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Creating a Form from Design View

Although the Form Wizards are both powerful and useful, in many cases you’ll prefer building a form from scratch, especially if you’re building a form that’s not bound to data. To create a form without using a wizard, click to select the Create tab. Then click the Form Design button in the Forms group. The Form Design window appears (see Figure 5.9).

Working with the Form Design Window

You can use the Form Design window to build and customize a form. Using this window, you can add objects to a form and customize them by using the property sheet. You can also build and customize a form using Layout View. The section of this chapter titled “Working in Layout View” covers this process in detail. Microsoft has supplied many form and control properties. After gaining a command of these properties, you can customize the look and feel of your forms.

Understanding and Working with the Form Design Tools

Even the best developer needs the right tools for the job. Fortunately, Microsoft has given you tools to help you build exciting and useful forms. The Form Design window includes the Ribbon and the actual form you’re designing. Other tools are available to help you with the design process, including the Field List window and property sheet.

Two additional tabs appear when you’re in a form’s Design view: the Design tab and the Arrange tab. The Design tab has buttons you use to switch views, add controls, add fields, and work with control and form properties. As its name implies, the Arrange tab contains tools that allow you to control the layout of controls on the form. It contains tools used for control alignment, control layering, control sizing, and more.

Toggling the Tools to Get What You Want

A few windows are available to help you with the design process when you’re in a form’s Design view. If you don’t have a high resolution monitor, you’ll probably find it annoying to have all the windows open at once. In fact, with all the windows open at once on a low-resolution monitor, the form is likely to get buried underneath all the windows. This is why Microsoft has made each window open and close in a toggle-switch–like fashion. The Design tab has buttons for the Field List window and property sheet, and each of these toolbar buttons is a toggle. Clicking once on the button opens the appropriate window; clicking a second time closes it. Furthermore, you can show or hide the Navigation Pane.

Figure 5.10 shows a form with the Field List window, Navigation Pane, and property sheet open. Although you can size each of these windows however you like, the design environment in this low-resolution display is rather cluttered with all these windows open. One of the tricks in working with Access is in knowing when it’s appropriate to have each set of tools available. The goal is to have the right windows open at the right time as often as possible.

This material orginally appeared in Alison Balter's book Mastering Microsoft Office Access 2007 Development. Reprinted here by author's permission.

When you need a Microsoft Access programmer for your Des Moines IA business, phone call MS Access Solutions at (323) 285-0939. We have over 25 years experience in Microsoft Access programmer solutions. We create Access database applications for all sectors, consisting of hospitals, government companies, the U.S. military, universities, agriculture, workers services, and insurance provider. We can take care of the most advanced as well as complicated Access and also SQL Server database programming for your business as well as smaller projects, like fixing damaged Access database forms, MS Access reports, Access macros, and VBA code.

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