Form Design Tools

When you're in form design view, Access offers a good set of design tools on the format menu - it's easy to align and size and space controls. Or at least, it's easy if you're a keyboard-oriented person. If you're a mouse-oriented person, you'll go nuts going click-click-click to perform these operations. That's when a custom toolbar comes in very handy. Try this (instructions are for Access 2002, but it's much the same for Access 2000 or 97):

1. Open a form in design mode

2. Right-click on a toolbar and select Customize

3. In the Customize dialog box, select the Toolbars tab

4. Click the New button

5. Name the new toolbar ControlTweak and click OK. The new toolbar will appear in the Access :workspace, with no buttons on it.

6. In the Customize dialog box, select the Commands tab

7. Select the Form/Report Design category

8. Drag the four align buttons to your new toolbar. You may also want some of the other design :goodies like Bring to Front or Size to Grid

9. Close the dialog box. Now the commands you need are only a mouse click away, instead of being buried in the menus.

Forms are like Dishwashers

Access forms are like dishwashers, because you have to open them before you can load them. That is, the Open event fires before the Load event. (It works on the other end of the lifecycle, too: the Unload event fires before the Close event).

Though this seems like a minor distinction, there are times when this sort of thing becomes important. For example, the data in a bound form isn't available until the Load event has fired first. So, although you can manipulate unbound controls in the Open event, hold off until the Load event if you want to do anything with a bound control.

(acquired from Larkware excerpts)

This page was originally ported from the UtterAccess Forums. It is based heavily or in part on a post by http://www.utteraccess.com/forum/CyberCow-m8755.html CyberCow.
Form Design 101