Using the Switchboard Manager

The Switchboard Manager lets you modify the navigation process for your application. The following steps delete the Forms Switchboard and substitute a button that opens the Contact Types form directly:

1. Click the Change Switchboard Items button of the Main Switchboard to open the Switchboard Manager dialog.

2. Select the Forms Switchboard item in the Switchboard Pages list (see Figure 2.28) and click the Delete button. When the "Are you sure?" message appears, click Yes.

   Figure 2.28. Select and delete the Forms Switchboard in the Switchboard Manager.

   

3. With the Main Switchboard (Default) item selected, click the Edit button to open the Edit Switchboard Page dialog.

4. Select the Enter/View Other Information item in the Items on This Switchboard list (see Figure 2.29) and click Edit to open the Edit Switchboard Item dialog (see Figure 2.30). The Switchboard text box is empty because you deleted the associated switchboard in step 2.

   Figure 2.29. Select the Enter/View Other Information item to change the navigation process.

   

   Figure 2.30. The Edit Switchboard Item opens with the default values.

   

5. Replace the existing content of the Text text box with Enter/View Contact Types, and select Open Form in Edit Mode from the Command drop-down list (see Figure 2.31).

   Figure 2.31. Change the entries for the Main Switchboard button to open a form directly.

   

6. Open the Form drop-down list (which replaces the Switchboard list) and select Contact Types (see Figure 2.32). Click OK to accept the changes and return to the Edit Switchboard Item dialog.

   Figure 2.32. Select the form to edit in Edit mode.

   

7. The Edit Switchboard Item dialog shows the caption change you made in step 5. Click Close to return to the Switchboard Manager dialog and then click Close again to return to the Main Switchboard form. The second button reflects the caption change. Click the Edit/View Contact Types button to test your work.

8. Close the Contact Types form to return to the Main Switchboard.

You can import a Switchboard form and Switchboard Items table created by the Database Wizard into Access applications you create from scratch and then use the Switchboard Manager to modify the original design to suit your navigational needs. Starting with a prebuilt switchboard saves a substantial amount of design work and VBA code writing.

To import a Switchboard form or other database objects, see "Linking and Importing External ISAM Tables," p. 272.