Command Button embedded within form Datasheet view column (1 Viewer)

SkyCraw · Nov 6, 2015

Hello,

Is it possible to make a button/text box appear within a form column when the form's in Datasheet View?

This isn't a life-or-death situation and "no" is more than an acceptable answer. Just curious if it is even possible with VBA and why it is/isn't?

joeKra · Nov 6, 2015

No. But you can make a field formatted and use the click event so it'll look and act like a button.

Regards

Joseph

gemma-the-husky · Nov 6, 2015

joe? I am not sure you can in a datasheet.

OP. I think you need to use either
a) a continuous form
b) maybe put the datasheet inside another form, then you can add buttons to the container form.
c) maybe you can use a right-click

I don't often use datasheets. I prefer continuous forms because of the additional facilities

SkyCraw · Nov 6, 2015

Thanks joeKra for the quick reply!

I figured the answer was a flat out "no" and that's actually what I'm doing already within the same forms. Just wondering if I could take it a step further with some fancy VBA.

SkyCraw · Nov 6, 2015

gemma-the-husky said:
joe? I am not sure you can in a datasheet.

OP. I think you need to use either
a) a continuous form
b) maybe put the datasheet inside another form, then you can add buttons to the container form.
c) maybe you can use a right-click

I don't often use datasheets. I prefer continuous forms because of the additional facilities

That's how I'm doing it right now, just wondering if I could do it like so:

HiTechCoach · Nov 7, 2015

SkyCraw said:
That's how I'm doing it right now, just wondering if I could do it like so:

View attachment 60717

Not with the built in controls in Access with a form in datasheet view.

I do it all the time with a form in Continuous view.

You have all the power of forms when a Form in Continuous View. I have not used Datasheet View much in production because of all its limitations.

I have even made some of my Continuous View forms look a lot like a form in datasheet view with the added extra buttons like you want.

joeKra · Nov 8, 2015

@HiTechCoach
A continuous form having all the abilities as a regular form - will still have its own limitations. Column filter, resizing columns with dragging. Did you ever overcome those limitations?

HiTechCoach · Nov 8, 2015

joeKra said:
@HiTechCoach
A continuous form having all the abilities as a regular form - will still have its own limitations. Column filter, resizing columns with dragging. Did you ever overcome those limitations?

Column sorting and filtering is no problem. I do it a lot on forms. Never had the need to resize a column by drag the width. To me that is one of the issues with the datasheet. I hear complaints from clients and others in forums that their users has to manually resize columns a lot in datasheet mode and want hep to fix it.

FWIW: I have never liked the look of datasheet mode. In the older versions (Access 2.0/9597/2000) I never was happy with them. It was with Access 2000 that I stopped using them much. I think it may be time to take another look at datasheets in a sub form to see if their is any improvements in the newer versions of Access (2010/2013/2016).

joeKra · Nov 8, 2015

Let me express myself better...
Of course you can sort,filter every form and columns. But I'm referring to the built in column filter DropDown(table style) and the resizable columns which can be sort of help in some scenarios. For ex. Using a sub form for a side panel with list of contacts and the size must be limited etc.... I personally use continuous form for that too but I admit that's a big hassle ....

gemma-the-husky · Nov 8, 2015

resizeable columns, and datasheets. personal view.

I think there are limits to this that a developer needs to consider. every form is really a compromise between showing the required data, and allowing users to manage the data. widening a single column may well cause problems elsewhere, and there are practical limits, anyway. users should not necessarily need to see the entire contents of a control anyway. Note also that a .de database won't store the changed widths permanently. user's can always use Shift-F2 or Ctrl-F2 (I forget which offhand) to zoom the control anyway. I often add a double-click event to zoom controls that might need expanding

I use datasheets occasionally, mainly for forms that are of a general display type, rather than interactive. I think it is sometimes less than helpful for users to think they can use a datasheet in the way they use a spreadsheet.

arnelgp · Nov 8, 2015

just reminiscing way back, it can be done in Visual Foxpro.

joeKra · Nov 8, 2015

@gemma-the-husky

every form is really a compromise between showing the required data, and allowing users to manage the data.

