our Experts and Members describe what is happening.
While this would seem to be basic common knowledge, there have been many threads where a lot of confusion could have been avoided if we were using the same name for the same control/section of the form
This is a work in progress
Main Access Window
How to even get to where we need to be to start designing a form and where is the form located...
So to start a basic form design one can use the Wizard and while this is great for some basic things we need t be able open a new form for design
On the ribbon, create tab, forms group, form design
<01_AccessGUI >
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 82[/IMGnothumb] -Note: if any the images are too small (I'm in the bi-focal crowd myself :) ) right-click on the attachment below and open in a new window or tab to see the larger image.
<02_CreateFor m>
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 83[/IMGnothumb]
Notice the navigation form, these are NOT for the faint of heart, I'll have another article covering these love/hate forms... for a preview see here:
Post#2 these are very nice to use; however, have a lot of quirks
Also avoid split-forms - these are a nice concept; however, the implementation is difficult for many users to handle.
Ok if you have clicked on the correct control in the Ribbon>Create>F orms group it open a basic form in the design view - The initial form is blank and unbound
<03_FrmDsgnVw >
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 84[/IMGnothumb]
I've set the form's [Pop Up] property to true so you can more easily see the form separated from the Form's property sheet and added a few text boxes. Notice two things here; first, that I have the form selected as shown by the dot on the form and in the property section drop down list and second that this is an "unbound" form as I haven't set the [Record Source] property.
So the form when it's loaded for the user should look like this
<03_FrmDsgnVw >
[IMGnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 85[/IMGnothumb]
Referring back to image <03_FrmDsgnVw.J PG> clicking on the tool box drop arrow will show all of the available controls one can add to a form
<05_FrmDsgnCtrl TBx.JPG> [imgnothumb]https://bytes.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=95 86[/imgnothumb]
Hovering you mouse over each tool will open a tool-tip that shows the name of the control, in order;
- 1st Row: Select,Text Box, Label, Button (or Command Button), Tab Control, Hyperlink, Web Browser Control, Navigation Control, Option Group, Insert Page Break, Combo Box.
- 2nd Row: Chart, Line, Toggle Button, List Box, Rectangle, Check Box, Unbound Object, Attachment, Option Button, Subform/Subreport, Bound Object Frame
- 3rd Row: Image
In <05_FrmDsgnCtrl TBx.JPG> the [select] tool is active as well as the "User Control Wizards" - normally I do not use the control wizards so one of the first things I do is toggle that setting off – other than toggling the Wizards, this article will not go into the “Set…” or “ActiveX…” options.
The [select] tool is the only tool that does not have a presence on the form itself; however, when it is active the select tool allows you to select the form, control object, or set of control objects on the form – hovering your mouse over this tool will provide you with a short description of its behavior
So, because there is a limit on the number of attachments for each post, I’ll be putting each control on its own post as it appears initially when added to a form in its unbound state along with its name and, when applicable, links to object references, etc… I invite my fellow moderators to edit each post to add any additional context.
>> In order to keep this article easy to read, please post any feedback, suggestions, or complaints to this thread:
instead posting into the Insight Article
Thank You
-Z
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