Access anchors and free forms

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I am really, really new to Access 2007. I last used Access 2002 and am having
a major problem understanding the new Access.
Here's my problem. I am putting a database together and currently working on
my form. I understand that everything is now locked with an anchor. How can I
move my items around in my form. Also, I added more columns but they don't
show up in the form.
What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

I am really, really new to Access 2007. I last used Access 2002 and am
having
a major problem understanding the new Access.
Here's my problem. I am putting a database together and currently working
on
my form. I understand that everything is now locked with an anchor.

The above is not always the case. The new feature your likely talking about
is what we call grouped controls, that simply means that a set of controls
are grouped together.

The above feature is completely separate from the "new" feature of anchoring
controls. Anchoring of controls allows text boxes (and even listboxes) to
resize on your form VERY much the same way that a web page resizes when you
make it larger/smaller and the text and boxes in the web form grow or
shrink. We can no do this in access.

How can I
move my items around in my form.

just click on any control box, in the upper left of the whole group of
controls you should see a little "+" sign. click on that sign, and you'll
see all the controls in a particular group highlights, then in their ribbon
on the arrange tab in the area "control layouts", you can click on un-group.
You can now re-size/move controls separate. Keep in mind That this features
really handy for working in reports in which you can insert new columns or
delete columns and not have to move everything over in a painstakingly
fashioned like we did with the older versions of access. How to do this is
outlined here:

Add or remove controls from a layout
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/access/HA102765511033.aspx

and

Automatically align controls on a report
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/access/HA102374121033.aspx

Also, I added more columns but they don't
show up in the form.
What am I doing wrong?

If the form is based on a query, then a fields you add to the table will not
show up in the query, and therefore they will not show up when you display
the field list for the form in design mode. So check what the "data source"
you've based the form on. If the form is based on a query, then additions to
the table will not show up in that form. You probably should just base the
form on the actual table itself and not a query. This will avoid this
issue/problem. The behavior of access in this regards has not changed in
access 2007 to that of previous versions in this regards.

 

[Skip]

The above is not always the case. The new feature your likely talking about
is what we call grouped controls, that simply means that a set of controls
are grouped together.

The above feature is completely separate from the "new" feature of anchoring
controls. Anchoring of controls allows text boxes (and even listboxes) to
resize on your form VERY much the same way that a web page resizes when you
make it larger/smaller and the text and boxes in the web form grow or
shrink. We can no do this in access.


just click on any control box, in the upper left of the whole group of
controls you should see a little "+" sign. click on that sign, and you'll
see all the controls in a particular group highlights, then in their ribbon
on the arrange tab in the area "control layouts", you can click on un-group.
You can now re-size/move controls separate. Keep in mind That this features
really handy for working in reports in which you can insert new columns or
delete columns and not have to move everything over in a painstakingly
fashioned like we did with the older versions of access. How to do this is
outlined here:

Add or remove controls from a layout
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/access/HA102765511033.aspx

and

Automatically align controls on a report
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/access/HA102374121033.aspx




If the form is based on a query, then a fields you add to the table will not
show up in the query, and therefore they will not show up when you display
the field list for the form in design mode. So check what the "data source"
you've based the form on. If the form is based on a query, then additions to
the table will not show up in that form. You probably should just base the
form on the actual table itself and not a query. This will avoid this
issue/problem. The behavior of access in this regards has not changed in
access 2007 to that of previous versions in this regards.


--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
(e-mail address removed)


Albert, Thank you for the information. It was really helpful.

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