005 form

Building a User Interface with Forms Creating Simple Forms • Creates a readymade form based on a table or query: – – In the navigation pane, select the table or query use to generate the form Choose Create ➝ Forms ➝ Form Using Forms • • • • • Finding and Editing a Record Adding a Record Deleting a Record Printing Records Sorting and Filtering in a Form – – – – Quick filter Filter by selection Filter by condition Advanced filters More Useful Form Properties • The Property Sheet to change the view of your form, letting an ordinary form show multiple items or a split view • However, the Property Sheet is packed with many more settings (reference to Table 12-2, Page 396) The Form Wizard • The Form wizard asks you a series of questions and then builds a form to match – – – – Choose Create ➝ Forms ➝ Form Wizard From the drop-down list, choose the table you want to use Add the fields you want to include, click Next Choose a layout option for your form The Form Wizard • Layout options include: – – – Columnar similar to clicking Create ➝ Forms ➝ Form on the ribbon Tabular similar to clicking Create ➝ Forms ➝ More Forms ➝ Multiple Items in the ribbon Datasheet creates a datasheet form It’s similar to selecting Create ➝ Forms ➝ More Forms ➝ Datasheet in the ribbon Designing Advanced Forms • Customizing Forms in Design View: – – – Create a form in Layout view: Choose Create Forms  Blank Form – Drag fields from the Field List pane into form Drag the fields from the Field List pane into form Create a form in Design view Choose Create  Forms Form Design Start with a blank form in the design window Form Sections • Newly created forms start with only one section: the Details section, which defines the content for each record Form Sections • To add a title or logo at the top of form, or some sort of summary information or message at the bottom, must include a header and footer section • To add these elements to form, right-click anywhere on the form’s surface, and then choose Page Header/Footer Adding Controls to Your Form • To add a control, follow these steps: – – – – – Head to the ribbon’s Form Design Tools Design Controls section Optionally, switch on the Use Control Wizards button Click the icon for the control you want To place your control on the form, drag the mouse cursor to draw the control on the form If control has a Control wizard and use Control Wizards, the wizard appears now Taking Control of Controls • Locking Down Fields: Every bound control provides the following two properties that you can use to control editing by using the Property Sheet in Design view – – Locked determines whether you can make changes in a field Enabled lets you deactivate a control altogether Taking Control of Controls • Prevent Errors with Validation: – – – – Validation Rule sets an expression that the value must meet to be considered valid Validation Text Input Mask Default Value Performing Calculations with Expressions • To create an expression on form: – – – – Add a text box control to your form In the Property Sheet, choose the Data tab Place expression in the Control Source setting Optionally, set Enabled to No to hammer home the point that this value can’t be edited Optionally, apply formatting Organizing with Tab Controls • Tab control is used: – – Present large amounts of content in a limited space Organize this content into separate pages At a time, can see only one page In forms that are primarily designed for editing or reviewing data, data can be subdivided into logical groups, and editing tasks often involve just one group Organizing with Tab Controls • • To use a tab control, follow these steps: • • Draw the tab control onto form • In the ribbon’s Form Design Tools  Design Controls section , click the Tab Control Every new tab control starts with two pages – – To create a new page, right-click any tab and choose Insert Page To remove an existing page, right-click it and choose Delete Page Place controls on the different pages Navigating with Lists • • There are two list controls in Access forms: the list box and the combo box There are two ways to use list controls: – – Use to edit a field Access automatically creates a combo box control when there’s a lookup defined for the field Use to navigate to the record, the list shows the field value for every record in the table When choose one of the values, Access jumps to the corresponding record Navigating with Lists • Create List control: – – – – – – Make sure the Control Wizard feature is turned on In Form Design Tools  Design  Controls section, click List Box or Combo Box Draw the control on the form Choose “Find a record on my form” Next Choose the field you want to use for the lookup  Next Enter a caption for list  Finish Command Buttons • Command buttons let you trigger just about any action, like opening a new form, printing a report… • Crate Button by using wizard: – – In the ribbon’s Form Design Tools Design  Controls section, click the Button Draw the button into form Command Buttons – – – – Choose one of the actions: • • • • • • Record Navigation Record Operations Form Operations Report Operations Application Miscellaneous Click Next Enter some text and choose a picture  Next Supply a name for the button  Finish The Sub form Control • • The sub form control shows linked records Three properties determine what the sub form control shows: – The Source Object property identifies the object in the database that has the related records – – Link Master Fields: is the field in the form Link Child Fields: is the field in the source object Navigation Forms • Creating a Single-Level Navigation Form: – – – To create navigation form, pick one of the top three options from the Create ➝ Forms ➝ Navigation menu To add a navigation button for one of forms, click the form in navigation pane, and drag it into the navigation control If want to change the navigation button caption, double-click the caption and type new name the Navigation Forms • Creating a Two-Level Navigation Form: – To create navigation form, pick one of the bottom three options from the Create ➝ Forms ➝ Navigation menu Navigation Forms – – Add a heading for your top-level menu by click “[Add New]” and type in a new caption To add submenu the submenu for this heading, drag a form from the navigation pane into the Linking to Related Data • Showing Linked Records in Separate Forms: By adding a button to form that pops open another form with the linked records – – – – Open the parent form in Design view Click the Button icon, and draw the button onto form Choose the Form Operations  Open Form, Next Choose the child form that has the related records , Next Linking to Related Data – – – – – Choose “Open the form and find specific data to display” Next In the list on the left, choose the unique identifying field from the first table In the list on the right, choose the matching field from the second table Click the two-way arrow button  Next Finish ... Choose Create Forms  Blank Form – Drag fields from the Field List pane into form Drag the fields from the Field List pane into form Create a form in Design view Choose Create  Forms ? ?Form Design... option for your form The Form Wizard • Layout options include: – – – Columnar similar to clicking Create ➝ Forms ➝ Form on the ribbon Tabular similar to clicking Create ➝ Forms ➝ More Forms ➝ Multiple... creates a datasheet form It’s similar to selecting Create ➝ Forms ➝ More Forms ➝ Datasheet in the ribbon Designing Advanced Forms • Customizing Forms in Design View: – – – Create a form in Layout