Chapter 13: Advanced Form Design

Overview

In the previous two chapters, you learned how to design and build a form that works with data from a single table, and you saw how to display data from another table by using a combo box or a list box. You also learned various techniques to enhance the appearance of your forms, and you explored control and form properties you can set to specify how a form looks and works.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to design a form that consolidates information from multiple tables. You’ll find out how to

• Create a form based on a query that joins multiple tables

• Embed a subform in a main form so that you can work with related data from two tables or queries at the same time

• Use an option group to display and edit information

• Define conditional formatting of a control based on the data values in the form

• Use the tab control to handle multiple subforms within one area on a form

• Create a form that spreads many data fields across multiple pages

• Use an ActiveX control on your forms

• Design a form in PivotTable or PivotChart view and embed a linked PivotChart form in another form

Note 

The examples in this chapter are based on the tables and data in HousingDataCopy. accdb and ContactsDataCopy.accdb on the companion CD included with this book. These databases are copies of the data from the Housing Reservations and Conrad Systems Contacts application samples, respectively, and they contain the sample queries and forms used in this chapter. The results you see from the samples you build in this chapter might not exactly match what you see in this book if you have changed the sample data in the files. Also, all the screen images in this chapter were taken on a Microsoft Windows Vista operating system with the display theme set to Blue, and Use WindowsThemed Controls On Forms has been enabled in the Current Database category in the Access Options dialog box for the sample databases.