Dropdown list question for Access 2003?

[Bill M.]

Why is the dropdown list control greyed out on Form Design toolbar in
Access 2003? (Combo box control is not greyed out, though).

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill,

If you hover your mouse over the greyed out dropdown list, does one of them
display a tooltip that displays "Font" and the other one "Font Size"? If so,
they are greyed out because the object in the first dropdown (for example,
Form) does not include these properties. Select a text box from the first
dropdown, and you should see the other two dropdowns become enabled, since a
text box has these two properties available.


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________

 

[Bill M.]

Thanks, Tom, for a very quick reply. Just to clarify, the Dropdown
List (whose tool icon is the same as the Combo Box's icon) was greyed
out even before any controls were placed on the form. Hovering the
mouse over it displayed only "Dropdown List"

Experimenting, I went to Tools->Customize->Toolbox and then was able to
move the controls (Dropdown & Combo) around on the design toolbar.
Dropdown List was suddenly not greyed out while in Form design.

Still, if I now try to put a Dropdown List control on a form, Access
repeatedly throws an error ("The constant you entered for control type
is invalid"), eventually crashing. I have read that the Dropdown List
is only supposed to be used on Data Access pages, so dropping it on a
Form is an error. Is that correct?

So I may have solved my problem myself since the Combo Box and DropDown
List are now available for Data Access pages, and (somewhat) for forms
as well.

Bill

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill,

I was under the assumption that you were using dropdown list and combo box
interchangeably. Apparently not (it is common for people to do this).

Just to clarify, the Dropdown
List (whose tool icon is the same as the Combo Box's icon) was greyed
out even before any controls were placed on the form. Hovering the
mouse over it displayed only "Dropdown List"

Are we talking about the Toolbox or the Form Design Toolbar? If Toolbox, I
don't see a Dropdown list control on my Toolbox in form design view, which
leads me to believe that you may have a previously customized Toolbox.

I have a strong aversion to Data Access pages. DAP's have been deprecated
in Access 2007, which was about two versions later than they should have been!


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________

 

[Bill M.]

Tom,

Are we talking about the Toolbox or the Form Design Toolbar?

Toolbox. (My terminology is sloppy, I think, because most of the common
toolbox controls are on a toolbar that lies below the official Form
design Toolbar)

Well, I certainly don't remember ever customizing the toolbox before:
my memory is that it came this way (which, I admit, would be odd).
Your reply tells me that I can delete the Dropdown List from the
toolbox toolbar. Never used data access pages, myself.

Thanks very much for your replies, they've clarified the situation.

 

[Guest]

...because most of the common toolbox controls are on a toolbar that

lies below the official Form design Toolbar)

Ah, you must have your toolbox docked. I prefer to have my toolbox undocked,
so that I can position it anyplace on the form that I want to.


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________