Access 2007 Rich Text Deficiencies?

[Neil]

I posted a few days ago that it seems to me that the Access 2007 rich text
feature does not support: a) full text justification; b) programmatic
manipulation.

I was hoping that someone might know one way or the other whether that was
true or not, or could point me to an article or help text that would. What I
have seen so far online and in Access 2007 help seems to confirm the above.
But that (or at least (b)) seems incredible that it would be so.

I need to make a decision regarding implementing rich text features, and I
need to decide whether to go with Access 2007 or use a third-party control.
The answer to the above will determine my decision.

Thus, if anyone has any information re. the above, or could point me to an
article that does, it would be greatly appreciated. So far, I have not been
able to find anything.

Thank you!

Neil

 

[John Mishefske]

I posted a few days ago that it seems to me that the Access 2007 rich text
feature does not support: a) full text justification; b) programmatic
manipulation.

I was hoping that someone might know one way or the other whether that was
true or not, or could point me to an article or help text that would. What I
have seen so far online and in Access 2007 help seems to confirm the above.
But that (or at least (b)) seems incredible that it would be so.

I need to make a decision regarding implementing rich text features, and I
need to decide whether to go with Access 2007 or use a third-party control.
The answer to the above will determine my decision.

I saw this nice compilation of issues with A2007 from Allen Browne:

http://allenbrowne.com/Access2007.html

--
'--------------------------
' John Mishefske
' UtterAccess Editor
' 2007 Microsoft Access MVP
'--------------------------

 

[Neil]

Thanks, John. Yes, I checked Allen's list. It's a great resource. I actually
sent him a note about these two deficiencies, to see if he wanted to add
them to his list, but I haven't seen anything there or heard back from him.

Neil

 

[Allen Browne]

Neil, I don't understand your comment about not being able to assign values
programmatically.

Presumably you have a text box bound to a Memo field where the Rich Text is
set, or an unbound text box or text box bound to an expression, and the Rich
Text property is set. If that's the case, you should be able to set the
Control Source to something like:
="This has a <b>bold</d> word."

Likewise, you can paste in text containing bulleted lists etc.

In HTML, you can justify a paragraph of text like this:
<p align="justify">
I guess you are saying that the A2007 rich text box does not render that
correctly.

 

[Neil]

Yes, I suppose one can add the HTML codes manually, which works fine for
simple things like bolding, but would get a little dicier with complex
formatting.

But what I meant was that in RTF controls (such as the Microsoft Rich
Textbox control, or third-party controls, such as FMS's), you can change the
format of the text programmatically using methods built into the control.
For example, to set the below bold text, one would use the SelBold method in
conjuction with SelStart and SelLength. Again, with simple examples it
shouldn't matter; but with complex formatting it makes a big difference to
let the control set the RTF or HTML code for you.

So, it's those methods that appear to be missing from controls designated as
"rich text" in Access 2007. Having to set the HTML manually would be huge
deficit, especially since rich text controls that have been available for
many years (and are still available) provide the methods to do it
automatically.

Neil

 

[Allen Browne]

Okay: I'm not sure I see this as a huge deficit. Easy enough to knock up a
couple of functions to add the <b> and </b> at SelStart and SelEnd etc if
you need that.

PlainText() is built in for going the other direction.

Perhaps it would be fair to say that the new HTML "rich text" is not mature
yet. Issues such as the way the spell-checker messes up the field bother me
more.

 

[Neil]

Yes, I can see that. Let me say a couple of things (not that you have a
choice in the matter... ;-) ).

1) I think some of the more complex features, like bulleting, paragraph
spacing, etc., might be a little trickier -- but maybe not. Suffice it to
say that anyone going to a "rich text" control would expect a more
programmatic interface, and not to have to manually apply code.

2) With that in mind, and since your page is about upgrading to Access 2007,
someone who's currently using a rich textbox control (such as the Microsoft
one), and is thinking about upgrading to A07 to take advantage of the
built-in rich text capabilities, should know about the lack of methods
available for applying rich text. To "upgrade" to the A07 rich text control
would actually be a "downgrade" if they are used to (and have code written
for) built-in methods for their current control. Thus, it seems that that's
a significant issue for someone considering porting their app to A07.

3) In my application (currently using the MS Rich Textbox control) I need to
concatenate several RTF strings into a single file. Being a newbie at rich
textbox controls, I was unable to do it, until Stephen Lebans graciously
helped me out by pointing out the SelRTF and SelText methods of the Rich
Textbox control, which allow me to append one control's formatted text into
another. Without those methods, I'd have to work within the RTF code to
determine how to concatenate the two strings manually. Having the methods
available for manipulating the text makes a huge difference.

4) Though a separate issue, the lack of full text justification is
significant. The early versions of the rich textbox control (including the
Microsoft one) do not support full text justification. But the later
versions (based on a newer version of the RichEdit Window Class) do support
full text justification, as well as other advanced features. Thus, even
though the Microsoft Rich Text is HTML and not RTF, someone going into it in
2007 would expect that features that have been available with the RichEdit
Window Class would be available in the new MS Rich Text. But they're not.
Thus, again, for someone considering upgrading to A07, the lack of advanced
formatting capabilities would be a significant issue for them, since, if
they currently use those features, the A07 rich text would be a downgrade
for them.

5) Continuing on the last point, the MS rich text feature doesn't provide
the ability to set margins, tab stops, etc., etc. One can just apply the
code manually, as with the bold issue. But, again, these methods are
available in rich textbox controls, and have been for many years. The MS
rich text feature seems more geared towards just allowing users to work with
formatted text in forms and reports, and not for doing any serious work with
rich text. That feature (allowing users to work with formatted text) is a
great feature, and I'm glad it's there for the users. But someone upgrading
to A07 to use the rich text feature for anything serious would be sorely
disappointed at the lack of functionality it provides.

Thus, to me, all of the above are significant issues when considering
upgrading to A07 to use the rich text capabilities. To me, they make it not
worthwhile, and I'll probably just go with a third-party control (other than
the MS Rich Textbox control that I'm currently using) instead. So I think
the issues are significant.

Neil