Expandable and Collapsible 'Headings' for forms [Access 2010]

[bytreeide]

I am creating a form that will have some fields that may or may not be used in all cases.

This form ends up being quite long, so I am wondering if there is any way that I can "collapse" sections of the form similar to the way that MS Word can do that with the Headings.

So I want to have several headings in the form of "+/-" boxes or check-boxes that I can click, that would expand the sections below them in order to fill in the fields included in such a section.

Example:

Before:
[+] Heading 1


[+] Heading 2
[+] Heading 3

After clicking on the "+" for headings 1 and 3:
[-] Heading 1
Field 1.1
Field 1.2
Field 1.3
[+] Heading 2
[-] Heading 3
Field 3.1
Field 3.2
Field 3.3

Can this be done?
If so, how do I do it?

[June7]

What do you mean by 'several headings' - how is this accomplished?

Could use a Tab control to organize data.

[bytreeide]

What do you mean by 'several headings' - how is this accomplished?

The number of headings is irrelevant, more than one. At the moment this isn't accomplished, I am desiring to find out how to accomplish this feat. These "headings" that I have are just check boxes that cause all of the fields under that heading to be visible and then not visible.

Could use a Tab control to organize data.

I have to be honest and say that I really don't know what you mean by this, probably because I still have a lot of learning to do on Access. I already have several forms that are organized with a navigation form that has tabs. Each of these forms has topic specific data that I want to keep together in one place. Or do you mean to make a subform that has tabs that could contain these "headings"?

[June7]

I don't like and don't use navigation form.

I do use a Tab control to organize lots of data. Research it, you might like it.

Does not mean a subform is necessary but subforms can be placed on a Tab control.

[bytreeide]

I will look into it, however I don't consider this issue resolved yet.

[June7]

Back to your question about 'collapsing' multiple form header sections - No, not a feature in Access. There is only one each of form header, footer, detail, page sections. Your checkboxes with code that hides/unhides controls is one approach, organizing controls onto a Tab control is another.

[bytreeide]

I wasn't referring to "headers/footers" but to "Headings" like section-headings. I was wondering if Access contained the same ability that Word does, with the ability to show and hide all of the text under one of the section-headings. I think this might be a new feature as of Office 2013.

I have gotten the tab control to work and thus far I like how it works, it fits the need that I had.

[June7]

Can hide the entire section. There are no 'headings' to hide.

[bytreeide]

I am aware that there are no "Headings" in Access, I think you are mis-understanding me. I want Access to be able to mimic what Word can do, via VBA or Macro. So I am using terms from Word (like heading), because that is something that I understand. I am trying to find commonality... Do you know what I am talking about when referring to "Headings" in MS Word?

What exactly do you mean by "...hide the entire section."?

[June7]

Hide Header, Footer, Page, Detail section. (Actually, Page section can display only when form is printed - printing form is rarely done.)

Believe I do understand. Apparently is an Add-in for Word 2007/2010. You are mimicking in Access form with the +/- checkboxes. Alternatives are Tab control or Navigation form.

[CJ_London]

it can be done. I don't have to code available but basically you need to use the controls top, height, tag and visible properties

basic rules

1. headings are always visible
2. each control needs to know the name of the control below it (suggest use the tag property)
3. the top of the next control is calculated from the top of the previous visible control plus the height of the previous visible control plus a bit
4. headings need to 'know' if it's detail section is visible or not
5. headings need to be identifiable as headings (suggest put a - before the next control name in the tag e.g. -txtcontrol


the code starts from the heading 'clicked' and moves on to each control in turn, within its section, setting the visible property and top property if required and for following sections the top property only

a 'redraw' sub would look something like

dim ctrl as control
dim ctrltop as single
ctrl=screen.activecontrol
ctrltop=ctrl.top
if me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=true then 'section is visible, so hide it
me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=false
ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
while left(ctrl.tag,1)<>"-"
me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=false
ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
wend
else 'open it
me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=true
me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).top=ctrl.top+ctrl.height+60
ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
while left(ctrl.tag,1)<>"-"
me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=true
me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).top=ctrl.top+ctrl.height+60
wend

[CJ_London]

sorry - thread updated before I finished

a 'redraw' sub would look something like

Private sub reDraw()
Dim ctrl as control
 dim ctrltop as single
 ctrl=screen.activecontrol
 ctrltop=ctrl.top+ctrl.height+60
 if me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=true then 'section is visible, so hide it
    me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=false
    ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
    while left(ctrl.tag,1)<>"-"
        me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=false
        ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
    wend
 else 'open it
    me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).top=ctrltop
    me(mid(ctrl.tag,1)).visible=true
    ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
    ctrltop=ctrltop+ctrl.height+60
    While left(ctrl.tag,1)<>"-" or ctrl.tag<>""
        me(ctrl.tag).top=ctrltop
        me(ctrl.tag).visible=true
        ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
        ctrltop=ctrltop+ctrl.height+60
    wend

'Adjust tops of remaining controls
While ctrl.tag<>""
    if ctrl.visible=true
        me(ctrl.tag).top=ctrltop
        me(ctrl.tag).visible=true
        ctrl=me(ctrl.tag)
        ctrltop=ctrltop+ctrl.height+60
   end if
wend

end sub

this does not contain error code has not been tested but created from memory and will need to be adjusted to account for controls that are aligned horizontally