[AccessD] Practical way to handle non-standard length "long text" fields

[John Colby]

I call the method you are describing "table driven programming" and that
would work.  I used it for my Presentation Level Security system where I
defined visibility and enabled properties for controls on forms.  To make
it user friendly however I had to create forms to select forms and controls
on those forms to edit the tables behind the system.

On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 9:46 AM Ryan Wehler <wrwehler at gmail.com> wrote:

> Right, that was kind of the idea (I think?)
>
> Feed a form into the class, the class scans for textboxes/combo boxes on
> that form or subform that are contained within a table that defines the max
> length and then applies some logic in/withevents on an event.
>
> Since not all textbox lengths are created equal I need a way to define a
> max length, right?  That seemed like the easiest way unless there's a slick
> way to read the actual table/column DDL from a remote table?
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 8:40 AM John Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I was thinking a generic class which wraps a specific text box which is
> > passed in to the class.  Then the class reads that length property out.
> > Use Withevents to sink the keydown and check the length every time it
> > fires.  Check the length (because the key could be a delete or something
> > which actually shortens the length) and when the length equals the max,
> so
> > something such as change the back color or put up a message box.
> >
> > You can now use this class for any text box,  Or every text box.
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 9:31 AM Ryan Wehler <wrwehler at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > John,
> > >  I considered trying to 'class up' the textboxes. My idea would have
> been
> > > to have a local table with the form name, field name and maximum length
> > and
> > > read that in as the class initializes for the textbox/combo box in
> > question
> > > and use some events to catch the KeyDown or OnChange.
> > >
> > > Right now there's just a couple textboxes that are giving me grief so I
> > > wasn't sure if it was worth writing a class module at this point in
> time.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 8:25 AM John Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > LOL one of my favorite sayings - "Wish in one hand and spit in the
> > other.
> > > > See which one fills up faster."
> > > >
> > > > Given which fills up faster, of course I would suggest a class but we
> > all
> > > > know where that would go.  Something about hammers IIRC.
> > > >
> > > > Would you like me to build a class for you?
> > > >
> > > > On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 8:50 AM Ryan Wehler <wrwehler at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Thanks Rocky!
> > > > >
> > > > > I guess my wish was that Access read in the field length for fields
> > > like
> > > > > this and applied that more gracefully.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 3:00 PM Rocky Smolin <
> rockysmolin2 at gmail.com>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Ryan:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I don't know of a good way to handle this. I have used KeyDown to
> > > good
> > > > > > advantage when I wanted to inspect every keystroke in a text
> field.
> > > But
> > > > > > it's a little kludgey.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Two ideas: I believe if you use the input mask property to allow
> a
> > > > > textbox
> > > > > > to take a maximum number of characters. It will not allow any
> more
> > > > > > characters than that input mask allows. So at 500 characters no
> > more
> > > > > input
> > > > > > would be accepted. But that won't generate a message to the user.
> > > And I
> > > > > > don't know if you can input mask a text box to limit to that high
> > of
> > > a
> > > > > > number of characters.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A second thought would be to accept the data into an unbound text
> > box
> > > > and
> > > > > > in the Lost Focus event, test for the length of the string that
> was
> > > > > input -
> > > > > > copy it to the bound text box if shorter than your Max length, or
> > > give
> > > > a
> > > > > > message to the user that their entered text was too long and then
> > > shift
> > > > > the
> > > > > > focus back to the unbound text box.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > HTH
> > > > > >
> > > > > > r
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 7:01 AM Ryan Wehler <wrwehler at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Is there any practical way to handle non-standard VARCHAR(MAX)
> > > "long
> > > > > > text"
> > > > > > > fields in access?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > If I set one to VARCHAR(500), Access still treats it as Long
> > > > Text(MAX)
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > > the user doesn't really know it's going to be a problem until
> > they
> > > > exit
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > > field and an error pops up.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Ideally what I'd like is for access to just stop typing as it
> it
> > > > would
> > > > > if
> > > > > > > you hit the char limit for the field.  Is there a way to do
> that
> > > > > without
> > > > > > > using OnChange or KeyDown events to count characters up and
> warn
> > > the
> > > > > > user?
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> > > > John W. Colby
> > > > Colby Consulting
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-- 
John W. Colby
Colby Consulting