VBA docmd.opentable + variable table name - ms-access

I am very new to VBA. I managed to get my head around Powershell and have worked in SQL for years. But this is the most frustrating language!
I have a Form where a user specifies a source from a combo box.
I then have a macro which should lookup a table and a query based on what the use puts in.
So far i have the table name I want in a variable. I want to pass this to docmd.opentable
But have not figured it out :(
Dim str_DeltaTable As String
str_DeltaTable = DLookup("Table_Delta", "QC_Report_List", "Source = '" & Forms!Main_Form!Source_ComboBox.Text & "'")
DoCmd.OpenTable "str_DeltaTable" 'Some help here would be ace
Thanks from a newb
Rich

Just use the DoCmd.OpenTable str_DeltaTable without the quotes to pass the variable's value, not its literal properly.
Also, your use of .Text is probably going to cause problems because text boxes in Access only have .Text property while they have the focus (contrary to many other systems). Instead use the .Value property, which is always available. It is also the default property, so you can use Forms!Main_Form!Source_ComboBox.Value or just Forms!Main_Form!Source_ComboBox.

Related

Microsoft Access SearchForRecord macro action useless?

I have been trying to incorporate a built in macro action (SearchForRecord) in MS Access, however cannot get it to work for the life of me. There is minimal resources available online for this operation, and I've noticed that other people have struggled with the same issue.
I made a test database just to see if I could get it to work in the most basic form. I made a table with 3 columns (ID, Name, Colour) - I turned the table into a tabular form using the Form Wizard. I created a text box with a search button.
I then made a macro operation:
SearchForRecord
Object Type: Form
Object Name (Name of the Form) "frmNewSearch"
Record: First
Where Condition: ="txtIDSearch = '" & [Forms]![frmNewSearch]![txtSearchBox] & "'"
I took the where condition syntax directly from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/client-developer/access/desktop-database-reference/searchforrecord-macro-action
I set the button click event to the Macro that I made.
In theory, I enter the ID into the txtSearchBox and it should bring up the appropriate record within the same frmNewSearch form.
When I try this, nothing happens and it just sits on the first record. I am using MS Access 2016 - is the macro action maybe just not supported in this version?
If there is another way at approaching this it would be much appreciated!
Cheers
Referenced article states:
Note the equal sign (=) at the beginning of the expression, and the
use of single quotation marks (') on either side of the text box
reference:
="Description = '" & Forms![frmCategories]![txtDescription] & "'"
Have to actually type = sign into argument. (Yes, I hear your ranting and cursing, but that's life.)
I presume txtIDSearch is name of textbox. The criteria must use name of field, which you say is ID. If ID is number type, don't use apostrophe delimiters (apostrophe delimiters are used for text fields, # delimiter for date/time, nothing for number type). So result will show like:
Where Condition: = ="ID = " & [Forms]![frmNewSearch]![txtSearchBox]
or since code and controls are on same form, simply:
Where Condition: = ="ID = " & [txtSearchBox]
However, both fail if form is a subform. This is because form is not open independently in Forms collection. A reference incorporating parent form name fails as well. Use VBA code methods.

