Hi,

I wanted to set a date field in my form to be visible if another field in the form is changed. Is that possible? The date field is defaulted as not visible so that the user can't see it unless they update another field. I feel like this should be a simple code that I could write under the OnChange property of the field that the user must update prior to the date field becoming visible. I don't know much about VB code, so any help would be much appreciated! Thanks

- John

Hi,
I would just use the other controls after update event. If it is bound you can ensure that the value is different by using the oldvalue property e.g.:

If Me.YourControl <> Me.YourControl.OldValue Then
Me.YourOtherControl.Visible = True
Else
Me.YourOtherControl.Visible = False
End If

BTW...forms hold controls...fields are in tables.
HTH
Good luck

Thanks. I would think that that'd work too, but I'm having trouble getting it to work. Do I have to set the Visible property of the date control to Yes or No specifically? I'm updating the other control, but nothing's happening afterwards. Do I reference the controls by their Name or Control Source? How about using an ! instead of a . between "Me" and the control name? I've tried it all!!!

You reference the controls by their name, a dot "." between me and the controlname is fine. If the evaluated control is bound then it should work.
If this is on the after update event of the control you first have to tab out of it for the code to be evaluated.
HTH
Good luck

I tried to make a new database and test it out, but now I'm getting an error that says that the method or data member is not found (referring to the .Visible part of the code). I'll post the database if you'd like to look @ it please? Thanks!

You are not referencing the control name correctly and I think you were also missing an equal sign. It should be:

If Me.TestTableControl <> Me.TestTableControl.OldValue Then
Me.DateControl.Visible = True
Else
Me.DateControl.Visible = False
End If

HTH
Good luck

oops! Yup, it works. Now, when I go back to the other database, do everything the same, it's not doing anything after I tab out. No errors show up, but the after update event's not making my other control appear after it's updated! Is it because the control I'm referencing for the update is a combo box?

That shouldn't matter. Just make sure you reference them all correctly. It is hard to see from over here what is missing.
HTH
Good luck

Here's the database. Hopefully you can find something, because it's killing me! Thank you so much for the help.

Hi,
did you read up on normalization?
If not...I would strongly suggest you do so and correct your data model before you try to build forms/queries/reports...!
Some good reference posts (in no particular order) are:

• Database planning tutorial Part I
• Database planning tutorial Part II
• argeedblu's FAQ on Design Strategies
• Noah's FAQ on Normalization
• Jerry's FAQ on Normalization
• GroverParkGeorge's PDF on Normalization
• Jerry’s FAQ on Fully Qualified Naming
• Jerry's FAQ on Glossary
• Danny's FAQ on Reserved Words
• Autonumbers - What They Are / Are Not
• Naming Conventions - Hungarian Notation
• Crystal's ACCESS Basics for Programming

HTH
Good luck

I figured out that the procedure is getting hung up on the fact that the field could be empty to start with. if that's the case, it messes up. Is there a way to get around that?

You could add an evaluation for that e.g.:

If Not IsNull(Me.YourControl) Then
If Me.YourControl <> Me.YourControl.OldValue Then
Me.YourOtherControl.Visible = True
Else
Me.YourOtherControl.Visible = False
End If
End If

Eventhough a new value is still different then an old null value so the evaluation should have worked nevertheless. However, that still doesn't fix your structural problems!
HTH
Good luck