Conditional formatting not working anymore?!

[Someone]

Hello

I'm building a database which has a subform on the main form. One of the
fields within the subform has conditional formatting applied.

I work on the build at home (Access 2000) and at work (Access 2003). I've
been working on it for about a month now.

This evening, it suddenly dawned on me that the conditional formatting
wasn't working anymore. I have about 12 or so old copies of the database
that I've kept stored elsewhere 'just in case'. None of these are showing
the conditional formatting applied, either.

Since the conditional formatting was set up, it hasn't been touched since.
The conditions are applicable to over half of the fields in the subform. I
know it was working this morning and I've tried 'back-tracking' to see if
any of the changes I've made elsewhere in the database have caused it.

I can't find anything that's caused the formatting to suddenly no longer
work.

Does anyone have any ideas of what may have caused this that they could
share with me?

Many thanks
M

 

[Allen Browne]

Conditional formatting should still work, so we will work on the assumption
that something else has gone wrong.

Try these steps:

1. Name Confusion
Uncheck the boxes under:
Tools | Options | General | Name AutoCorrect
Explanation of why:
http://allenbrowne.com/bug-03.html

Then compact the database to get rid of this junk:
Tools | Database Utilities | Compact

2. Compilation errors
Access 2003 can use the A2000 file format with no problem, but it compiles a
different binary. This can cause weird problems when you convert back to
A2000. You can work around this by decompiling to dump the binary (which
Access generates again.)

Close Access. Make a backup copy of the file. Decompile the database by
entering something like this at the command prompt while Access is not
running. It is all one line, and include the quotes:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft office\office\msaccess.exe" /decompile
"c:\MyPath\MyDatabase.mdb"
Then compact again.

3. References
Open a code window.
Choose References from the Tools menu.
Uncheck any references you do not need.
For a list of the ones you typically need in each version of Access, see:
http://allenbrowne.com/ser-38.html

4. Endless calculation
Particularly in A2000, and particularly if the conditional formatting is
applied to a calculated field, it can create an endless loop. The
conditional formatting is not applied--in fact, the values may not appear in
the calculated field. The status bar says, "Calculating..." constantly. More
info:
http://allenbrowne.com/bug-05.html

5. Programmatic analysis
If you are still stuck, you can open the Immediate Window (Ctrl+G) and ask
questions such as:
? Forms!Form1!Text0.FormatConditions(0).Expression1
? Forms!Form1!Text0.FormatConditions(0).Operator
to check that the conditions match what you see in design view.

 

[Br@dley]

Hello

I'm building a database which has a subform on the main form. One of
the fields within the subform has conditional formatting applied.

I work on the build at home (Access 2000) and at work (Access 2003).
I've been working on it for about a month now.

This evening, it suddenly dawned on me that the conditional formatting
wasn't working anymore. I have about 12 or so old copies of the
database that I've kept stored elsewhere 'just in case'. None of
these are showing the conditional formatting applied, either.

Since the conditional formatting was set up, it hasn't been touched
since. The conditions are applicable to over half of the fields in
the subform. I know it was working this morning and I've tried
'back-tracking' to see if any of the changes I've made elsewhere in
the database have caused it.
I can't find anything that's caused the formatting to suddenly no
longer work.

Does anyone have any ideas of what may have caused this that they
could share with me?

Many thanks
M

I've noticed when using an A2000 format file in A2003 conditional
formatting doesn't always work as it did before. I was changing the
background colour of a field on a continuous form depending on a
checkbox the user clicks on. It didn't appear to trigger or if it did it
wasn't until the record lost focus (as opposed to after the tickbox was
clicked on).
--
regards,

Bradley

A Christian Response
http://www.pastornet.net.au/response

 

[Someone]

Hello Allen

Thanks for your comments. This is useful information to have.

Thank you
M