Jan's Working with Databases

Step-by-Step: Format a Control

Start with:  , resource files, worldtravel-Lastname-Firstname.accdb from the previous lesson

You will work with the form from the previous lesson, Form Wizard. While the Form Wizard created a formatted form quickly, you will soon see that it can take a lot of work to make the form truly useful. In the next lesson you will do a form by adding all of the controls yourself. That can be easier!

1. If necessary, open the database worldtravel-Lastname-Firstname.accdb in the folder databases project4 on your Class disk.

2. Open the form Staff, which you created in the previous lesson.

   
   

   Form Wizard Form - in different versions

   This form needs some help!

   • Which controls are too big for the expected data? Wasted space!
   • Which labels are too narrow to show the text.
     Not acceptable!
   • Text alignment and control height varies between versions of Access for some data types.
3. Close the form.  

Create a Copy in Navigation Pane

1. In the Navigation Pane, select the Staff form.
2. Copy and paste to the Navigation Pane.
   Accept the default name Copy of Staff.
3. Open the new object, Copy of Staff, in Design View.

Position and Size Controls and Labels

Let's experiment a bit with the formatting for just one control. Once you have found a good combination you can apply it to other controls with Format Painter.

Access only remembers the last 20 actions. Before experimenting with formatting, it is a good idea to create a copy of your existing form and do your changes on that. This makes it a lot easier to start over.

1. Access 2007: The Form Wizard applied a Stacked Layout, which you need to remove.
   • Click in a control in the first column.
   • Click the Select Table button at the top left of the column.
     The whole left column is selected.
   • In the ribbon tab Form Design Tools: Arrange, click the Remove button in the Control Layout tab group.
     (If you don't select the whole column, only the selected control is affected.)
   • Repeat for the other two columns.
     
2. Resize the Photograph label to Best Fit by double-clicking a Resize handle.
   You cannot size controls with data "to fit", only labels.
   
   Access 2007: Resize the label to only one line.
   

3. Click on the Photograph control to select it.
   Because this field is an Attachment field, Access gave it a larger size.

   Notice the orange resizing handles for the control and the gray Move handles for both the control and its label.

4. Move the mouse pointer over the Resize handle in the middle of the bottom edge of the control and drag upwards to resize the control to a much smaller height.

5. Move control only:
   • Move the mouse pointer over the gray handle for the Photograph control.
     The pointer shape changes to the Move shape , NOT the resize shape.
     
   • Drag down and to the left, to move the control underneath its label.
     Leave only one row of dots between the label and control.
     
6. In the Property Sheet for the Photograph control, change the Width and Height to 1.5".

   Now there is extra space for the Notes control.
   

7. Resize the label for the Notes control to Best Fit.
8. Click on the Notes control to select it.
   
9. Move the label only:
   • Move the mouse pointer over the Move handle of the Notes label until it changes to the Move shape .
   • Drag the label up and drop it just below the Photograph control.
     
10. Resize the Notes control:
    The Move handle prevents you from resizing the control up and left.
    • Move the mouse pointer over the Move handle on the top left corner of the Notes control.
    • Drag the control up and left underneath the Notes label and drop.
    • Move the mouse pointer over the bottom right corner of the Notes control.
      The mouse pointer changes to the Resize Diagonal shape .
    • Drag down and right to enlarge the control to about 2" x 1".
      Do not enlarge the form by dragging past the current form border.

Format Control and Label

Next you will change the fonts, colors, and special effects that will change the look of the form. You will choose colors and fonts that are part of the current theme/autoformat so that changing the theme/autoformat will change the colors.

Different versions of Access have different color palettes for their default themes.

1. With the Notes label selected, use the buttons on the Home ribbon tab to apply the following:

   • Font: Cambria
   • Font Size: 12
     
     

   • Color:

     Access 2007: Access Theme 9

     Access 2010: Dark Blue,Text 2, Lighter 40%

     Access 2013, 2016: Blue, Accent 1, Lighter 40%
2. Resize the Notes label to Best Fit.
   The larger font size requires more space.

3. Select the Notes control and apply the following:

   • Font : Cambria
   • Font Size: 12

   • Background color:

     Access 2007: Highlight (top row, far right)

     Access 2010: Orange, Accent 6, Lighter 40%

     Access 2013, 2016: Orange, Accent 2, Lighter 40%
4. Save Object As: Staff-format control.
5. Inspect the Design View of your new form.
   Inspect the Form View.
   

Point of Confusion: Object name vs. Tab title
The form that is open is now the copy that you just saved, as the tab shows in Design View. 

But, in Form View, the title tab still shows what is in the form's Caption property.
More than a little bit confusing!
 

Format Painter

1. Switch to Form Design View for the new form, Staff-format control.

2. Select the Notes control that you just formatted.

3. Click on the Format Painter button .

4. Click on the StaffD control (not the label) at the top left of the form.
   The control and its label now match the formatting of the control and label for Notes.

   Access 2007: Format Painter copies the position and spacing between the label and the control also. That's not what we want this time.
   Move the StaffID label back to its original position.
   
   Access 2010, 2013, 2016: Spacing and position are not copied like Access 2007 and earlier versions do.
   
5. Select the StaffID control and double-click the Format Painter button.
   The mouse pointer will stay in Format Painter shape until you click the button again.
6. Click on each of the controls in the left column of controls.
7. Click on the Format Painter button to turn it off.

8. Switch to Form View.
   The new font and colors are used in the labels and controls that you clicked on.

   Compare the first column to the second. Which is easier to read? What would make the form better?

   The background color for controls does make them stand out from the labels. Is that a good thing?

   There are still a number of problems with the layout. Wasted space, cut-off labels, and inconsistent alignment. More work to do!
   

