Sendkeys and Utility Add-Ins

[steve.redman]

I bought ACCESS officially through Microsoft but from the Internet so I have no disc. So I downloaded the Utility Add-Ins free of charge from the Internet because I wanted to use ‘Sendkeys’. Everything worked fine – for a while! Then suddenly I got a message saying my Utility Add-Ins were not working and I needed to uninstall them. I decided that I’d buy them officially through Microsoft. Their help desk were no help and I cannot find official Microsoft Add-Ins on the net. Thus I’m stuck. I don’t even know which Add-In I need. Most of the Free Downloads promise everything but assume you have a degree in Computer Science (and it seems to me that they change your search engine and load unwanted ‘clean your Registry’ software!)



Can anyone help where Microsoft themselves were of no help? All I want is to be able to use ‘Sendkeys’ again– surely that’s not difficult is it? Which Add-In do I need and where can I get hold of it?

[rpeare]

I haven't found occasion to use .sendkeys but I don't think you need an add-in. You are probably just missing a reference to something that's already loaded when MS Access is installed. I'm trying to find the correct reference now but maybe someone else can address that part of your question while I'm looking

[steve.redman]

Thanks for bothering to reply. You definitely do require an add-in - I had it and then Access told me to un-install it. Now I get the message "The SendKeys action requires the Microsoft Utility Add-In to be loaded. Rerun Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office Setup to reinstall Microsoft Access and the Microsoft Access Utility Add-In".

This kind of implies it's on the Access disc but I have no disc as it was downloaded direct from the Internet. You would have thought it would have been downloaded properly especially as it came from Microsoft themselves. Or what might be useful to users is to put a Link on the 'screen' of the error message that would allow you to find the Add-Ins direct on-line from a site that doesn't do all the things I said in my original post!

[rpeare]

What I'm saying is that some (I'm not sure if it's the case with sendkeys) add-ins use other references which are already available through your references interaface, and sendkeys *might* be one of them.

Have you looked here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/145773

There may be an issue with the content of your sendkeys if you are using a handful of 'problem' values (it seems to be version specific)

If it's a microsoft add-in or reference you need to install there likely isn't a charge, though, like you I'm not having much luck finding either the correct reference or an add-in install package that allows them.

[ItsMe]

Perhaps referencing "Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation" will do the trick. A VBA statement of mine looks like this

SendKeys "~"

Just not sure which reference it needs. I used this a while back in a pinch until I could find a better solution than SenKeys.

[rpeare]

What references were you using when your code worked with the sendkeys command (or if it still works, what are your current references for the db)

[ItsMe]

I am looking at a not too old copy of a DB in an Archive folder. Bunch of references because I was using the DB for new development. It is not used for anything. Besides a bunch of HTML, XML, OLE references I have...

Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation

Microsoft Scriptlet Library
Microsoft Scripting Runtime
Microsoft Script Control 1.0
Microsoft VBScript Regular Expresions 5.5
Microsoft WMI Scripting V1.2 Library
System_Windows_Forms
Windows Script Host Object Model

[steve.redman]

Thanks guys - all of you for trying to help. I'm still not getting far. I can't work out why it was working fine (implying my syntax is correct) and then it stopped. Perhaps if I explain briefly what I was doing, some bright spark amongst you might be able to suggest an alternative.

My database will be used by nursing staff who are not necessarily computer literate. They know about nursing and you know about computing. I know a bit about both! (Enough to have a heart attack when programming in Access!)

What I wanted was a consistent result when moving from field to field. Tab or enter were fine but what if the user just clicked in the field? If it was in the middle of the field
(say Fr | ed) and the user typed John without looking then you ended up with 'FrJohned' ! I used a macro fired by the 'enter' event which forced an 'End' followed by a shift and 'Home' so that in all cases (Tab, Enter or just Click) you ended up with the whole field highlighted and you could just type away.

This (surprisingly for me!) worked fine until Access told me (after several weeks) to un-install my Utilities Add-In. Now I'm stuck! I don't even know how to (quote) "Rerun Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office Setup to reinstall Microsoft Access and the Microsoft Access Utility Add-In". Remember I got it from the internet and therefore have no disc.

Has anyone any bright ideas of how I could do the above without using Sendkeys?

[ItsMe]

Perhaps SelStart in the click event of the controls
https://www.accessforums.net/forms/p...eld-38402.html

https://www.accessforums.net/access/...d-w-39860.html

[rpeare]

The easiest thing I can think of is to do this:

Make a function:

Function fieldclick(sCtrlName)

DoCmd.GoToControl "cmd_001"
DoCmd.GoToControl sCtrlName

End Function

whenever you want your entire field to be selected if someone clicks on the field do this:

Private Sub fld_xxx_click()
fieldclick (Screen.ActiveControl.Name)
End Sub

Where CMD_001 would be the name of any control that is always enabled and visible on your form

[rpeare]

He said he wanted to select all the text by default, not go to the end if I understood the post.

[steve.redman]

Celebrations - problem solved! Not down to me - well maybe a bit of persistence!

I guess all you guys are 'experts' who know what you're talking about. So thanks for welcoming a (relative) novice and thanks for taking the time to help.

After four long and non-productive calls to Microsoft, I finally contacted Advanced Tech Support who I 'joined' some months back. I have since read discouraging reports, but it's a bit late now! I've had cause to call them three times now, each time with an excellent outcome, so I have no complaints. Within minutes he was able to tell me that I had a 'pre-release or beta version' of Access (interesting since it came from Microsoft). This was causing conflict with Microsoft Office. He also told me that my Product Key wasn't! He said I had a stand-alone version of Access which was why there was a conflict with MS Office. The MS helpdesk were first contacted Monday this week - they asked for my Product Key, but didn't seem to know that it was actually a Product ID. Once ATS (not the tyre people!) had identified the problem (which they couldn't fix because it wasn't a Product Key), I got back onto MS help desk, telling them what the problem was and then they solved it!

You live and learn! I now know where to find my Product Key and not mix it up with a Product ID; I now know how to uninstall an MS product and then re-install it; I now know that Forums aren't scary places and that there are a load of helpful guys out there willing to help. Thanks again!

Oh, and by the way, my SendKeys problem is solved. The problem was really down to my installation. It's gone away! Everything is now hunky dory (technical term).

[ItsMe]

Sounds like a frustrating experience. Glad you got things sorted out though!