Access Lesson 4 Creating and Modifying Forms

Creating a Form Form—displays data similar to a paper form Record source—tables or queries that contain data used in form Forms provide more control over the way data is displayed, updated, and entered. Form tool--creates a simple form that includes all the fields and a title with the same name as the record source

Creating a Form When fields appear in a form, they appear in controls. Layout view--view the controls in the form and data at the same time Split Form tool--creates a form using all the fields and splits the window into two panes. In the top pane, you see a form similar to the one created by the Form tool. In the bottom pane, you see a datasheet containing the form data.

Creating a Form Multiple Items tool-- creates a form that lists all the fields in a datasheet format, but using a style that is similar to the form created by the Form tool. Datasheet tool--creates a form that looks just like a datasheet

Form Wizard Form Wizard—lets you create a simple form quickly AutoFormat (form’s style)—uses a predefined color, font, and design scheme

Navigating a Form Form view--each record is displayed as a form has a navigation bar

Using a Form to Find and Replace Data Use Find to quickly locate data Use Replace to replace data Home>Find

Using a Form to Update Data You can use a form to update data, add new records or delete records. To change a field value, select it and type the new value. To add a new record, click Home>Records>New button

Using a Form to Delete Data 2 ways to delete: Home>Records>Delete button—deletes the selected field value Click the arrow on Delete button, then click Delete record—this deletes the record currently displayed You can use the Undo button to restore a deleted field value, but deleting a record permanently deletes it from the record source.

You can create a blank form in Layout view. Field List pane--contains the tables and displays the fields they contain. Double-click a field in the Field List to add it to the form. The fields are added to a control layout. A control layout is a “container” that groups together the controls in a form so that you can change them as a group.

Layout View Detail section—main part of a form; contains records You can add a header or footer. Form Header section-displays info at the top of each form Form Footer section- displays info at the bottom of each form

bound control--connected to a field and is used to display, enter, and update data unbound control—is not connected and is used to display info., lines, rectangles, and pictures

Creating and Modifying a Form in Layout View When you resize controls in a control layout in Layout view, reducing the width of one control reduces all the widths of all other controls in the control layout at the same time. When resizing the controls, be sure to resize them with the longest data value displayed in the form. You can resize a control by dragging its edge to a new location. You can also resize a control precisely by watching the lower-left corner of the status bar to see the width of the control in characters as you drag it.

Creating and Modifying a Form in Layout View Moving a Control in a Form: When controls are grouped in a control layout, moving one control moves all the controls in the group. When you need to move one or more controls in a form, you’ll need to remove them from the control layout first. To select one control, you click it. To select a group of controls, click the first control, press and hold down the Shift key, click the other controls, and then release the Shift key.

Adding an Unbound Control to a Form in Design View Design view--you see the controls that you added to the form on a grid. The controls do not display data from the record source. You must be in Design view to add controls such as lines, rectangles, and labels to a form. You add controls to the form by clicking the button for the desired control in the Controls group on the Design tab, and then clicking to position the control in the form. In Design view you can see the Form Header, Detail, and Form Footer sections in the form.

Previewing and Printing a Form You can preview and print a form. To preview a form, click the Office Button, point to Print, and then click Print Preview. Each record in the record source appears in a miniature version of the form, one after the other, on the page. To print the form with the current record displayed, you must be in Form view and navigate to the desired record. Click the Office Button, point to Print, and then click Print.