1. Access Custom Forms & Reports

2. Topics  Designer Skills  Tab Order (Forms)  Copying Properties  Adding a Control  Adding Page Breaks  Adding Tab Controls  Calculated Controls

3. Designer Skills  Three step process: Learn what tools are available Learn how to use them Use your imagination and practice

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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…

9. 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 …

10. Adding Tab Controls (cont’d)  Enter Address for the Caption Property  Drag the rest of the fields onto this page

11. 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

12. The End