11.1. Setting Up a Form

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When I set up a new form, there are a couple things that I do to make the form a little easier to use. First, I put on a form header and footer to hold the title of the form and add any basic form buttons like Close, Search, etc. Next, I try to determine what the form will be used for to get the best look. For example, by default, Microsoft Access puts on record selectors and record navigation buttons. These may or may not be useful for your application in some places, but generally will not be useful on a main menu form or on a form where you collect information to send parameters to a procedure. The other item that I change for almost any form except data entry forms is the Border Style. The Border Style, by default, is set to Sizable. Because I normally don't want the user to resize the main menu, I change this setting to Dialog to keep them from changing it. Also, for a main menu form, I normally disable the ability for the user to "X-Out" of the form by setting the Close Button property to No. You can also change the setting for Min Max Buttons or eliminate the Control Toolbox altogether (Close, Min, and Max buttons). In addition to these, I generally set AutoCenter and Auto-Resize to Yes.

The properties for a form are categorized in a tabbed dialog under Format, Data, Event, Other, and All. I suggest getting familiar with the options that you have available to you under these properties. Microsoft has made it very easy for you to figure out what each property does by putting a short description in the status bar. Additionally, press F1 in any of the value boxes for a property for help to come up and describe what the property does.

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    Integrating Excel and Access
    Integrating Excel and Access
    ISBN: 0596009739
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 132

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