Calendar Form Frustration

[GinCan via AccessMonster.com]

In a database it is quite normal to have to assign a date to an event, a task,
an appointment, etc. With activeX calendar controls, (or built-in, in Access
2007) it is easy to have a minicalendar popping up.

What to my knowledge is not natively available in Access yet, is the ability
to display database records by date in a Calendar form similar to Outlook
Calendar but self contained within Access. By searching on the internet I
found code and implemented some workarounds but they are so cumbersome and so
very heavy on resources.
What surprises me (actually really frustrates me...) is that when designing
Access forms on PCs with MS Office or MS Works installed, we discover quite a
number of DLLs and References and Objects with encouraging names such as:
-"Microsoft Outlook Controls" (outlctl.dll),
-"Outlook Object Libary" (msoutlb.dll),
-"Microsoft Works Calendar Type Library", etc.

Some of these activeX I can actually drag onto a form but I have never been
able to work out or raise a form similar to a calendar. Some other objects
like "Microsoft Works Calendar Block Control" or "Microsoft Works Calendar
Month Control", immediatly crash my Access 2003, upon being dragged onto the
form.

It seemed logical to me that these objects -properly referenced and
registered- could have been used as ActiveXs in a Form and would make
available all the features of Calendaring (like adding a new item directly to
the calendar, displaying week/month/year views, etc.).

Am I missing something? Has any one been able to implement an easy calendar
form using any of these ActiveX or it is deliberate Microsoft policy to make
this so difficult?

Thank you for any suggestion and comments.

 

[Mark Andrews]

Three ways in general to do calendars that I know of:
1. A bunch of Access code and forms that looks like a calendar. If you want
a popup cal to select dates there are tons of them around (I like the one on
Allen Brownes site). If you want a calendar for scheduling (example: show
the event that occurs from 1pm to 2:30pm on Monday in the calendar), there
are some samples on utteraccess.com if you search (probably a few other
places as well). Shoot me an email if you need some.

2. You can use the MSFlex Grid control to make something that looks like a
calendar. Peter Hibbs is a good guy to talk to. I also have a ms flex gird
example on my site (http://www.rptsoftware.com), but it's not a calendar.

3. Use a third party activex control designed for scheduling:
www.codejocksoftware.com
www.dbi-tech.com
a few others out there (look for COM or ActiveX) some require you to buy the
suite and some are about $150.

Other than #1, most of these options are somewhat difficult. Not difficult
to add the activex controls to your forms but the code involved to
make everything work can get a little hairy.

If I ever finish my Access scheduling application. I will then have a nice
way of dealing with events stored in a table and resources associated with
those events
(with recurrence etc...). I use a combination of classes to read data into
memory and then move data back and forth to the calendar itself (just a tip
if you go down this route).

I agree that scheduling is an area that if you want build something that
works like Outlook (drag and drop appts, resize etc...) the typical Access
ways
are not that professional.

However if you are building something in .NET etc... you probably need to
use the same third party controls.

HTH,
Mark
RPT Software
http://www.rptsoftware.com

 

[GinCan via AccessMonster.com]

Thank you Mark for the overview of what is available and the numerous
pointers. I will check them out.
For my purposes I would be satisfied with being able to load a dynamic
Calendar form (capable of week/month/year views) linked to a simple table
with a date and time fields and a text field.
Ideally of course, it would be nice to have advanced features like drag and
drop, recurrence, etc. but I can live without.

Hopefully I will find something with basic calendaring functionality among
the links you kindly provided but it's really a pity that what seems so
within reach (Microsoft's calendaring activeXs like Outlook) are not usable.

Regards
Gino
__________________________________________________

Three ways in general to do calendars that I know of:
1. A bunch of Access code and forms that looks like a calendar. If you want
a popup cal to select dates there are tons of them around (I like the one on
Allen Brownes site). If you want a calendar for scheduling (example: show
the event that occurs from 1pm to 2:30pm on Monday in the calendar), there
are some samples on utteraccess.com if you search (probably a few other
places as well). Shoot me an email if you need some.

2. You can use the MSFlex Grid control to make something that looks like a
calendar. Peter Hibbs is a good guy to talk to. I also have a ms flex gird
example on my site (http://www.rptsoftware.com), but it's not a calendar.

