A Little Access Help

[hlewton]

Hans, I need a little bit of a refresher course in Access. I want to add a command button to an existing form. I found on the Internet where it says, “Add a command button to a form by using a wizard On the Design tab, in the Controls group, click Button. In the design grid, click where you want the command button to be inserted. The Command Button Wizard starts. Follow the directions in the wizard.”

Where do I find the Controls group on the Design Tab. I thought I stumbled on it but the Command Button wizard did not start. Please see the attachment as to what I am seeing when I choose the Design View from the Form I want to modify.

Thanks

Form Design.jpg

[HansV]

The Controls group is smack in the middle of your screenshot.
Click the drop-down arrow in the lower right corner of the toolbox:

S2433.png

Select 'Use Control Wizards' to turn this feature on (it's a toggle)

S2434.png

Then click on the Command Button icon.

[hlewton]

Thank thank you very much

[hlewton]

Hans, I got all 5 buttons I wanted created, but I do have another question. When I first followed your instructions I clicked on the button labeled "Button." Please see the attachment. And all went well in as much as I was able to create the command I wanted to use on that button because the Control's Wizard opened immediately. On all 4 of the following buttons I wanted to create, I had to insert the button and then delete it and then follow your instructions again. In other words, I had to follow your instructions twice for all but the first button I created. Any idea why this happened and is there a Command Button icon I am missing and maybe I used the wrong button?

Button.jpg

[HansV]

That's the correct icon.
I can't explain why it stopped working. Once you turn on 'Use Control Wizards', it should remain on until you explicitly turn it off...

[hlewton]

That's the correct icon.
I can't explain why it stopped working. Once you turn on 'Use Control Wizards', it should remain on until you explicitly turn it off...

OK. I started over on all 5 of the forms I was working with. I didn't close Access but I did go back to the Opening Form and then clicked on the other forms I wanted to modify. Maybe that caused it to act as it did.

Thanks again

[Gasman]

PMFJI,
A lot of good videos on Access are on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... ccess+form

[hlewton]

PMFJI,
A lot of good videos on Access are on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... ccess+form

Thank you.

[hlewton]

I asked a friend of mine to add a new command button to my Opening form when I open this database because I tried everything I could think of and failed to be able to do it. I have forgotten so much over the years. It was in Office 95 when I originally created these databases. Please see the first attachment to see the opening form. I don’t know what he did to get it to work. As you can see the new button is named “Open UnSaved Movies Search”

Here is what I know. Before I sent him the file, I managed to create a Query with the name “Unsaved Movies Query.” I not sure he used it. When the file came back to me and worked, he had created a new form named “Search UbSaved Movies.” I am assuming he used that to make the new button work even though in the properties of that button it says that the Record Source is “UnSaved Movies.” There is a table named UnSaved Movies so not sure why the new form.

I do have a question coming but want to give a little background first of what was done. When I click any of the first 5 buttons the forms they open have buttons that will take me to any of the other forms you see on those buttons. See second attachment. So, I wanted to do the same with the newly created “Open UnSaved Movies Search” button.

When I open the “Open UnSaved Movies Search” it did not have a button to take me to the “Open All Title Search.” That is what I created yesterday. The same goes for when I opened the “Open All Title Search” it did not have a button to go to the “Open UnSaved Movies Search.” All well when I created those buttons on the 2 form I just described.

Here is the problem. The top 3 buttons are used for inputting data. Please see the second attachment. Before the addition of “Open UnSaved Movies Search” on the opening form, as I was inputting new data into any of the top 3 forms, once I hit the Enter key in the field named “Category” it would enter that data into the table and the cursor would go back to the first field named “Movie Title” allowing me to enter as many new movies as I wanted. This still worked on the file that came back to me until I tried working with the first 3 buttons.

After I created the “Open UnSaved Movies Search” button on any of these 3 forms and hit the Enter key on “Category” the cursor remained there. I had to click on the Right pointing “Next Record” button to get it to add the new record to the table. I tried to make this work again, as I wanted it to, by adding “Open New Record” in the “On Enter” field of the properties of the “Category” input in the form. But that didn’t work. The buttons I’m describing are, “Open New Movies,” “Open New Unsaved Movies,” and “Open New TV Series Form.”

I apologize for the length of this post and I hope I have described what I want to ask well enough for you to understand me. Any idea why when I create a button on any of the above 3 forms to open “Open UnSaved Movies Search” it stops the cursor from entering the new data and does not return to the top “Movie Title” input line in those forms?

New Command Button.jpg

Input Form.jpg

[HansV]

It's difficult to answer all these questions without seeing the database.
Could you attach it (zipped) to a reply, or make it available through Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or similar?

[hlewton]

Han I zipped and tried to add it as an attachment. It is 403 KB and it said it was too large. I don't know how to use any of the other drives you mentioned. I have it zipped and in an email which I'll send to you. Since it is an email, I'll attach the regular file as well. Hope that is OK.

[HansV]

Thanks for sending the database.

On the other forms, Category is a combo box (with a drop-down list).
On the new form, Category is a text box.
You can either convert it to a combo box yourself, or - perhaps easier - delete the text box, then copy the Category combo box from one of the other forms to your new form.

[hlewton]

Thanks for sending the database.

On the other forms, Category is a combo box (with a drop-down list).
On the new form, Category is a text box.
You can either convert it to a combo box yourself, or - perhaps easier - delete the text box, then copy the Category combo box from one of the other forms to your new form.

Thank you. I hope I'm understanding things. But I am going to try to copy the combo box

[hlewton]

Thanks for sending the database.

On the other forms, Category is a combo box (with a drop-down list).
On the new form, Category is a text box.
You can either convert it to a combo box yourself, or - perhaps easier - delete the text box, then copy the Category combo box from one of the other forms to your new form.

That didn't work for me so I tried making the Rating box a Combo Box also and that still didn't work. Please see attachment to verify I did what you suggested? Anything else I need to do to make this work?

Combo Box.jpg

[HansV]

The properties in the Data tab of the Category combo box should be set like this:

S2437.png

And those of the Rating combo box:

S2438.png

[hlewton]

Hans, unless I am mistaken, all the settings you mention above are already set that way. Not sure if I am not understanding you correctly. You do mean on the “Open UnSaved Movies Search” form, don't you?

[HansV]

Yes, indeed.

[hlewton]

Yes, indeed.

That is the form I checked and its properties sheet's settings were already set as you said they should be. Didn't the one you have show that? Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks.

[HansV]

In the one you sent me, Category and Rating were text boxes...

[hlewton]

In the one you sent me, Category and Rating were text boxes...

Yes I changed them like the attachment above shows. Now the properties are exactly as you said they should be but that didn't make it work as far as entering data after hitting the Enter Key in the Category box. Please see the attachments.

Rating.jpg

Category.jpg

Also I was thinking and I'm not sure this makes a difference but the All Titles Search button has been on all my forms for years and they never cause me to have this problem. As I mentioned up above somewhere, I don't know exactly what that friend of mine did to create the new Open UnSaved Movies Search but I do know this, he started by copying the All Titles Search button. I was on the phone with him when he first thought it was working but it continued to open the ALL-TITLE table or form or whatever Open All Title Search button used. We thought that would be a quick fix but it apparently wasn't. We gave up for that day and he sent the database back to me a few days later working by opening the correct tables for both the buttons mentioned earlier.

In any case, my data entry forms, all 3 of them, do not work yet even after I changed the boxes to combo boxes which have the properties you suggested. I don't have a clue as to why. All I know is immediately when I create the button Open UnSaved Movies Search on any of them, the Enter Key in the Category stops working. Any thoughts and/or suggestions?