Access® 2010 Bible

Chapter 19. Advanced Access Form Techniques

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Setting properties for Access forms and controls

• Using subforms in Access

• Reviewing basic techniques for designing forms

• Learning advanced Access forms techniques

• Working with tab controls in Access forms

• Collecting information with dialog boxes

User interface is a term you hear frequently in discussions about computer software. In virtually all applications built with Microsoft Access, the user interface consists of a series of Access forms. If you intend to develop successful Access applications, you need to understand Access forms inside and out.

This chapter helps you improve your understanding of forms. First, I show you how to programmatically manipulate the many controls that constitute the building blocks out of which forms are constructed. I also show you some powerful ways to take advantage of subforms. I devote one section of the chapter to presenting a grab-bag of forms-related programming techniques that will help you create forms that elicit the best performance from Access and your computer. Then, I cover the Query by Form feature, which enables you to build an intuitive form-based interface between users and Access queries.

Note

This chapter uses examples in the Chapter19.accdb database and other files in the Chapter_19 folder on this book's CD. If you have not yet copied the contents of this folder to your computer, please do so now.

Setting Control Properties

The building blocks of Access forms are known as controls ...