Nothing is showing up in form view

[TechyTemp]

I have designed a form but when I click over to form view nothing is there.
I have saved, closed and reopened thinking that would do it. All the boxex
are in design view but there's no form to enter data in form view. Why?

 

[Klatuu]

Do you have a record source identified for the form?
Is each control on the form bound to a field in the form's recordset?

 

[TechyTemp]

I have several tables set up which are related to each other. Every box in
the form should populate cells in those tables. Right? I used a form wizard
so whatever the form wizard set up (bound or unbound) is how I have it. How
would I verify?
If the tables are related then why wouldn't data entered into each box
automatically go to those cells in the tables?
I'm really getting panicky. I can't even get headers and footers to appear
on the forms and I haven't been able to type any in. I'm supposed to have a
meeting tomorrow to present these forms and they're not ready.

I designed a customer input form and that's working fine. So I don't know
what I've done differently.

 

[Klatuu]

Here is how you can see what the form should be presenting.
Open the form in design view.
Select the Properties Dialog. (Either from the tool bar or right click any
where in the form).
Select Form from the drop down list
Select the Data tab and see what is in Record Source. It should be the name
of either an table or a query.
Select each control in the Proerties Dialog. Select the Data tab and see
what is in Control Source. It should be the name of a field in the table or
query that is the record source for the form.

Post back as soon as you have looked at this. It appears we are on a tight
time line.

 

[TechyTemp]

Each control has a corresponding table as the record source. I opened the
properties box for the entire form and one table is listed as the record
source. There's more than one table that the data is supposed to populate.
Is that the problem?

 

[Klatuu]

Yes. A form can have only one record source. It can be a table or a query.
Each control is then bound to a field in the record source.

The only way you can use multiple tables for a record source is by creating
a query. The tables used will have to have a 1 to 1 relationship, or the
form will not be updatable. That means that a record in the first table can
have only one related record in the second table. If you need to present
multiple records in one table related to one record in another table, you
have to use a subform. The form has to have the table with one record as its
record source and the subform can have many records related to the one record

 

[TechyTemp]

ok....I had separate forms for each table but it's not practical to do that
here so I put everything for the initial orders on one form. I don't know
that they have a 1-1 relationship. For instance, the Customer Table has a 1
to many with the Orders Table via the Customer ID #. Then the Orders Table
has a 1 to many with the Shipping Table via the Sales Order # since often
times partial shipments are made.

How would I set up a query that would take data from the Order Input Form
and populate the tables? I have an Access 2002 Bible so if you tell me which
type of query I need to set up I can look it up. Would it be at all possible
to email or fax a copy of the relationship page and the order input form for
you to see what I've done?

If I need to postpone this meeting a day or two, I need to do that pretty
quickly. I may not be able to I just don't know.

 

[Klatuu]

I think you better postpone the meeting.
I can't accept any E-mails. I don't really need to see the relationships,
you have described them pretty well.
Here is how your data should be set up.
Sales Orders should be a combination of two tables. Order Header and Order
Detail. They should be related based on the Order Number.
Your Shipped table should be related to your Order Detail table based on the
Order Number and Line number.

Your Inventory table will also be related to the Order Detail table based on
the ProductID.

The Customer table should be related to the Order Header table based on the
CustomerID.

Lets start with the Orders form. It's record source should be the order
table. It should only have information on it that pretains to the order
itsself, not the line item detail.

The form should have a subform. The subform's record source should be Order
Detail table. When you create a subform control on the form, you need to
fill in two properties that tie the order details to the order. They are
Link Master Field(s) and Link Child Field(s) properties. The Link Master
Field property should be the name of the field that stored the Order Number
field from the Orders Table. The Link Child Fields should be name of the
field that stored the order number in the Order Detail table.

See if you can get it that far and post back.

 

[TechyTemp]

These are the relationships that I have set up:


Customers -->Orders--> Shipping -->Shipping Detail
l \ l l
V Profit V l
Order Shipping l
Details Details l
l l /
l l /
Monthly Open Orders <------- /

The Order Input Form has to contain the boxes from the Customer Table
doesn't it? The subform I have contains boxes from Orders,Order Details, and
shipping details. The Link Master Field(s) and Link Child Field(s) both say
Sales Order Number. I am still getting a blank form in form view though.

 

[Klatuu]

You are trying to put too much in one form.
Yes, the Order main form should contain the fields necessary from the
Customer table. The record source query for your orders form should be based
primarliy on the orders table, but should join the customer table so you can
see the customer info you need. The orders detail should not be in the main
form. It should be the sub form. The Shipping information doesn't belong in
this form at all. It should be strictly for entering, viewing, and updating
order information. Let's get this working first, then worry about shipping
information.

 

[TechyTemp]

I was able to get the information on two forms so that's not bad. But I'm
going to have some questions as I start to put the bells and whistles on the
forms. The first question I have is regarding a text box (named
'Explanation') with a memo data type. I need to make sure that when new
information is entered that the old information in the 'Explanation' field is
not erased. Is the newly input info added to the field or does it replace
what's already in the field?

 

[Klatuu]

Memo fields are different than most other types. Whether the old data
remains is up to the user, because editing in a memo field a like a dumbed
down "notepad" entry. If the user types over the old info, it is gone. If
the user adds new info and leaves the old, it stays. To try to prevent over
typing, you may want to try using the Got Focus event to position the cursor
at the end of the current data:

Me.MyMemoField.SelStart = Len(Me.MyMemoField.SelStart)

 

[TechyTemp]

Another question: I have a form entitled 'Open Order Input Form' which is
what the warehouse will use to update the 'Explanation' section for each
order. It has text boxes for the sales order #, part #, promise date and
explanation. If the warehouse guy enters the sales order number, will the
associated part numbers and promise date automatically appear in the
respective boxes (assuming they are in the database already) or do I need to
do something to make that happen?

 

[Klatuu]

If those fields are in the form's record source and they are bound to
controls on the form, then they will show up.

 

[TechyTemp]

I cut and pasted the expression below into the 'On Got Focus' box . Was that
the correct thing to do?

 

[TechyTemp]

Thank you very much for all your help. Had my meeting yesterday morning and
it went well.

Another question - I need to add a list box to one of my forms. I put list
boxes on two of my other forms and had no problems but this one keeps telling
me 'The text you entered isn't an item in the list'....

The table that I am drawing everything from is called Monthly Open Orders.
The three headings I need are Sales Order Number, Skid/Parts Number and
Promise Date. All of these are in the field list for the Monthly Open Orders
table.

The control source is Sales Order Number. The row source type is
table/query and the row source is tblMonthly Open Orders. Column count is 3,
bound column is 1. Column Heads - yes....but when I list the three heading
names, it doesn't populate the column headings. why??

 

[TechyTemp]

Which brings something to mind....the properties box seems to only allow one
bound field....is that correct? from what you've just said, I should be able
to bind each heading to a control on the form. But when I select a customer
and the accompanying information in each column, the only control that is
populated is the number of the column in box. I tried entering all the
column numbers separated by a "," but that didn't work.

I need the data in each of the related fields to populate the controls when
I hit enter. What am I missing?