I am using Access on a tablet PC. The onscreen keyboard that comes with the tablet can not be customized. I would like to design a keyboard that would open up when a user taps on a textbox. Depending on the type of data needed a keyboard with letters and numbers or just a keypad with numbers would appear.

The behavior I am looking for is similar to an iPhone. When you tap on the key on the keyboard the corresponding letter is entered into the textbox. Pressing the ENTER key or the TAB key will move you to the next field.

How do I send the letter from the keyboard to the original textbox? Keep in mind there could be several parent forms to go through to get to the originating form.

There's one in the Code Archive here. There may be others, too.

I saw that one but it will not serve my purposes. I need a certain look to it and be able to customize the key layout.

You can make the keyboard look any way you want. If you look at the design of the form, there are invisible buttons placed over the top of the picture of the keyboard.

You don't have to use that picture ... or any picture for that matter. Just lay out the screen any way you need it, with any buttons you want to include.

I did not realize it was designed that way. Besides the picture, I do not like the text box at the bottom. I suppose I could hide it. I do not understand how what I type on that keyboard will get into the text box I have selected on my form. If you do could you explain it to me?

I'm not familiar with the code, ... I didn't write it. But I'm sure you can direct the text to go into any textbox you want.

In your scenario, since you want it to go to multiple textboxes, you may need to build a method to remember what textbox you "came from", because as soon as you click a keyboard button, it will move focus away from the field.

You may also want to build a method a method to visually indicate what textbox has the "focus" (even though it really will not), so that the user knows where his keystrokes will end up.

Just remember that the example provided simply demonstrates a method. You will always need to adapt it to your specific circumstances. Give it a try and if you still can't figure it out, post back and we'll dig a little deeper.