9. For consistency, format the rest of the controls to match.

   

10. Save your form again, with the same name, Staff-format control.

Create and Format Unbound Labels

Is it clear what this form is for? Will it be as clear to the other users of this database? Will any users be using more than one database? Are there forms that are similar enough to create confusion?

The Form Header can make it clear what database the form is in and what its purpose is. An unbound label lets you type whatever you want. It is not 'bound' to a field.

You will add a label for the company name to the Form Header and one for your own name to the Form Footer.

1.  In Form Design View, inspect the three section bars.
   The Form Wizard put controls in the Form Header and Detail sections.

   You have a section bar, that says "Form Footer", but there is not any space below it. The wizard hid the Form Footer by sizing it to a height of zero.

   The Form Header and Footer are not the same as the Page Header and Footer, which show only when printing.

2. Move your mouse over the bottom edge of the Form Footer section bar until it changes to the Resize Vertical shape .
3. Drag down to create a ½" tall space.
   (Look at the vertical ruler on the left.)
   That will enlarge the section vertically.
   

4. On the Form Tools: Design ribbon tab, click on the Label control button or .

5. Move the mouse pointer over the Form Footer section.
   The pointer changes to a new shape, Draw Label.  
   

6. Click in the Form Footer at the left .
   A tiny label is created, ready for you to type.
   The label will automatically expand horizontally as you type.

   Draw Label: You can also drag while the pointer is in the Draw Label shape, to create a label of the size that you want. The size of the label does not affect the size of the text. If you draw the label, the label will expand vertically as you type but not horizontally.
   

7. Type your name.
   The label automatically resizes in width as you type.
   

8. Similarly, create a new label in the Form Header.

9. Type World Travel Inc. in the label.
   

   You cannot format the label while it is in Edit mode.
    

10. Click out to deselect the label.
     

11. 

    Click the label World Travel Inc. again to select it.

12. From the ribbon, format the label with:

    • Font: Matura MT Script Capitals
    • Font size: 20
    • Color: Green (from the Standard colors)

    The label does not automatically resize to hold the text in its new size and font! Of course, you already learned a way to resize the label "to fit".
    

13. Move your mouse pointer over one of the Resize handles and double-click.
    The label resizes. The Form Header section will might resize also, depending on exactly where your label was and how large it got. This is a helpful feature!
    

14. Format the label Staff as:

    • Font: Tahoma
    • Font size: 16
    • Bold

    • Color:

      Access 2007: Access Theme 10
      Access 2010, 2013, 2016: Blue, Accent 1, Darker 25%

15. Resize the Staff label to fit.
    

16. Move the labels so that they are positioned as in the illustration.
    (The arrow keys are good to move small distances.)

    World Travel Inc. is at the left edge of the layout with its top edge on the first row of grid dots.

    Staff has its top edge of the second row of grid dots and is centered at the 4" line, which is the middle of the form.

17. Switch to Form View to see how your form is looking now.
    We have not yet fixed the problem of pale label text or of labels that are too narrow.

Form Footer

1. Experiment: Window sizes vs. Form View

   • Try different window sizes for your Access window.
     Can you see the whole form at once at less than Full Screen size?

   • Make your Access window small enough to show a vertical and a horizontal scroll bar.

     The Form Footer has the same white background as the Detail section with no dividing line.

     This makes it hard to notice that there are controls at the bottom or sides that are not showing. One way to handle this is to give it a contrasting background. A dividing line across the top of the footer would work, too.
     

2. Switch back to Design View.
3. Click the Form Header bar to select that section.
4. If necessary, open the Property Sheet and widen the pane so you can read the Back Color value.
5. Copy the value for property Back Color.
6. Click the Form Footer.
   The Property Sheet changes to match.

7. Select the value in the Back Color property and Paste.
   The background color now matches the Form Header.

   Problem: Error message about invalid value
   You slipped in your selection. You either did not copy the whole color value or you did not replace all of the original value.
   Solution: Examine the value in the property and edit it.

8. 

   Switch to Form View to see how your form is looking now.

9. Save your form again, with the same name.
   [Staff-format control]

For now, we will leave this version of the Staff form as it is, even though some controls and labels are not a good size.

Experiment: Format Control and Label

You can change the look of a control or of its label or of both. You have MANY choices for colors, fonts, font sizes, borders, and special effects. It's time for you to play around with it yourself! Many choices are on the Home ribbon tab and on the Form Tools: Format and Form Layout Tools: Format ribbon tab. There are also choices on the context menu (when you right click on a control).

1. Pick a control and its label and experiment with various choices: font, font size, color, special effect, border, background, text alignment, etc. Look for combinations that are readable and attractive.

   You may need to resize the label and control for larger font sizes.
   You may want to apply some changes to just the label or to just the control.

   Evaluate: How is your formatting working out? Is there enough contrast?
   

2. Switch to Form View and navigate to different records to see if your choices work well with the data.

   Once you have found a formatting combination that you like...

3. Use Format Painter to apply your new formatting to the other labels and controls on the form.
4. Change other layout and formatting choices, if you wish.
   You might edit the label text to fit the space better. Do whatever you can think of to make this form attractive and useful.
5. Change the Caption property for the form to Staff-Firstname Lastname, using your own first and last names.

6. Save the form with the name Staff-Firstname Lastname, using your own first and last names.
   Your formatting should not be the same as another student's.

   Examples: Do not try to match the examples below! Be creative.

   

   The fourth example above uses the same layout as the third one but with an AutoFormat applied. The special effect on labels and the formatting for the company in the header are tossed out.

   The image background from the AutoFormat is taller than the Form Header, so it laps over into the Detail section. If we had left the Staff label in the Form Header at its original size, the header would have been the correct height for the background image.
   

In the next lesson you will create a form manually so that you will have more control over the process from the beginning.