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Microsoft Access - How A Programmer Can Format Controls

The material below originally appeared in Alison Balter's book Mastering Microsoft Office Access 2007 Development and is reprinted here with the author's permission. There may be references to "Figures" or "Chapters"that are not reprintable and are not used on this page.

Morphing a Text Box into a Combo Box

One of the most common types of conversions is from a text box into a combo box. To morph a text box into a combo box, right-click on the text box. Choose Change To and then select Combo Box. The types of controls available depend on the type of control you're morphing. For example, a text box can be converted into a label, list box, or combo box.

After morphing a text box into a combo box, you modify the appropriate control properties. The Row Source, Bound Column, Column Count, and Column Widths properties need to be filled in. For the row source, you must select the appropriate table or query. If you select a table and then click the ellipsis, you are prompted to create a query based on the table. After selecting Yes, you can build a query containing only the fields you want to include in the combo box. You're then ready to select the bound column, which is used to store data in the underlying table. For example, the user might select the name of a project that a payment is being applied to, but the ProjectID will be stored in the Payments table. Set the column count to the number of columns selected in the underlying query; the column widths can be set so that the key column is hidden.

Morphing a Combo Box Into A List Box

Morphing a combo box into a list box is a much simpler process than morphing a text box into a combo box or a list box because combo boxes and list boxes share so many properties. To morph a combo box into a list box, simply right-click on the combo box and choose Change To, List Box.

Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting displays data meeting specified criteria differently than it displays data meeting other criteria. For example, you can display sales higher than a certain amount in one color and sales less than that amount in another color. To conditionally format data displayed within a control, follow these steps:

1. While in Layout view, select the control you want to conditionally format.


2. On the Format tab, open up the Font drop-down and select Conditional. The Conditional Formatting dialog box appears.


3. Select Field Value Is, Expression Is, or Field Has Focus from the first combo box.


4. Select the appropriate operator from the second combo box.


5. Enter the values you are testing for in the text boxes that appear on the right.


6. Select the special formatting (bold, italic, background color, and so on) that you want to apply when the conditional criteria are met.


7. Click Add to add additional formats.


8. Click OK to apply the conditional formatting.

Determining Which Form Properties Are Available

Forms have many properties that can be used to affect their look and behavior. The properties are broken down into categories: Format, Data, Event, and Other. To view a form's properties, you must select the form. To do this, click the Form Selector (the small gray button at the intersection of the horizontal and vertical rulers).

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Author Attribution

The preceding material originally appeared in Alison Balter's book Mastering Microsoft Office Access 2007 Development and is reprinted here with the author's permission.

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