Best practice for working with long texts in ms-access

I would be very thankful if somebody resolves my problem.
I'm new in working with Ms Access and I still gain experience on its basic functionality.
I have a table MyItems. 2 of its fields are: ItemCode and ItemName. ItemName is a very long text (Memo type). I have also a query and a form with many fields. The form's record source also consists of many fields. All these things (associated with 1 field) have the same or similar names so I can't differentiate them quite well.
What I want is when I set the value of ItemCode (in a not bound Combobox or Listbox with name ItemCode) the value of ItemName to be displayed in a control - maybe TextBox.
I can display its value in a ListBox (by sql query in its row source), I have no problems with this, I have no problems with managing events, but the text is very long and is cut. I understood that unfortunately ListBoxes don't have multiline property. So maybe the most appropriate control to deal with is a TextBox. And maybe the most appropriate way to display the value is using DLookUp function in the TextBox's control source. But in this sea of items with similar or the same names I just can't deal with its syntax, I was trying again and again for a very long time. So I have 2 questions:
Are the TextBox control and DLookUp function in its control source the best way to extract long texts from a table without binding or there are more suitable controls (which directly work with sql query)?
What is the right syntax of DLookUp? - where exactly are there ' ', " ", [ ], .Value, =, &, where must I write the path to the table or the form and where it would be mistake? If I just write [ItemCode] what it would be associated with - the form record source, the table, the form control or anything else? I would be grateful if someone writes the correct syntax for my case or if he shares a link with plenty of examples for using DLookUp. Those that I found didn't satisfy me.
Either a bound control, or an unbound one. If unbound, you need to load the text with VBA code or with DLookup in the control source. There are no other options.
Personally I'd rather use the AfterUpdate event of ItemCode, and call DLookup there, but that's a matter of preference.
2.
It's not that complicated. You basically have the SELECT, FROM, WHERE parts of an SQL query in the 3 arguments. [] are needed for all identifiers containing spaces or other special characters, and when refering to form controls.
=DLookup("ItemName", "[my Table]", "ItemCode = '" & [ItemCode] & "'")
The single quotes '' are needed if ItemCode is text, not when it is a number.
You could also use doubled (escaped) double quotes, but that is much less readable.
=DLookup("ItemName", "[my Table]", "ItemCode = """ & [ItemCode] & """")
Now where does [ItemCode] come from?
Access first looks for a control on the form with the name ItemCode.
If there isn't one, it looks for a field ItemCode in the form's RecordSource.
These are the only ways [ItemCode] can be evaluated. To avoid confusion, it is recommended to name bound controls with the same name as their source field.
The syntax above is only valid if everything is on the same form. If [ItemCode] is on a different form, or you refer to it from a query, you use
=DLookup("ItemName", "[my Table]", "ItemCode = '" & Forms![my Form]![ItemCode] & "'")
For more complicated cases with subforms, see Refer to Form and Subform properties and controls
And to use it in VBA (in ItemCode_AfterUpdate):
Me!ItemName = DLookup("ItemName", "[my Table]", "ItemCode = '" & Me![ItemCode] & "'")

MSAccess 2010 + VBA: Value is not a default property of recordset Field object

I needed to copy some values from MS Access table into Excel using VBA code. I had done this many times and considered myself experienced. In my code I export the data using the following statements:
sh.range("A" & row).Value = rs("MyField")
where sh is Excel sheet, row is integer (long) and rs is recordset (either DAO or ADO, without any effect on the problem under consideration).
My code worked well on my computer with installed MS Office 2007. But when my client ran the code on his machine with MS Office 2010, it failed and kept failing very randomly. E.g. when debugging VBA in MS Access module step by step by pressing F8 it always worked. But when I pressed 'run' F5, it failed very soon.
After many trials and errors (I tried to open the recordset using different options and recordset types and caching the records etc.), I finally found that if I write
sh.range("A" & row).Value = rs("MyField").Value
everything works just fine. But according to the docs (e.g. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff197799(v=office.15).aspx ) the Value property is the default property of the field object, which in turn is the default collection of the recordset object.
But it seems that I cannot rely on the defaultness, which I have been doing in most of my code. Actually I found a solution to my problem, but I still have no idea about the cause. Does anyone know why is the code doing this? What is the problem?
PS: I also found that if I expand the one-line statement into two lines (three with declaration):
dim v as Variant
v = rs("MyField")
sh.range("A" & row).Value = v
it also works...
Since rs("MyField") is a Field object, if you do ...
MsgBox TypeName(rs("MyField"))
... Access will tell you its type is Field.
So TypeName() is one example where the object itself is referenced directly instead of its default .Value property.
But something like Debug.Print always references .Value, so Debug.Print rs("MyField") is the same as Debug.Print rs("MyField").Value
If you know exactly when .Value will be referenced implicitly and when it will not, you can add it only when absolutely required and omit it the rest of the time.
However, some Access developers recommend always including .Value to avoid such confusion. If that seems like too much effort to you, at least consider including .Value when you do any assignment ...
something = rs("MyField").Value
... and be watchful for any other contexts where you don't get what you want without .Value

