Darryl Collins
darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au
Thu Sep 8 19:02:07 CDT 2011
" I'm not sure what you mean about not hiding the tab label." At the top of every tab you have a label (tab) which sticks up above the rest of the form - the bit the user presses to change tabs if more than one tab is visible. The problem is even if only 1 tab is visible you cannot hide this label which stick out above the rest of the form/page. Visually this is not what we want to see. Maybe I am just anal about this sort of thing, but it looks ugly, at least for what I am try to achieve. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-tabbed forms/pages. I have used the extensively in the past and will do so again. It is just in this one instance using tabs seems (and looks) like a cheap and tacky workaround. Cheers Darryl,. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Friday, 9 September 2011 1:56 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Wish List. I do know how they work, but I was confused by what I understood of your description. What you're describing is exactly what tab controls are for, and I've used them that way in both Access and VB.Net. All you need to do with a tab control is select the tab page and that brings the controls on that page up for you to edit. In effect, you see them the way the user does, except for any controls that you make conditionally visible to the user when that page is up. Those, of course, you see in design view all the time. I'm not sure what you mean about not hiding the tab label. If you're talking about the tabs themselves, they can be turned off so that you control the visible page through code. In Access and .Net, I simply have used the top and left settigs to insure that things lined up. How hard is that? As for photoshop, I hate it. It seems to me the ultimate in non-intuitive UIs, but I admit to being a luddite on some issues, especially with respect to graphics. Charlotte Foust On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 11:57 PM, Darryl Collins < darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au> wrote: > Hi Charlotte - forgive me for this as I really respect your opinion, but I > am not sure you understand how layers work in other applications - they > would never show up all at the same time (unless that is what you wanted). > You can control which ones are visible to the user - might be one, might be > several in different combinations and you can show and reveal based on what > the user needs. > > Layers would also have the huge advantage of allowing you to edit each > layer > individually in design mode. So you have no need to move controls out of > the way to get to a control that is under another one. Have play in > photoshop if you get the chance and you will see how useful this method is. > I know I can fake it using a tab form but the result is less elegant you > cannot hide the tab label itself and it is a pain to ensure all the > controls > on each tab is aligned. Blah blah, I have resorted to tabs in the past and > it is a clunky solution for what I am trying to do. > > That said, sometimes tabbed forms are the way to go. Just depends on what > you want to achieve. In this instance I was thinking "Man, wish I had a > layered design view"... > > Just my thoughts. > Cheers > Darryl. > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust > Sent: Thursday, 8 September 2011 12:10 PM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Wish List. > > Microsoft addressed this years ago by introducing tab controls. Why on > earth would you want to use layers that all showed up at the same time? > Logically, layers would only show the controls relevant to that layer/page. > > Charlotte Foust > On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 6:47 PM, Darryl Collins < > darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au> wrote: > > > Been doing a lot of work with forms. In particular single forms with a > lot > > of controls that are hidden or revealed depending on what options are > > available. I really wish MS were inspired by Adobe with how form design > > behaves. Why can't forms be layered? So you can work on individual > layers > > which only have the relevant controls for that layer, but when the form > is > > displayed all layers are shown, just like an image in Photoshop for > > example. > > > > > > > > That would be super useful as right now if I want to change anything on > > first controls I added, I have to move all of the other controls on top > out > > of the way, make the changes, and then put them all back again. A real > > PITA. Would be wonderful to turn on and off visibility on the layers and > > then it would be easy to access any set of controls that are just on that > > layer. > > > > > > > > I know I can sort of fake this by using tabs, is this a better way or > does > > anyone has a different angle I can consider? > > > > > > > > Cheers > > > > Darryl. > > > > > > > > Darryl Collins > > > > Whittle Consulting Pty Ltd > > > > Suite 8, 660 Canterbury Rd > > > > Surrey Hills, VIC, 3127 > > > > > > > > p: +61 3 9898 3242 > > > > m: +61 418 381 548 > > > > f: +61 3 9898 1855 > > > > e: <mailto:darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au> > > darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au > > > > w: <http://www.whittleconsulting.com.au/ > > > > > > > www.whittleconsulting.com.au > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > > > > > > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > > > > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com