Designing About Form for MS-Access Project

Introduction

This is all about the Microsoft Access About Form.

Once your Microsoft Access application development process is complete, you may design a small form called the About Form for your project. The About Form typically displays your project’s logo, name, version number, copyright information, and any other details you wish to include.

Sample About Form image of Windows Live Writer Application is given below as an example:

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

Designing an Access About Form is straightforward. You will typically need:

• Two Label controls to display the application name and the current version number.

• A Textbox to show the copyright information.

• An Image control (optional) to include your custom logo, giving your application a unique identity.

Designing a Simple Access About Form.

Let us design such a small About Form to know what it takes to create one with a simple Logo. Our sample About Form in design view is given below for reference.

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

I have designed a simple logo in MS Word, captured a screenshot of it, modified it in MS Paint, and saved it as a .bmp file.@@@

1. Open your Microsoft Access Application.

2. Create a new Blank Form.

3. Set the Width Property value of the Form to 3.93"

4. Click on the Detail Section of the Form to select it.

5. Set the Height property value to 1.53".

6. Insert an Access Image control from the Toolbox on the left side of the Form and select the Project Logo image from your computer. You may select the Picture Property of the Image control and click on the build (...) button to browse and select the logo image from your computer, if you wish to change the image later.

   The Image Properties.

7. Change the Image property values as given below:

   • Picture Tiling: No

   • Size Mode: Zoom

   • Picture Alignment: Center

   • Picture type: Embedded

Ms-Access Label & Text Controls.

8. Insert a Label control to the right of the logo and top of the Form, and resize it to make it wide enough to write the Application name in bold letters.

9. Write the name of your Project in the Caption property, change the font size big enough to your liking, make it bold, and align the text to the center.

10. Create another Label control below the first one, with the same width as the first label, and write the Version number of your Project, make it bold, and align the text to the center.

11. Insert a Textbox below the earlier labels, and change its width to be as wide as the top labels.

12. Copy and paste the following expression into the Control Source property of the textbox. ="Copyright " & Chr$(169) & Year(Date()) & " All Rights Reserved".

13. Change the following Property values of Text-Box as given below:

    • Border Style: Transparent

    • Text Align: Center

    • Enabled: No

    • Locked: Yes

    • Tab Stop: No

    
    

    MS-Access Command Button.

14. Create a Command Button below the textbox and position it in the center horizontally.

15. Make the following changes to the Command Button:

    • Change the Name property value to cmdOK.

    • Change the Caption property value to OK.

    • Click on the Event Tab of the property sheet.

    • Select the On Click property and select [Event Procedure] from the drop-down list.

    • Click on the Build (...) button to open the VBA Module with the empty procedure start and end lines.

    • Copy the middle line of the Code given below and paste the line in the middle of the start and end lines of the VBA procedure (Private Sub cmdOK_Click() . . . End Sub). Or copy all three lines and paste them, overwriting the existing lines in the VBA Module.

    Private Sub cmdOK_Click()
    DoCmd.Close
    End Sub
    

    When the Access User clicks on the Command Button, the above Code will run and the About Form will be closed.

Save the Form and rename it as About or frmAbout.

16. Open the About Form in normal View and see how it looks on the Access Application Window.
    

    The Property Value Changes.

    As you can see, the Access About Form needs some changes to make its appearance like a real About Form. Let us do that to give it the final touches.

17. Make the following changes in the Form's Property Values as shown below:

    • Caption: About <your Project name here>

    • Pop Up: Yes

    • Modal: Yes

    • Default View: Form View

    • Allow Form View: Yes

    • Auto Center: Yes

    • Auto Resize: Yes

    • Fit to Screen: No

    • Border Style: Dialog

    • Record Selectors: No

    • Navigation Buttons: No

    • Dividing Lines: No

    • Scroll Bars: Neither

    • Control Box: Yes

    • Close Button: No

    • Min Max Button: None

18. Save the Form after the above changes.

    View The Application About Form in Normal View.

19. Open the About form in Normal View.

    A sample Image of the completed About Form in normal view is given below.

    

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

You must add an Option in the Customized Menu of your Project to enable the User to open the Access Application About Form if he/she wish to do so. Alternatively, you may add a Command Button on the Main Form of your Project to do that.

• Easy-Read Reports
• Accounting Year/Week Calculation
• Finding the Difference between Dates in Rows of a Column
• Opening a specific page of a PDF file