I was wondering if there was any way of changing the background in access. The standard grey is ok but I would like to change it to an image that shows instructions or what was updated last. Also, if I can allow a user to change the background to an image of their choice that would be cool as well.
Can this be done
To be honest, I'm not sure if this is possible or not, but if it is, I'd advise you not to do it. Why?
Users will expect instructions under a help menu or on an intro
splash form
They will expect info. like what was updated last to appear in more
conventional places like the status bar
Allowing users to personalise your application with their photos can
make your application look pretty bad and increase load times.
Only advice though - good luck with it!
I have been able to allow users to change the background of the database. It works great and it works no matter what computer they log onto the database from. I did have a problem with remote users so I added a macro that allows them to disable the functionality. It works great. It was a little complicated to se up initially. Some of the modules below may have more stuff contained in them then what is needed for the purpose of this question. But here is what I did to make it work:
Add the Following modules to your database: modChangeMDI, SetBackgroundImage, and clsCommonDialog
Link to a zip file containing the code for the above modules: http://www.filedropper.com/changebackgroundimage
You can set the default location that a users sees when the search for file dialog pops up. This is located in the ThisFileToOpen function of the SetBackgroundImage module.
clsCommonDialog <-- Used to open the find file dialog box
modChangeMDI <--Used to change the background image
Create a table called $BackgroundLocation with the following fields. On my database this is contained in the backend database.
ID (AutoNumber, Primary Key)
UserID (Text, Required, 250 in length, don't allow zero lengths)
BackgroundLocation (Text, 255 in length, not required)
DisableBackground (boolean)
Create an AutoExec macro and add an action that runs the code SetTheBackgroundPictureOnStartup (1)
Create a BackgroundDisableEnable macro and add an action that runs the code DisableEnableBackground()
Create a BackgroundSet macro and add an action that runs the code SetTheBackgroundPictureOnStartup(2)
Then assign the BackgroundDisableEnable and the BackgroundSet macro to their own menu item.
When the database opens it will run the AutoExec by default.
You can use a start-up form as I suggested above. You can even base the start-up form on a comments table that can be edited by the users and will display the most recent and / or relevant information. The form can be displayed at start-up and then referred to at any time by the users.
In the past, I have included a ? button on forms that open such a form at the relevant page.
Related
I want to allow user to update data from form, but not from direct table. I added Before Change event on table, and raising error if the user group is 'basic'. This is working as expected if I enter data in table. But, it is also raising error even if saving data from form. Can anyone help me to resolve this issue?
Thanks in advance!
In general the way to deal with permissions in Access is to only ever show your users the forms; they should never directly interact with a table or query. So instead of adding Before Change code to your table, you instead want to hide the table.
The things you need are in the Current Database section of the Access options. For this example I'll assume you just have the one form, but the same applies if you have many forms and a "Home" form.
Use the "Display Form" dropdown to select the form you want the user to see when they open the application.
Un-check "Use Access Special Keys" to prevent keyboard shortcuts showing objects you don't want shown.
Un-check "Display Navigation Pane" to hide the object list.
Un-check "Allow Full Menus" to prevent users from creating new objects (or use other database development functions)
With this done, the user will see only the form interface you selected and the basic data entry toolbar.
Note that when you want to make changes to the file as a developer you must hold down Shift when opening the application, which will display the navigation pane etc. Of course, any user who knows about the Shift override could do the same. Which is why distributing in a compiled accde, which cannot be unlocked, is a good idea. But you need to set up the application using the above options before that matters.
Sorry - I'm a total newbie with InstallShield. I've inherited an InstallShield 2013 project that presents the user with a dialog that let's the user select a SQL Server and based on their selection sets a value in a config file. That's not working, so I opened the project in IS and looked in the Text File Changes under System Configuration and there's nothing there that would do this. So how do I figure out where this is happening (or not happening in my case), and then how do I get it to work? I need to set both data source and initial catalog in a file called server.config.
So how do I determine what the user selected and then save that in this file? It looks like I can set up a Text File Change, but how do I access the values selected by the user? And how can I figure out where the "code" is that is supposed to be doing this?
Thanks,
Ben
I would try to track this from the dialog and controls in question, or by following the value through a verbose log. Since you say it doesn't work today, there will probably be an interruption in the flow I describe below, and since you don't know the full state of the installation project, it may be hard to identify. So search from what you know.
Top down: what gets configured
First, find the dialog that you fill out as a user making the selection. Then figure out the property that the particular control is associated with. Now you've got a thread; pull on it.
Search in the direct editor for references to the property. If the property is named MYCONFIG search for just that: MYCONFIG. You'll probably find some sort of use that looks like [MYCONFIG] instead, which is typically a format string specifying to use the value of MYCONFIG. You may also have to search all the files related to your project, as Custom Action implementations can be code stored outside of your InstallShield project.
The use may be in a ControlEvent, CustomAction, or some other table. If it's in a ControlEvent, it may be used to set another property. Ditto if it's in a CustomAction that sets properties (type 51) which may be easier to understand in the Custom Actions and Sequences view. In that case, also search for the property that gets set.
If you find it in a table like ISSearchReplace* or ISXml*, or IniFile, it's probably part of the Text Files Changes, XML File Changes, or INI File Changes, and that view should make it easier to understand.
