I'm working on a form that we can use in our bakery to view and edit the customer information.
And I know the employees are going to be using this form a lot, so I want to make it as pleasant
and easy to use as possible.
To do that, I'm going to need to make some adjustments to the layout and formatting.
The first thing I'm going to do is add a command button that the user can click to search for
a specific record.
To add a command button, you'll need to be in Layout view.
In the Design tab, find the Controls group… click on the drop-down arrow… and make sure
that Use Control Wizards is selected.
And then select the Button command.
Then, in the form, click where you want the button to go.
There are many different actions that you can choose from, and they're organized under
different categories.
Most of the time, you're probably just going to use actions from the first four categories.
The one that I want is in Record Navigation… and it's called Find Record.
Then click Next.
Here, you can choose whether you want the button to display text or a picture.
In this case, I'm going to use the default binoculars picture, but you could also browse
for another picture if you want.
In the last step, you can type a name for the button.
I'll call it Search.
This text will not appear on the button, but it may be helpful if you need to edit the
button later with the Property Sheet.
Click Finish… and your button will appear on the form.
At this point, I want to move and resize the fields so we can get a better view of everything.
I think everything would fit a lot better if I put it into two columns.
You can adjust the fields just like you would in a report.
For example, you can click on a cell… and then drag the edge to resize the column.
Next I'm going to go to the Arrange tab… and then in the Rows & Columns group, select
Insert Right to add a column.
I'm going to click it twice so that we have one column for the field labels, and another
for the actual fields.
Then I'll just click and drag the fields where I want them.
You may end up with some empty rows, and you can just click on them and press the Delete
key to get rid of them.
And for the Other Notes field, I'd like it to be larger, so I'm going to merge it with
the other cells in its row.
I'll hold down the Shift key while I'm clicking each cell… and then on the Arrange tab,
I'll click the Merge command.
Finally, I'm going to make some adjustments to the colors and fonts, just to make it look
a little nicer.
And again, this is exactly like formatting a report.
You can go to the Design tab to add a logo or choose a theme.
But keep in mind, the theme applies to your entire database.
So if you want to make changes that will only apply to this form, you can use the commands
in the Format tab.
Here you can adjust the colors and fonts of individual elements in the form.
I'm going to Control-click the fields that I want to change…
And now I can adjust the fill color… outline color… and outline weight.
I'm also going to choose a background color… and add a few final touches.
Ok, my form is now finished.
I've added the logo for our bakery…
I've added a shadow to the Search box from the shape effects menu… and I've also changed
the font of the form header.
Now it may take some time to get the form exactly how you want it, but once you do,
you'll have a professional-looking form that's easy for people to use.