Microsoft® Access® 2010 24-Hour Trainer

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Creating Forms in Layout View

One of the most powerful features of Microsoft Access 2010 is the Access Forms package. Access Forms enable developers to create Windows-style forms directly within an Access database application. These forms are very versatile for working with data in Access and provide a number of modes, settings, and events with which developers can utilize. Creating and designing forms are important parts of building any Access database application because that is how you typically want users to interact with your application. The uses for forms are endless.

Several designers (and other methods) are available for creating and building forms in Access, one of which is the Form Layout View designer. Introduced originally in Access 2007, the Layout View designer enables the developer to create and manipulate the form and its objects while seeing actual data in the form. The benefit to using the Layout View designer is that it makes it very easy to perform simple adjustments to controls on the form. It is also nice to see actual data while the form is being designed, especially when sizing controls. The Layout View designer is very useful when creating custom Access forms, such as Split Forms. The only drawback to using the Form Layout View designer is that you cannot use every available option for forms in this mode, but it does allow manipulation of most objects and settings. This lesson discusses the basics of building Access forms using the Layout View designer ...