[AccessD] User interface

I'm a fan of the one-form-at-a-time approach for the app I distribute as a
run time.  It's complex enough without the users getting lost between
windows.  I make them go back up the menu tree and down again to the form
they want.  I have occasional buttons for lateral moves but not many.

R


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: August 27, 2011 4:36 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] User interface

You and I differ on this point significantly, but that's ok with me.

My take is that the user should be able to view any number of forms at any
given moment. Granted, some forms will open in Dialog mode, but that
exception aside, I see nothing inherently wrong with having, say, the
Customers form and the Orders form open simultaneously. Yes, I have to add a
bit of code to synch them (i.e. choose another Customer and the Orders form
automagically goes to that Customer's most recent Order)

This is not about arguing that my strategy is better. This whole thread is
about learning how other developers approach the UI problem, so anything
said by me or anyone else participating in this fruitful thread should bear
that in mind.

I think it was Gustav, but it may have been Colby, who submitted a class
that deals with the "focus" issue; with a couple of declarations, any given
form is handled automagically. In the given sample code, the control with
focus was turned Cyan. IIRC, there was a problem with coloring combo-boxes
and list-boxes, but for all other controls it worked beautifully. I didn't
use that code in my most recent app, so I'd have to back-track and dig it
up, but it was very slick.

One other question I'd like to add to this thread: does anyone make use of
the Wizard concept? There are several ways to build Wizards, but I wonder
whether anyone has bothered to build them into an app. I am trying to do so
in my current client's app, the idea being that when you create a new
Customer, you must also create at least one Customer_Locations and after
that, at least one Customer_Location_Project -- this all to be done within
the wizard; Then the backdrop, as it were, has been set, and thereafter all
the combo-boxes can be populated with meaningful data. The FE also allows
additions to the various combo-boxes, but ideally the wizard pre-empts the
necessity to do so.

A.
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