Format to mask entry

Labels: Forms, Properties, Queries, 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: Forms, Tips

It can still be done

In Access/Office 2003/2007 MS Photo Editor was replaced, and Office no longer includes an OLE server for images.

To work around this issue, reinstall Photo Editor.

To do this, follow these steps:

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.

Microsoft Support Article: 817095

Also: Ammara.com: Pictures in Access Forms & Reports OLE Object Photo & Image Problems & Solutions

Access MVPS.org: Handle/Display images in forms/database

"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, Tips

GetFocus, Resize, Color Data

MSDN.Microsoft.com:
Eventful Formatting for Access Forms
By Rick Dobson - SmartAccess magazine

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."

Labels: Customize, Forms

PowerPoint in Access

"Create a PowerPoint slide presentation from scratch using Access data. In addition, display and control a slide show from within an Access form. Walk through the solution and explore ways to extend the sample for your own applications.

This article looks at two ways of interaction between Access and PowerPoint.

The first sample illustrates how to create a PowerPoint presentation from the data in an Access table using Automation.

The second sample shows how to display and manipulate an existing PowerPoint presentation inside of an Access form, also using Automation."

Here is an MSDN article:
Working with PowerPoint Presentations from Access Using Automation

If you have some knowledge of VBA, you can probably figure it out from the code on the Access Form.



Office 2003 Sample:
Working with PowerPoint 2003 Presentations from Access 2003 Using Automation



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access

Labels: Forms, General, 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, Queries, Reports

Multiple selections

"How to open a report based on a multiple selection in a list box. For example, you may have a list of makes of car and a report that shows various details for each make of car. You want to allow the users to select a range of cars and pull up the report according to that selection."

Microsoft KB:
How to Use a Multi-Select List Box to Filter a Form

Customize a list box, combo box, or drop-down list box



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access

Labels: Forms, General, List, Tips

Automatic Input masks

Private Sub Country_AfterUpdate()
Dim strCountry As String
strCountry = Me.Country

    Select Case strCountry
        Case "Canada"
            Me.[PostalCode].InputMask = ">L0L\ 0L0;;_"
        Case "USA"
            Me.[PostalCode].InputMask = "00000-9999;;_"
        Case Else
        'If the country is not Canada or USA no input mask will be used
            Me.[PostalCode].InputMask = ""
    End Select
End Sub

comp.databases.ms-access forum

Working with postal codes in Access

As a rule, if you won't be performing numeric calculations on the data, entries should be stored as text. Social Security numbers, Phone numbers and postal codes should be stored as text.


You can use alphabetic characters in an input mask. For example, one of the sample input masks is >L0L\ 0L0 used to represent a Canadian postal code.

The ">" character in the input mask converts all the characters that follow to uppercase.

The "L" character requires an alpha entry; the "0" (zero) requires a numeric entry.

A "\"character causes the following character to be displayed as a literal character rather than a mask character.

A space appears between the three character pairs.
For example, V5P 2G1 is one valid postal code that the user could enter. The mask would prevent the user from entering two sequential alphabetic characters or numbers.

See:

Trinity University - San Antonio, Texas:
Input mask

Definition characters used to create an input mask
Some validation rules

You can manipulate postal codes in Access by changing the data type, input mask, or format of a postal code field.

Microsoft KB 207829:
ACC2000: How to Manipulate ZIP Codes in Microsoft Access.

Also see:
Postal Codes



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access

Labels: Entries, Forms, Macros, VBA

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: Forms, Tutorials

Without navigation

To provide this feature, you can use VBA to place the form's CurrentRecord value in an unbound text box, and then update the value during the Current event.

To utilize this property, add an unbound text box to your form in Design view. Then, on the Event tab of the form's Property list, click the ellipsis or Build button. Choose Code Builder.

Add the following code in the Visual Basic Editor:

Private Sub Form_Current()
MyTextBox = Me.CurrentRecord
End Sub

(where MyTextBox is the name of the control that displays the record number.)

Now, when you navigate from record to record, the MyTextBox control will update automatically to reflect the current number.



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access

Labels: Forms, Macros, Tips

Drag 'em on over

Labels: Forms, Reports, Shortcuts

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 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, Tutorials

It's fitting

When you switch between Design and Form views, the size of the form is dictated by the size of the Design view window, not the size of the form sections.

You often need to expand the window to be able to see the rulers and scroll bars in addition to all of the sections. This means you're left with wasted space when viewing the form in Form view, assuming that you forget to shrink the window back down.

A solution to this annoyance is to use the Size To Fit Form feature.

Simply view the form in Form view and choose Window>Size To Fit Form from the menu bar. If your view of the form is maximized, the menu option will be unavailable and you'll need to click the Restore Window button on the form window to enable the choice.

Once Access has resized the form, you can save its current dimensions by clicking the Save button.

With Access 2007 go to the Office button, choose Access Options and click Overlapping Windows. The Size To Fit Form icon will appear on the Home tab.





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access

Labels: Customize, Forms, Tips

Works with other apps as well

Labels: Customize, Forms