Add Excel-style comments to controls grid

[ScottEnsink]

Looking for some ideas/suggestions/help on this. We have an existing tool in Excel where users can set 'states' of criteria by changing cell colors and adding comments (this is used for evaluating employees). We are looking to move that over to Access.

Besides the issue of creating the actual grid (trying for something better than a grid of labels, but that's another problem), is there a way to imitate Excel's comment feature?



Want to make sure we're not heading down a dead-end path.

[ssanfu]

Looking for some ideas/suggestions/help on this. We have an existing tool in Excel where users can set 'states' of criteria by changing cell colors and adding comments (this is used for evaluating employees). We are looking to move that over to Access.

Besides the issue of creating the actual grid (trying for something better than a grid of labels, but that's another problem), is there a way to imitate Excel's comment feature?

Want to make sure we're not heading down a dead-end path.

Well, first off, don't think that the datasheet view in access is the same as an Excel worksheet. They are two different animals. Forget everything you know about Excel... learn how a relational databse is constructed and programmed.

For changing colors, there is Conditional Formatting. The default, plus three additional formats. If you need more formatting options, use VBA to set the fore/back ground colors, hide/show, enable/disable, lock/unlock a control.

[ScottEnsink]

Thanks for your quick response. I do understand the difference between Excel and Access, I probably should have worded my post differently. Not really a datagrid, more of a label grid...

Any ideas of how to implement 'comments' though? One of our ideas is to create labels on the fly that will be above the 'normal' labels, and will show up on request (a switch/command button/etc). Has anyone used the CreateControl method for something similar? Does it work in an ACCDE?

Another idea was to add a hidden 'comment' column between the columns of base data, but did not sound very attractive--we'd have shifting columns of data, would leave big gaps where no comments were...

Looking for a good solution, something simple, quick, clean... We're stuck.

Thanks again for your response.

[ssanfu]

Thanks for your quick response. I do understand the difference between Excel and Access, I probably should have worded my post differently. Not really a datagrid, more of a label grid...

Any ideas of how to implement 'comments' though? One of our ideas is to create labels on the fly that will be above the 'normal' labels, and will show up on request (a switch/command button/etc). Has anyone used the CreateControl method for something similar? Does it work in an ACCDE?

Another idea was to add a hidden 'comment' column between the columns of base data, but did not sound very attractive--we'd have shifting columns of data, would leave big gaps where no comments were...

Looking for a good solution, something simple, quick, clean... We're stuck.

Thanks again for your response.

Haven't got an idea about what you are trying to do. Would it be possible to post your project (minus sensitive data) or a mock up of your mdb?

There are still a lot of people that don't have A2010 (me - but I have access to A2007 - no pun intended ), so you might need to provide a copy in an earlier version (if possible).

Next best would be a screen print, pdf, image in word to show what you are trying to accomplish.