Record of actions within a page

[Guest]

Within a page (i.e. in a framed panel) I want to have an "Actions" record
that would look and behave rather like a table in Word.
It needs 4 columns: Date (will default to current date) By (will default to
user) Action (free text) Follow-up (date field).
Each entry area (row, I suppose) should be expandable to suit whatever is
entered.
The panel needs to have an indefinite number of rows, with a vertical
scrollbar to give access to the whole history.
Is a sub-form the best way to do this?
As a final nicety, could I make the most recent entries appear at the top so
that a user did not have to scroll to the bottom every time to see the latest
entry?
I'm sure this sort of thing is a fairly common feature so rather than
re-invent the wheel, can I pick your brains please?
Thanks
CW

 

[Guest]

CW,

See my responses below.

....

Is a sub-form the best way to do this?

A subform is normally used to show detail records related to the main form
record, i.e., the Many side of a 1-to-many relationship such as the Orders
made a customer. You don't mention any such relationship, so all you need is
a continuous form.

....

As a final nicety, could I make the most recent entries appear at the top so
that a user did not have to scroll to the bottom every time to see the latest
entry?

Rather than basing your form on a table directly, create a query that
selects the fields you need, and sort the first column in descending order.

Also, you should be aware that "Date" is a reserved word in Access. Using
such words as field and control names can cause unpredictable behavior.
"ActionDate" would be better. A Google search will turn up a list of all
Access reserved words.

Sprinks