Access Custom Forms & Reports
Topics Designer Skills Tab Order (Forms) Copying Properties Adding a Control Adding Page Breaks Adding Tab Controls Calculated Controls
Designer Skills Three step process: Learn what tools are available Learn how to use them Use your imagination and practice
Tab Order (Forms) Controls the order of cursor movement through the fields In Design View select Arrange, Tab Order Select the Detail section Select Auto Order or drag fields where you want
Copying Properties Customize one control, then: Select that control Do one of the following: (design view) To copy to one other control, click the Format Painter button To copy to several controls, double-click the Format Painter button Click each control you want to format Press Esc or click the Format Painter button when you are finished
Adding a Control Create your own controls Let’s add a Text Box to a Report Gives the ability to customize a report Any “unbound” text box generates a prompt since Access doesn’t know what to put there
Adding Page Breaks There is a Page Break toolbox button (in Design View, Report Design Tools, Design tab): Can add page breaks to: Reports Printed forms Just click where you want the page break
Adding Tab Controls (Forms) You can have forms that are tabbed at the top Select Create, Form Design In the Controls section, select the Tab Control button Drag the box where you want it Right-click and choose Properties Enter Name for the Caption Property…
Adding Tab Controls (cont’d) In the Tools section, click on Add Existing Fields Click the + by the Contacts table Drag ContactID and all the names onto the page Right-click page 2 and choose Properties …
Adding Tab Controls (cont’d) Enter Address for the Caption Property Drag the rest of the fields onto this page
Calculated Controls Not stored in the database Fields are read-only on forms Can create a text box Right-click, Build Event…, Expression Builder Build an expression Takes a lot of practice, reading through examples, and trial & error Easier to create a Query to calculate the value and add the result to the Form
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