Solved How to Create Tile-Style Buttons on MS Access Forms?

[NelsonHawk]

Hello everyone,

I have come across a user interface in MS Access that features tile-style buttons, as shown in the attached image. These buttons have icons, labels, and a modern appearance, which makes the form look more professional and user-friendly.

I would like to implement a similar button style in my MS Access application. However, I am unsure about the best approach to achieve this. Could anyone please share their insights or experience on the following:

1. What control type should be used to create these buttons?
2. How can I add icons or images to the buttons while keeping them responsive?
3. Is there a way to apply custom styling, such as rounded corners and background colors?
4. Are there any VBA techniques or third-party tools that can help with designing such buttons?

Any guidance, sample code, or references to tutorials would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[arnelgp]

you can create an Image in photoshop and save it as bmp (png, jpg, etc).
and use it as a button.

or use the image and Overlay it with transparent button.

 

[Josef P.]

Try "Quick Styles" for a button with option "Use Theme" = True.

 

[NelsonHawk]

you can create an Image in photoshop and save it as bmp (png, jpg, etc).
and use it as a button.

or use the image and Overlay it with transparent button.

Thanks for swift reply but I don't want to use that type of buttons on forms to avoid database over-sizing issue.

 

[NelsonHawk]

Try "Quick Styles" for a button with option "Use Theme" = True.

Thanks a lot for sharing sample Josef!.
I just needed that type of buttons.

 

[arnelgp]

Thanks for swift reply but I don't want to use that type of buttons on forms to avoid database over-sizing issue.

the button you showed has images not in MS Access so you will import the Images anyway.

 

[NelsonHawk]

the button you showed has images not in MS Access so you will import the Images anyway.

Nope
There is a way @Josef P. shared and I have created buttons like that for my form.
See attachment.

 

[arnelgp]

Nope

unfortunately, that is not correct.
the Imported images are stored in MsysResources.

If you already made same buttons before, so what is the point raising your questions? Just to show-off?

 

[GPGeorge]

You can use actual images in an image control if you prefer. Images have a Click event. Command buttons do have other events which you may use. However, if the control needs only to run code when clicked, an image control is adequate.

You can size the images as you want.

Your existing command buttons also have text on them, which you could not do with an image control. That aside, this approach can be quite effective.

Last night, in fact, Greg Regan gave a presentation to the Access Express Australia chapter on doing exactly that. The video will be on YouTube soon.

As Arnel points out, images in the Image Gallery are stored in MsysReources. They must first be imported to it, or they can be added to the Image Gallery after importing them into an image control. Either way, they are imported at some point in the process.

I note that the command buttons you show in your screen shot appear to use standard icons from within Access/Office, though. So maybe that's why you didn't actually import them for that set of command buttons. Any other custom icons, of course, must be imported.

 

[arnelgp]

sorry, but cross-posted here:

How to Create Tile-Style Buttons on MS Access Forms?

Hello everyone, I have come across a user interface in MS Access that features tile-style buttons, as shown in the attached image. These buttons have icons, labels, and a modern appearance, which makes the form look more professional and user-friendly. I would like to implement a similar...

www.accessforums.net

 

[arnelgp]

I note that the command buttons you show in your screen shot appear to use standard icons from within Access/Office

standard icons are small (see again his image on the Tabs), you can't (maybe i am wrong) make them any bigger.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

you can create an Image in photoshop and save it as bmp (png, jpg, etc).
and use it as a button.

or use the image and Overlay it with transparent button.

I use your second idea.

 

[GPGeorge]

standard icons are small (see again his image on the Tabs), you can't (maybe i am wrong) make them any bigger.

That's a good point. I was speculating about what was actually done to achieve that appearance. In any event, you are right about importing images.

 

[AHeyne]

Nope
There is a way @Josef P. shared and I have created buttons like that for my form.
See attachment.

@NelsonHawk : Could you post a database with this (empty) form?

 

[arnelgp]

Could you post a database with this (empty) form?

i think it is propriety, company won't allow.

 

[Mark_]

Thanks for swift reply but I don't want to use that type of buttons on forms to avoid database over-sizing issue.

Adding 2k images to a multi-meg application won't cause "over-sizing" issues.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

There is also the issue that JPG images take up more storage room than, for example, WMF images. JPG stores the whole image bit-map style. WMF and some other image types store shapes more efficiently, particularly if there are a lot of straight lines involved.

 

[kentgorrell]

Greg Regan has done some excellent presentations for the Access User Group on modern form design, just search on YT for "access user groups greg regan".
He preseneted yesterday on using SyncFusion's (free) Metro 5 to create icon images for this purpose. I hope to have that edited and posted in the next couple of days.

For images, both for image controls and command buttons, you have three options: Embedded, Shared and Linked. The latter is used where you may have a sub folder to the folder where you put your FE to store images externally. Embedded ties the image to that control. Shared images are stored in mSysResources as attachments (and displayed in the Image Gallery) and, as the name suggests, images can be shared amonst controls in your forms and reports. Note: if you have an embedded image that you like, just change the setting from Embedded to Shared and the image is now available in the Image Gallery. Typically images for these purposes, 256 Pixels or so max, don't use much space so storing them internally isn't really an issue.

As Greg points out, Image Controls display images better than Command Buttons, but Command Buttons allow you to display the image + a caption.
check out his his presentaion on using Image Controls with Command Buttons. The command buttons to display Control Tip Text on the Mouse Over event of the Image Control. This works way better, as in are more responsive, than the built in Control Tip Text functionality of Access and buttons allow rounded corners

 

[NelsonHawk]

@NelsonHawk : Could you post a database with this (empty) form?

I used the same database sample as shared by @Josef P. in the thread.
I used icons from Icon8 according to the button type i.e. invoice, add or edit.

 

[NelsonHawk]

@NelsonHawk : Could you post a database with this (empty) form?

Here is a sample database with empty form for presentation.