Defining Pages on Form

Introduction.

When designing a form, we usually place controls within the visible area of the screen for ease of use. However, an Access form can actually be as large as 22 x 22 inches, giving you plenty of real estate to work with. The challenge is not in placing controls on this large surface but in arranging them in a well-organized way. Without careful planning, the form may feel cluttered and inconvenient for users to navigate.

Page Usage Plan.

Let’s plan a four-page layout on a sample form to experiment with control placement and resizing. Assuming the visible area of the form is approximately 10 inches wide, we can define two logical pages side by side, each about 10 inches wide. Then, leaving about 5 inches from the top of the form, we can define another two pages below the first row. The diagram below illustrates this four-page layout for quick reference in our project.

Right-click to open Large Image in New Tab/Window.

We have planned four logical page areas as shown above. Physically, however, there are only two pages:

• The first-page area spans the top, divided into two segments.

  • The first segment (logical page 1) starts at coordinates (0,0) — 0 inches from the left and 0 inches from the top of the form.

  • The second segment (logical page 2, top right) starts at coordinates (10,0) — 10 inches from the left and 0 inches from the top.

Each logical page is approximately 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall. For the macro that moves controls between pages, we only need to specify the top-left corner coordinates of each logical page.

• The second logical page area (top right) begins at (10,0).

• The command buttons located at the bottom-right corner of each logical page will run a macro to jump between pages.

The Page-Break control.

The dotted line on the left at the 5-inch vertical position is a Page Break control, inserted from the Toolbox, to define the second physical page area (which contains the third and fourth logical pages).

• The third logical page (first segment of the second physical page) starts at 0 inches from the left and 0 inches vertically on the second physical page (i.e., 5 inches down from the top of the form).

• The fourth logical page (second segment of the second physical page) starts at 10 inches from the left and 0 inches vertically on the second physical page.

The 10-inch width and 5-inch height for logical pages are arbitrarily chosen. You may adjust them if the pages overlap on your screen. Using the same rules, you can define additional logical pages on the form if needed.

The Page Navigation Plan.

Clicking on the first Command Button moves the focus to the second page at the top-right corner. The Command Button on this page will send the focus to the bottom-left page, and the button there will move the focus to the bottom-right page. Finally, the Command Button on the bottom-right page will bring the focus back to the top-left page, completing the loop.

Tip: You can also connect the macro to the Lost_Focus() event of the last textbox or control on each logical page. This way, when the user presses the Tab key, the focus will automatically move from one page to the next without needing to click a Command Button.

Now that the master plan and diagram are ready, we can implement them on a form. Let’s start by writing the macros to control the Command Buttons.

Create Macros.

1. Select Macro from the Create menu to open a new Macro in the design view.

2. Click on the Macro Names control to open the Name column of the macro.

3. Select the first row in the Name column and type Page1-1.

4. Select GotoPage from the drop-down control in the Action column.

5. Select the Arguments column.

6. Type 1 in the Page Number Action Arguments property below.

7. Type 0 in the Right property and 0 in the Down property.

8. Create the other three lines with the Argument values as shown in the image below:

   

   Right-click to open Large Image in New Tab/Window.

9. Save and close the Macro with the name MacPages.

The Form Design.

10. Open a new Form in Design View.

11. Display the Property Sheet (F4).

12. Click on the top left corner of the Form (Access2003) to select the Form’s Property Sheet or select Form in the Selection Type box (Access2007) of the Property sheet.

13. Change the Width Property value of the Form to 20 inches.

14. Click on the Detail Section to display its property sheet.

15. Change the Height Property Value to 10 inches.

16. Select the Page-break Control from the Toolbox.

17. Find the 5-inch position from the left side Scale and click near the left border on the Detail Section to place the Page-break control there.

18. Create a Textbox control, about half an inch down on the top left corner of the Form, and change the child label Caption value to Page-1.

19. Create a Command Button below the Textbox and change the following property values as shown below:

    • Caption:  Go to 2
    • On Click:  MacPages.Page1-2

      Tip: You may select the Macro Name from the drop-down list to avoid typing mistakes.

20. Create a second Textbox to the right of the first one, about half an inch to the right of the 10-inch scale location on top of the Form, and change the child label Caption to Page-2.

21. Create a Command Button below the Text and change the following property values as shown below:

    • Caption:  Go to 3
    • On Click:  MacPages.Page2-1

22. Create a Textbox below the Page-break control and change the child label Caption to Page-3.

23. Create a Command Button below the Textbox and change the following property values as shown below:

    • Caption:  Go to 4
    • On Click:  MacPages.Page2-2

24. Create a Textbox after the 10-inch location to the right and change the child label Caption to Page-4.

25. Create a Command Button below the Textbox and change the following property values as given below:

    • Caption:  Go to 1
    • On Click:  MacPages.Page1-1

26. Save the Form with a name.

Test Run the Form.

27. Open the Form in normal view and click on the Command Button to jump to the second page to the right.

    You will find that the form jumps to the second logical page to the right, and the Textbox on this page is the active control.

28. Try clicking on other Command Buttons to transfer control from one page to the next.

In all cases, you will find that the textbox on the active logical page is the active control.

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