Opening a Form in Data Entry Mode

[Montez659]

From all that I have read, opening a form in data entry mode can greatly reduce the resources it takes to open the form (as it doesn't have to load every record in the table, which in the case of a slow network like mine, would create less traffic).

If I can't set the Data Entry property of the form until after it is opened, there is essentially no point to doing this. I suppose I can set the default to data entry and cahnge up some of the other code to programatically set Data Entry to false if someone needs to see the details of an individual record.

I just wanted to check and see if I was missing something before I went ahead and started messing around with it.

 

[Norie]

Can't you just set the Data Entry property in Design mode?

 

[Montez659]

Well, that was kind of the question that I was fishing an answer for. I know I can set the property to True but wouldn't doing so remove the functionality of someone who needed to look at each record in the form?

I mean, if that is the case then I would just need to set the Property to False in VBA after the form opens, then navigate to the record that they are wanting to see.

I was just wondering if I was missing something overall in setting this property, or if my scenario above would be more hassle than it was worth.

 

[Norie]

What I've done in the past is have more than one way, usually command buttons, to open the form.

For example a View, Edit, Add group.

Click View they can only view, Click Edit... you get the idea.

Can't remember exactly how I implemented it, perhaps opening/loading the form, changing the properties as needed...

Or have the default for the form being view only and a couple of buttons for Add/Edit.

 

[Montez659]

Yeah, that is kind of what I was trying to figure out as well, the way to implement it. Right now, I have two commandbuttons on different forms that if clicked should only open into data entry. The third way to get into the form takes the user to the record that they clicked on from a list and this should open with full capability.

But the part that I am having a hard time figuring out is whether the default needs to be data entry = true, and then change that when the form opens to false if the third button is selected.

 

[Norie]

Montez

I don't quite follow that setup but anyway I would make view only the default for the forms.

Then have buttons to Edit/Add on the actual form itself.

If you have list you could use 2 buttons for each record, one to view and one to edit and a button for the form for adding a new record.

PS That doesn't mean you add a button for each record, you use a continuous form and add 2 buttons, which will then appear for each record.

 

[boblarson]

You can open it as data entry (even if it isn't set as such in design view) by simply using:

DoCmd.OpenForm "FormNameHere", acNormal, , , acFormAdd

 

[Montez659]

Hmmm, sometimes it amazes me that I am a moron. Thanks for that Bob!

This might be best in a different thread, but how can I open a form to a specific record without filtering? The only way I have it set up now is using a filter, but I want the user to be able to navigate through the records to the immediate left or right (usually because they are somewhat related). If they turn the filter off, it sets the records back to 1 and so they lose their position.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Norie]

Isn't navigating like that kind of the default?

 

[Montez659]

Yes and no. Yes it is if you just open the form (and it opens to the first record).

No if the user selects a specific record to look at. A filter is created and only that one record is available. If they manually turn the filter off, they are sent back to the first record again (instead of the one that they were viewing).

So I want them to be able to select a record to view (without a filter) so that they can navigate through all records.