Enabling fields in form

[Kivan]

Hi,

I have a continuous form with History of tasks. I have the fields: Id, Date, Task, TaskFinished(Yes/No), Employee. I want field TaskFinished to be enabled after user write a Task (and it should be disabled if there is no task). Same happens to fields TaskFinished and Employee. I wrote the code:

Private Sub Form_Current()

If IsNull(Me![Task]) Then
    Me.TaskFinished.Enabled = False
ElseIf Not IsNull(Me![Task]) Then
    Me.TaskFinished.Enabled = True
End If

If Me![TaskFinished].Value = False Then
    Me.Employee.Enabled = False
ElseIf Me![TaskFinished].Value = True Then
    Me.Employee.Enabled = True
End If

End Sub

Here is the problem:


If I write something in field "Task" not only current "TaskFinished" is enabled, but it looks like all of the "TaskFinished" are enabled. Obviously same thing happens to TaskFinished and Employee (If I confirm that task if finished all Employee fields are enabled). However in both examples it is only graphic effect, you cant really write any values. How to fix it?

And another thing. How to enable "TaskFinished" field immediately after writing sth in "Task" field. If I set requery command after update in "Task" field, it seems that I have to click somewhere to really requery it. Any solution?

I have attached a simply example of this database.

Thanks for your time.

[June7]

The AfterUpdate event of textbox Task and TaskFinished checkbox needs to be a function, macro, or [Event Procedure]. What you have is =[requery] which is meaningless.

The form Current event triggered an error and form appeared corrupted so I had to rebuild to get rid of error.

This is the nature of continuous form. If you change the property of control it is applied to ALL instances of the control for all records. This is because there really is only one control (as is evident in design view).

[Missinglinq]

Easiest way to do this kind of thing in a Continuous View or Datasheet View Form (or even in a Single View Form, really) is to use Conditional Formatting. Assuming that the name of the Control that holds the Task Field is, actually, Task,

In Form Design View

1. Hold down <Shift> and click on each Control that you want conditionally Enabled/Disabled.
2. Click on the 'Conditional' Icon on the Ribbon
3. Under 'Condition1' select Expression Is
4. In the condition box enter Nz([Task],"")=""
5. Now click on the 'Enable/Disable' Icon (the last Icon, to the right of the Back Color Icon)
6. Click on OK

You should now be set. It will Enable the Controls as soon as you enter data in the Task Field and leave the Field, and they will be Enabled/Disabled as is appropriate, for each Record.

Linq ;0)>

[June7]

Rats! That is the second time I overlooked Enable/Disable option of conditional formatting. Access 2010 expanded Conditional Formatting to allow up to 50 conditions.

[Missinglinq]

Enable/Disable is kind of an odd-man-out situation, when you think about it! Everything else is purely 'formatting' as in setting the 'appearance' of a Control, rather than setting the 'function,' or lack thereof, of a Control!

And, of course, this is really the one exception to the 'you can only use Conditional Formatting for Continuous/Datasheet Forms!' You can actually do this particular task, in code, if you're willing to simply Disable the Control without 'graying it out.' But you have to Lock the Control, as well, and as I said, it won't 'appear' Disabled.

Private Sub Form_Current()
 
 If Nz(Me.Task, "") = "" Then
  
  TaskFinished.Enabled = False
  TaskFinished.Locked = True
 
 Else
  
  TaskFinished.Enabled = False
  TaskFinished.Locked = True
 
 End If
  
End Sub

This works because, as you move from Record-to-Record, the Control will be Enabled/Locked appropriately for that Record, and nothing changes in the appearance of the Control when the two Properties are used in tandem, like this.

Of course, even simpler, assuming you simply don't want to allow data entry to occur conditionally, would be to only use the Lock Property.

Linq ;0)>

[Kivan]

Thank you guys !
It works perfectly, but I had to make some changes in your solutions, because it didnt work as it should. So for the guys who will look at this topic in the future. Correct me If Iam wrong, here is what I made :

I couldnt format TaskFinished field so I didnt use this Nz([Task],"")="" , but btw shouldnt it be Nz([Task])="" ? So I used your code, but I had to correct it and here is it:

If Nz(Me.Task, "") = "" Then
  
  TaskFinished.Enabled = False
  TaskFinished.Locked = True
 
 Else
  
  TaskFinished.Enabled = True
  TaskFinished.Locked = False
 
 End If

I also used this conditional Nz([TaskFinished])=FALSE, in the employee field. After those changes looks like everything works fine.

Thank you again .

[June7]

Linq's Nz syntax is correct. This would have same result:

If [Task] & "" = "" Then

[Missinglinq]

Nz([Task],"")=""

and

Nz([Task])=""

are actually the exact same statement, so either would work!

That's because when using the Nz() Function, if the Field in the First Parameter, in this case Task, is Text (which it is) the Default for the Second Parameter is a Zero-Length String, i.e. "".

So they both work, as does June7's

[Task] & "" = ""

and

Nz(Me.Task, vbNullString) = vbNullString

as well as two or three other hacks that slip my mind, at the present.

Sorry about the code in the Else clause; I copied and pasted it from the If clause and forgot to reverse the settings for the Else part! It's very good that you spotted it!

Good luck with your project!

Linq ;0)>

[Kivan]

I belive it's the same Nz([Task],"")="" , but for some reason I was receiving error when I tried to use it, so I had to change it.

Thanks for help .