I Wouldn't say that this is the intent of Forms... although, this is one of the tasks it performs.

widening a single column may well cause problems elsewhere

So what's the rule for a business Contact list, how wide should be the business name field ? how bad is if the user can just-for-now drag a little the Company Name' Field to see the full name ? and for this reasons i need to calculate the widest and lose precise real-estate....

user's can always use Shift-F2

Column dragging would've be a better solution

Note also that a .de database won't store the changed widths permanently

As explained i don't need it to save, it's just for the convenience while scrolling the list

I often add a double-click event to zoom controls that might need expanding

But this is more applicable for a notes field, where lengthy comments are expected and we cannot fit to the visual eye....

SkyCraw · Nov 10, 2015

arnelgp said:
just reminiscing way back, it can be done in Visual Foxpro.

Can this software be easily referenced in Access VBA? Cause if it can I'll use this going forward.

As for everyone else, I've found a workaround for what I'm trying to do but will mark this thread as solved if what arnelgp says is plausible.

gemma-the-husky · Nov 10, 2015

@joekra

It's up to you. I was just making a few observations that you seem to disagree with.

As I said, I think it's a matter of fitting the form to the screen to make best use of the available space, which is why everything is a compromise.

I make very nice forms at a decent resolution, and then some users set their screens to 800x600 resolution, and then complain that they have to keep dragging the form around with scroll bars.

HiTechCoach · Nov 10, 2015

SkyCraw said:
Can this software be easily referenced in Access VBA? Cause if it can I'll use this going forward.

Not sure you can even purchase FoxPro it any more. It is a complete different front end development platform. . IIRC, FoxPro was purchased by Microsoft to compete with dBase.

From:L https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FoxPro

FoxPro is a text-based procedurally oriented programming language and DBMS, and it is also an object-oriented software programming language, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX. The final published release of FoxPro was 2.6. Development continued under the Visual FoxPro label, which in turn was discontinued in 2007.

I used to do development with FoxPro.It really had some nice features. I made the move to Access before Visual FoxPro was released. I did help some train some FoxPro developer to make the leap to OOP with Visual FoxPro. They have all now switched to something else. Most went to .Net and SQL Server.

SkyCraw said:
As for everyone else, I've found a workaround for what I'm trying to do but will mark this thread as solved if what arnelgp says is plausible.

Woudl yu mind sharing your Acess solution?

SkyCraw · Nov 10, 2015

HiTechCoach said:
Not sure you can even purchase FoxPro it any more. It is a complete different front end development platform. . IIRC, FoxPro was purchased by Microsoft to compete with dBase.

From:L https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FoxPro

I used to do development with FoxPro.It really had some nice features. I made the move to Access before Visual FoxPro was released. I did help some train some FoxPro developer to make the leap to OOP with Visual FoxPro. They have all now switched to something else. Most went to .Net and SQL Server.

Woudl yu mind sharing your Acess solution?

Sure! I just merely added the process I was initially trying to do to the OnDblClick sub procedure of the same column (control) where I wanted the embedded button.

HiTechCoach · Nov 10, 2015

SkyCraw said:
Sure! I just merely added the process I was initially trying to do to the OnDblClick sub procedure of the same column (control) where I wanted the embedded button.

Thanks for sharing your solution!

Another option that I like to use is the shortcut (right-click) menu. I use it with continuous forms. Have not tried it with datasheet mode.

From the Sample database forum here: Shortcut Menu Bar (Click Here).

SkyCraw · Nov 12, 2015

This solution is awesome and is actually better than my workaround!

I'll see if I can apply this to my front-end!

HiTechCoach · Nov 12, 2015

SkyCraw said:
This solution is awesome and is actually better than my workaround!

I'll see if I can apply this to my front-end!

Glad you liked it.

I find that more and more users are getting very used to right-clicking on stuff.

In 2007 and later, I have found during development here are many thing I can get to faster using right-click then moving he mouse all the way up tot eh top of the screen to the Ribbon.

Command Button embedded within form Datasheet view column (1 Viewer)

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