3. Use a third party activex control designed for scheduling:
www.codejocksoftware.com
www.dbi-tech.com
a few others out there (look for COM or ActiveX) some require you to buy the
suite and some are about $150.

Other than #1, most of these options are somewhat difficult. Not difficult
to add the activex controls to your forms but the code involved to
make everything work can get a little hairy.

If I ever finish my Access scheduling application. I will then have a nice
way of dealing with events stored in a table and resources associated with
those events
(with recurrence etc...). I use a combination of classes to read data into
memory and then move data back and forth to the calendar itself (just a tip
if you go down this route).

I agree that scheduling is an area that if you want build something that
works like Outlook (drag and drop appts, resize etc...) the typical Access
ways
are not that professional.

However if you are building something in .NET etc... you probably need to
use the same third party controls.

HTH,
Mark
RPT Software
http://www.rptsoftware.com

In a database it is quite normal to have to assign a date to an event, a
task,

[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]

Thank you for any suggestion and comments.

 

[Gino]

..... I am sorry if my question appeared twice...
I did not know that AccessMonster forum automatically also appear in the
Microsoft community forums.
Gino

_________________________________________________

 

[Mark Andrews]

If you can't find the access ones feel free to shoot me an email, I've
collected a few over the years.

Mark
http://www.rptsoftware.com

Thank you Mark for the overview of what is available and the numerous
pointers. I will check them out.
For my purposes I would be satisfied with being able to load a dynamic
Calendar form (capable of week/month/year views) linked to a simple table
with a date and time fields and a text field.
Ideally of course, it would be nice to have advanced features like drag
and
drop, recurrence, etc. but I can live without.

Hopefully I will find something with basic calendaring functionality among
the links you kindly provided but it's really a pity that what seems so
within reach (Microsoft's calendaring activeXs like Outlook) are not
usable.

Regards
Gino
__________________________________________________

Three ways in general to do calendars that I know of:
1. A bunch of Access code and forms that looks like a calendar. If you
want
a popup cal to select dates there are tons of them around (I like the one
on
Allen Brownes site). If you want a calendar for scheduling (example: show
the event that occurs from 1pm to 2:30pm on Monday in the calendar), there
are some samples on utteraccess.com if you search (probably a few other
places as well). Shoot me an email if you need some.

2. You can use the MSFlex Grid control to make something that looks like a
calendar. Peter Hibbs is a good guy to talk to. I also have a ms flex
gird
example on my site (http://www.rptsoftware.com), but it's not a calendar.

3. Use a third party activex control designed for scheduling:
www.codejocksoftware.com
www.dbi-tech.com
a few others out there (look for COM or ActiveX) some require you to buy
the
suite and some are about $150.

Other than #1, most of these options are somewhat difficult. Not
difficult
to add the activex controls to your forms but the code involved to
make everything work can get a little hairy.

If I ever finish my Access scheduling application. I will then have a nice
way of dealing with events stored in a table and resources associated with
those events
(with recurrence etc...). I use a combination of classes to read data
into
memory and then move data back and forth to the calendar itself (just a
tip
if you go down this route).

I agree that scheduling is an area that if you want build something that
works like Outlook (drag and drop appts, resize etc...) the typical Access
ways
are not that professional.

However if you are building something in .NET etc... you probably need to
use the same third party controls.

HTH,
Mark
RPT Software
http://www.rptsoftware.com

In a database it is quite normal to have to assign a date to an event, a
task,

[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]

Thank you for any suggestion and comments.

 

[Peter Hibbs]

Gino,

If you are prepared to use a Flex Grid control for the display and are
able to amend the VBA code to suit your needs I can supply you with a
calendar form which, I believe, does all you are asking for.

It has four views :-
Yearly which shows 12 months of the year with a cell for each day.
Monthly which shows each day of the selected month with up to 6
appointments for each day.
Weekly which actually shows each day of the month (so its really a
month view) but it can show any number of appointments for each day.
Daily which shows each appointment for that day, appointments can be
set to any time period from 1 minute each to 10 hours each (or
whatever).

Each appointment can be assigned one of 8 coloured categories (which
can be changed to your preferred colours) and the appointments are
display in the colour for that category (depending on the selected
view).

There is code to click on any appointment slot (or day) and add, amend
or delete appointments. Appointments can run over one or more days or
months, as required.

There are also basic options to synchronise the appointments with the
MS Outlook calendar.

It also has options to show public holidays on any calendar view.

