Form design

[Guest]

I am not sure if this question is going to make any sense but he it goes.

I have been asked to do a quick access database to schedule use of class
rooms. The problem is I am not that good at access and I am not sure how to
design the form. I was given a copy of the paper that is currently in use and
it looks like a print out of a calendar. The person that is using the paper
wants the form to look just like the calendar. I would like to use a list box
but I have tried it and I can not figure out how to add items to the list
box. I have a command button that the user will click to add info to the list
box. If I do the listboxname.additem itemname I will see it pop up in the
list box. This is what I want but the problem is using this method the stuff
in the list box does not get up into the database it is just on that form.

So the question is how can I recreate a calendar like form that allows the
user to put info in some type of box. There will be multiple people using the
same room in a day. That is why I thought a list box would be ideal. Anyway
thanks for reading this long question that probably does not make any sense.

 

[John Vinson]

I am not sure if this question is going to make any sense but he it goes.

I have been asked to do a quick access database to schedule use of class
rooms. The problem is I am not that good at access and I am not sure how to
design the form.

The Form is the WRONG PLACE TO START.

Start by designing your Tables and their relationships. Designing to
fit a paper form is all but certain to give you a badly non-normalized
table design and no end of trouble later.

I was given a copy of the paper that is currently in use and
it looks like a print out of a calendar. The person that is using the paper
wants the form to look just like the calendar. I would like to use a list box
but I have tried it and I can not figure out how to add items to the list
box.

You can't, not easily; you'ld need some fairly snarky VBA code to do
so. A listbox is not a data STORAGE medium; it's a data display and
data selection medium.

I have a command button that the user will click to add info to the list
box. If I do the listboxname.additem itemname I will see it pop up in the
list box. This is what I want but the problem is using this method the stuff
in the list box does not get up into the database it is just on that form.

So the question is how can I recreate a calendar like form that allows the
user to put info in some type of box. There will be multiple people using the
same room in a day. That is why I thought a list box would be ideal. Anyway
thanks for reading this long question that probably does not make any sense.

I've done this... and the best way I found was a Form with 42
continuous Subforms, each with a combo box to select (in that case)
the menu items being served at lunch that day. Loading this form was
just a mite poky...

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[Steven Greenberg]

I wish I had better news for you, but you're asking someone to do it
for you. Access development is a skill that just takes time and
practice to master. If you can invest the time and practice, I promise
you, it will pay off. But not before.

This sounds like a project that you are going to remember as "my first
Access/VB programming project." And if you do it, you will always
remember this one. My first one was a mailing list program. Real
simple, and today it's something I would write in just a few hours.
But it took me two weeks, back then (1986), working 16 hours a day!!

There's really not much anyone here can do to help because you really
need much more help than can be afforded in a discussion forum.

Like any language, you just need to be familiar with your tools. You
need to know what tools you have in your toolbox, and what each one of
them can do. Once you have this, a thousand different ideas will come
to you of things you can do with your tools. But you have to know them
first.

So, as much as I'd like to say "do thus-n-such" all I can really say is
keep plugging away at it. Get a book on forms design, and above all
learn to code VBA modules. Access will not truly come alive to you
until your favourite place is the "Modules" tab.

If you want to be a programmer, you can be. It just takes time and
practice. The reward is worth it - in my opinion.

I agree, don't try to tackle something until you develop the "basics".
first using whatever tools access has to offer (which is quite extensive in
its own right), but then once you introduce VBA coding, the possibilities
literally explode before your eyes. I thought I was good at access before,
but now that I have developed my VB and VBA skills, I am doing some amazing
stuff. I agree, the modules section has become my favorite section. I have
started creating custom functions and subroutines to do whatever I need to
be done.
Just get yourself a few good books and keep playing with it. Good Luck
Steve