Maybe that thread dead-ends somewhere. A property gets set, but never referenced. So try to search from the other end.
Bottom up: what gets written
If there are text file changes, xml file changes, ini file changes, or custom actions that reference the file you need updated, see where they get their information. Try to follow it back. If they're well written, you should be able to identify the property (noting that one called CustomActionData comes from a property matching the name of the custom action it's used in), and then trace that further back using the same ideas as above, but in the other direction.
Where's the problem?
If the threads don't connect, that's probably the problem. It's also possible that a custom action lacks permissions but doesn't reports a failure, or that the file name or path got misconfigured somewhere along the way. Look for small things like that if things look like they should work but don't.
It turns out that I misunderstood the problem and the project was never set up to change that value, so all I had to do was set up a Text File Change and it works perfectly. Thanks #Michael Urman for the thorough response - I really appreciate it!
Client has asked me to create a self contained tool in MS Access, versions 2007 and 2016. It needs to be self contained because it will be copied to and from various laptops at various times. The tool may not create, delete, or modify any file except the accdb database itself. When the tool is in use, the user is unlikely to have network or internet access.
One of the criteria is the creation of new forms each time it is run. I realize that Access is meant to have all the forms and their controls already built before deployment, but client doesn't want that. I have solved that problem, creating x number of forms upon certain conditions, and creating 30-40 controls on each form based upon certain conditions, each with their own events, etc.
Now, how do I load his logo into a control on each form? Remember, the accdb must be self contained, so I can't count on the logo being in a certain directory or even on the machine in use, and I can't write it to the file system myself.
I can and have loaded the logo (jpeg) into one of my tables in an attachment field. It will be the only attachment in that field. It would be just as easy for it to be its own table, if that helps.
I can create attachment controls with VBA, but I don't know how to set the ControlSource to the FileData inside the attachment with VBA.
I also have had poor success attempting to embed the picture in an image control in a hidden form and setting the .picture property to the image name. It only seems to be working on my machine.
So, how do I display an attached jpeg on a newly created form?
Just asked and answered in SO access-vba. Here's one solution.
Saving Image as OLE Object, in Access
Many others on google and SO search
EDIT: You must read the whole question to see the author's answer
Answer:
So, what I ended up doing was following this
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/210486
I use the readBLOB function to read the file and save it into the
database. Then, when I run a report or open a form that has the
picture, onload, I use the WriteBlob function to write the file to a
temp folder and then use that path to populate an Image object.
I currently have a app that manages projects. The user sees a list of projects and can select one. They can should (it would be nice) be able to click a run button and have another app open. The parameters stored in the project they selected are populated into the second application. The issue I am having is firing the second application. runApp generates the following.
ui code line:
actionButton("RunProj", "Run"),
Warning in run(timeoutMs) :
Unhandled error in observer: Key / already in use
observeEvent(input$RunProj)
I would like to trigger the second app and pass in the location of the project directory I have looked at parseQueryString and still trying to figure out a way to include that. Maybe via a redirect?
Any suggests would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Rich
I'm not 100% sure if I understand your intention correctly but here is a few things I think you may want to think about.
In one project, if you want to run a few kinds of analyses, you may want to try navbarPage
If there are many different types of analyses, you may want to try shinydashboard
If you know the link to each app and you really want to add those "run" buttons, you can add a button manually in ui.R. I think you can write some codes in server.r to generate the link based on your database.
tags$a(href="the link to your apps", class= "btn btn-default", "Run App")
I have a number of letter templates which I want to populate with data from my MS Access database and am unsure how to go about it.
The way I want it to work is as follows:
User is viewing a record within MS Access;
User presses "Generate Letter" button;
Choice of .doc/.docx templates (which I already have) appears;
User selects template and presses 'OK';
Letter is generated and populated with data from active record;
Once user is finished with letter, pressing 'Save' will attach it to active record;
(Ideally) any generated letters will appear within the attachments of each record (I have already created the attachments section - this is just for context)
How do I go about achieving this in MS Access 2013? I cannot seem to figure out nor find anything which deals with this specific problem.
The "Generate Letter" button should produce a pop-up form. That form will have either a combobox or listbox (depending on what you see fit) that displays the list of available templates, as well as an "OK" button.
Alternatively, you can place the combobox/listbox on the main form and the "Generate letter" button next to it, assuming your main form has a subform that's displaying the data.
You will then do a Mail Merge with only the active record. Once that's done, the most difficult part will be storing the "Save To" path in one of the fields. You could possibly use an OLE field, but saving the path to the file is my preferred method. I say it's the most difficult part because I'm not sure how you can capture that without using a standard dialog box.
For the word merge and selection of a template, try my super easy word merge example here:
The sample I have can be found here:
http://www.kallal.ca/msaccess/msaccess.html
Above sample is specially designed to enable ANY form with ONE LINE of code.
Thus, each time you build a new form, you can word merge enable it with great ease. (with one line of code).
Make sure you read the instructions from above, and you should eventually get to the following page
http://www.kallal.ca/wordmerge/page2.html
The above handles all of your issues a requests with the exception of the last step in which you save the path name to the document (and I recommend you don’t save the document in the database – but only path names to a folder). Grabbing the file name is also possible with my sample.