Access Cookbook

Chapter 9.  Making the Most of Your User Interface

No matter how much you do behind the scenes to create a solid and robust application, the users of your application see only your user interface. Certainly, perfecting the database and application design is crucial—but once that’s done, it pays to devote considerable time to designing a user interface that is workable, aesthetically pleasing, and helps the users get their work done. By implementing the ideas and techniques in this chapter, you’ll be on your way to creating an interface that has ease of use and productivity written all over it.

You’ll learn how to take full advantage of special keystrokes to help users navigate through a complex application. You’ll also learn how to create forms that have no menus or toolbars and how to create a map-based interface that lets users navigate by pointing to and clicking on various parts of a map.

Next, you’ll learn how to ease data-entry pain with forms that let users mark their place while they peruse other records, and how to add shortcut menus to forms. You’ll also see how you can create forms that carry data forward from record to record, how to hide complexity from your users with a dialog that expands on request to reveal complex options, and how to use a combo box not just to select from a list, but also to maintain that list with new entries as they are needed.

Finally, you’ll learn how to create and use two generic, reusable components: a pop-up calendar form for entering dates ...