Forms: Getting Started

• Why use forms?– Make applications easier to use– Prevent errors– provide different groups of users with different

views of the database

• There are LOTS of details in creating forms

• We will just get started on it here -- use your book to learn more if you want

Two strategies for forms

• Make an autoform and adjust it– Move the controls around– Remove controls you don’t want– change colors and other properties

• Design the form from scratch– Put the controls you want, where you want– Set the properties as you want

Controls and Properties

• On forms, everything is called a control– Boxes, buttons, etc…

• Controls have properties that govern their appearance, behavior and their connection to the underlying data

• Properties are CRUCIAL– the more you know, the more you can do

Making a new form is easy

Experiment with autoforms &

the form wizard

Forms work with both

tables & queries

Autoforms include all the fields

Changes to design mode to modify the form

Right-button for colors, alignment, tab order and other properties

To kill that annoying cloud picture, change the form’s “picture” property

And choose a color...

Forms can have validation rules for each control (data field)

Moving controls can be frustrating -- stay calm!

Click & drag here to

move the LABEL

Click & drag here to

move the DATA

Forms and subforms

• How to display “one-to-many” data in a way that can be easily edited?– Parent form displays unique data from “one” side

– Subform displays repeating data from the “many” side

• Examples:– Each resume has many prior jobs

– Each resume has many educations credentials

• In the ActRep database, each person has many activities– Need a form for people and a sub-form for their activities

Strategy for subforms

• Draw the forms and subforms on paper

• Create the main form first, then the subform

• Edit the main form to include the subform

• Link them together – Use the properties of the subform control – Use the “subform field linker”

• Adjust everything until you like it

Make the main form based on the “people” table

This time, try working without the

wizard...

A blank form, a list of field, and a toolbox for all the controls

Lots of controls to choose from

Hold the mouse over the icon to see what kind of control it is.

EXPERIMENT!

… pictures...

Tabs (HR/Vantage uses this a lot)

Subforms (to include related tables)

Buttons, boxes ...

Add the controls you want to the parent form

1. First click on the kind of control

2. Next click on the name of the field

3. Drag the fieldonto the form & move it where

you want it

Make the subforms (try the “tabular” autoform)

Needs work, but not a bad start...

Edit the form as necessary• Remove, re-label, and move controls

• Note the exact width (e.g., 5-1/2 inches)

Here’s just the subform...

Edit the parent to include the subform

Make it the right size and set its properties

Right-button on the subform area to

get at the properties

Data properties are critical

• Source object is the name of the subform

Use the Subform Field Linker• This determines which fields are linked

Read thisdescription ofthe result if

you’re not sure

Adjust things until you like it