The form works on any version from A2000 onwards.

If you want a copy just email me at (e-mail address removed)
(omit the NOSPAM part and please don't publish this address on any Web
site or News Group, I get enough SPAM as it is).

Bear in mind, however, that this is only a demo program, you will
almost certainly need to make some amendments to the code to get it to
do what you want but it will be a good starting point.

HTH

Peter Hibbs.

Thank you Mark for the overview of what is available and the numerous
pointers. I will check them out.
For my purposes I would be satisfied with being able to load a dynamic
Calendar form (capable of week/month/year views) linked to a simple table
with a date and time fields and a text field.
Ideally of course, it would be nice to have advanced features like drag and
drop, recurrence, etc. but I can live without.

Hopefully I will find something with basic calendaring functionality among
the links you kindly provided but it's really a pity that what seems so
within reach (Microsoft's calendaring activeXs like Outlook) are not usable.

Regards
Gino
__________________________________________________

Three ways in general to do calendars that I know of:
1. A bunch of Access code and forms that looks like a calendar. If you want
a popup cal to select dates there are tons of them around (I like the one on
Allen Brownes site). If you want a calendar for scheduling (example: show
the event that occurs from 1pm to 2:30pm on Monday in the calendar), there
are some samples on utteraccess.com if you search (probably a few other
places as well). Shoot me an email if you need some.

2. You can use the MSFlex Grid control to make something that looks like a
calendar. Peter Hibbs is a good guy to talk to. I also have a ms flex gird
example on my site (http://www.rptsoftware.com), but it's not a calendar.

3. Use a third party activex control designed for scheduling:
www.codejocksoftware.com
www.dbi-tech.com
a few others out there (look for COM or ActiveX) some require you to buy the
suite and some are about $150.

Other than #1, most of these options are somewhat difficult. Not difficult
to add the activex controls to your forms but the code involved to
make everything work can get a little hairy.

If I ever finish my Access scheduling application. I will then have a nice
way of dealing with events stored in a table and resources associated with
those events
(with recurrence etc...). I use a combination of classes to read data into
memory and then move data back and forth to the calendar itself (just a tip
if you go down this route).

I agree that scheduling is an area that if you want build something that
works like Outlook (drag and drop appts, resize etc...) the typical Access
ways
are not that professional.

However if you are building something in .NET etc... you probably need to
use the same third party controls.

HTH,
Mark
RPT Software
http://www.rptsoftware.com

In a database it is quite normal to have to assign a date to an event, a
task,

[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]

Thank you for any suggestion and comments.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

Am I missing something? Has any one been able to implement an easy
calendar
form using any of these ActiveX or it is deliberate Microsoft policy to
make
this so difficult?

Why would you bother with all the strange and bizarre ActiveX controls here?

Just build a form that represents "one day". then throw this into a large
form.
You then cut+paste this sub-form 7 times. Then select the 7 forms, and
cut+paste them 7 at a time down the screen).

I built a fully functional and programmable calendar that look like
outlook and the whole thing took less then one afternoon.

you can see some screen shots of the calendar here:
http://www.kallal.ca/ridestutorialp/setdriver.htm


I don't have a downloadable sample, but Tony has some links here where
several people did exactly the same thing I did....
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/calendars.htm

So Tony's site has some links and tips.

However, it really was quite easy to build a calendar form. Spend an
Afternoon and you not only come up with a nice working calendar system, but
you'll have something that's more customizable for your own needs....

 

[Mark Andrews]

The only reason I would use third party activeX control over what you
mention is if you really want to get some of the extra functionality they
provide. For example using the controls from codejock I was able to have a
small calendar control with two months shown that is in sync with the big
scheduling calendar. I can drag and drop appointments around, I can resize
an appointment to make it another half hour longer, the look and feel is a
bit better (shading and appearance etc...), also depending on how much room
is available it changes to should more details of the appointment. The
calendar instantly changes from day view to week view to month view
depending on how many days are highlighted in the smaller date picker. The
calendar also is designed to show resource names at the top if you use those
(example Joe's schedule vs. Sue's schedule). They also support recurring
appointments (same appointment every week for the next 7 weeks etc...).

However the amount of work is much much higher to go down this route! So I
agree that 99.9% of people should follow your advice and just use Access
functionality and steal as much code as possible from others.

Mark
RPT Software
http://www.rptsoftware.com