MS Access TextBox Value is always NULL

I am doing some work for someone that insists on using MS Access. I don't usually use it so I am a bit new to the whole control structure and best practices. What I am trying to achieve is to have a filter textbox on a form which, when a value is entered, it will filter the rows in the detail section. That seems like a straightforward use case. I initially tried the following behaviour as the event handler for the On Change event:
Private Sub FilterGrid()
Me.Text32.SetFocus
If Not IsNull(Me.Text32.Text) And Me.Text32.Text <> "" Then
Me.Filter = "JobNumber LIKE '*" & Me.Text32.Text & "*'"
Me.FilterOn = True
End
Else
Me.FilterOn = False
End If
End Sub
This worked perfectly until I typed something that didn't have any rows matching and the whole thing exploded with this error (and was unrecoverable without closing the form):
Run-time error '2185': You can't reference a property or method for a control unless the control has the focus.
I did some reading around and the general opinion was that .Text should not be used and .Value (or simply the Text32 without a property) should be used. That produced some very strange behaviour. The Text32.Value is ALWAYS null. I have a watch window and I can see that for the normal behaviour, Text32.Text has an actual value, but Text32.Value is NULL.
Obviously I am doing something wrong, but I don't have enough experience with Access to know what it is.
Just as an aside, another suggestion was to do Text32.SetFocus right before accessing the Text property. This doesn't resolve the error I mentioned. It still throws the exact same error.
Is anyone able to point me in the right direction here?
As you found out, the textbox's Value is only set after the control loses focus.
Conversely, the Text property is only accessible while the control has focus.
The Value property is defined as the default member for controls; that means Text32 will be implicitly the same as Text32.Value, however, depending on the context,Text32 can sometimes refer to the control itself, not just its value.
All these discrepancies can sometimes be infuriating.
To go back to the matter at hand: you have 2 ways to handle filtering.
if the list to filter is large, it's probably better that the user type their filter, then press ENTER to validate it.
if your list is not too large, you can implement filter as you type.
First case, wait for user input to be validated by ENTER.
Say your filtering textbox is called txtFilter and is located on a form whose subform is showing a datasheet (or continuous form) that you want to filter.
All you need to do is wire the textbox OnKeyDown events as such:
' We will only perform the filter if the user press the ENTER key
Private Sub txtFilter_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
Select Case KeyCode
Case 13, 9
KeyCode = 0
QuickFilter
End Select
End Sub
' Perform the actual filtering on the subform
Private Sub QuickFilter()
Dim sql As String
Dim filter As String
If txtFilter.Text = vbNullString Then
' Reset the filter if the textbox is emtpy
SubForm.Form.FilterOn = False
Else
'Some common substitutions that users may have already inserted as wildchars
filter = Replace(txtFilter.Text, "%", "*")
filter = Replace("*" & filter & "*", "**", "*")
' We construct the filter SQL
sql = "([JobNumber ] LIKE """ & filter & """)"
sql = sql & " OR ([ProjectCode] LIKE """ & filter & """)"
sql = sql & " OR ([SupplierName] LIKE """ & filter & """)"
'... Add as many columns to filter on as you want
' Assign the filter to the subform
SubForm.Form.filter = sql
SubForm.Form.FilterOn = True
End If
End Sub
Second case, filter as you type
Well, it's fairly easy, we just need to add to the above solution a way to track changes as the user is typing.
This is best done through the OnChange event of the texbox.
Private Sub txtFilter_Change()
QuickFilter
End Sub
That's all you need to add.
dont use .text property
instead use .value property
text3.value=text1.value+text2.value
you dont need setfocus like .text property everytime.
it works perfectly....vba ms access

How can I make a combo box readonly in Access 2000?

This seem so simple but I can't figure it out. It seems like I'd want to set the Locked property to Yes, but that actually prevents them from selecting anything in the drop down!
When I say readonly, I mean having the combo box preloaded with values and forcing the user to only select one of those values without being able to type in their own.
Any ideas?
The standard way to achieve this is to set the Limit To List property to True.
The user will be able to type in invalid text but if he tabs away or presses Enter a popup will say
The text you entered isn't an item in
the list
And he will be forced back to choose something from the list.
It's not great, compared to the true dropdown list control you get elsewhere (VB6, Winforms, .NET, etc)
There is a Limit To List property you should set to Yes
There are two parts to what you've requested:
a. I mean having the combo box preloaded with values...
For this, there's nothing you need to do -- just set the rowsource appropriately. To add values to the list, you'd have to do some work, but in order to prevent, you need do nothing at all.
b. and forcing the user to only select one of those values without being able
to type in their own.
As explained in other answers, you need to set the LimitToList property to TRUE.
Now, the error messages you'll get from this are not all that great, so you'll likely want to define the NotInList event to be a little more friendly to the user. Something like this could be appropriate:
Private Sub MyCombo_NotInList(NewData As String, Response As Integer)
MsgBox Chr(34) & NewData & Chr(34) & _
" is not one of the choices in the list.", _
vbInformation, "Select from the list"
Me!MyCombo.Undo
Response = acDataErrorContinue
End Sub
If you wanted to add to the list, this is where you'd handle that, too, but since you don't, you need only concern yourself with informing the user of the problem (i.e., protecting them from the cryptic default error message).
you can also add this code into presskey event of combobox
KeyAscil = 0
msgbox " please select from list"
this will prevent users from write into combobox and show message error