Hide/Show Columns based on DropDown Selection in Form

[taya621]

Hello,
I have few fields that show up in datasheet view on a form. My first field has dropdown boxes with selections that user can choose. Based on the selection, I'd like some columns to hide or show.
For example, if user chooses "Work Type A" from my first column, Columns H thru J will hide and therefore, only allow user to fill information in the the showing columns.
I want to do this becaues there are a lot of work types users can be working on that each have their own set of fields to fill out so I only want the ones that apply to that work type to show.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[NoellaG]

Hi,

I would create a templates table where you can store which columns have to be shown for which work type. Then you can use this templates table to set the ColumnHidden property of the control in the form each time another work type is chosen.
The templates table has the advantage that whenever something changes about the columns (new columns, change in which cols have to be hidden, ...) you only have to change the data in the table and not the code.

succes
NG

[taya621]

Hi Noella!
So we meet again - thank you!
I am unfamiliar with table templates...where would I go to create one? How do I make a table template instead of just a regular table?
Thanks!

[pbaldy]

Another thought:

http://www.baldyweb.com/ConditionalVisibility.htm

though with a datasheet I think you have to use ColumnHidden rather than Visible. That said, the request implies a normalization problem. I'm curious what the table/field structure is.

[NoellaG]

Hi,

a bit of a misunderstanding, it's just an ordinary table but holding all information regarding the way the columns should be shown. You can link it with a one to many relation to the WorkTypes table. In the table you can have the following fields:

tplID ........autonumber and PK
tplWorkType .......... FK to the worktypes table
tplFormName ........... name of the form
tplColumnname..............name of the column that has to be shown/hidden
tplShow............. YES/NO field that is set to True if the column has to be shown.


hope this clears things up

NG

[taya621]

Thank you for that. I have decided to go a slightly different route. Basically, here is what I have: I have taken a MS template for "Billible working hours" and I'm trying to change it to what I need because although I do not want to keep track of billable working hours, I need to keep track of what the employee is doing. I have various work codes which are different - unrelated - tasks that the employee does. Since these tasks are unrelated, I want them to be able to click on the work code type they are working on and then the appropriate form will show (this is where I diverged from hiding columns) then the employee will fill out the requested information, save and move on to another one of the same work code or to a different work code type. I just began so the databse has a lot of the template's things but I intend to change them to what I need. Do you think I should just start from scratch? Eventually, I need a whole series of reports to find different info of what the employee has been working on, how long it takes to do each work code, etc. My question is whether I should keep the Work Hours table and have all my info from the different work code forms go there. Or should each different work code have it's own table and its own form?...
OR should I have not diverged, but rather, have my work hours list datasheet view form hide/show columns based on the dropdown selections?
i just don't know where the best/most efficient place to start is.
thank you for your help!

[pbaldy]

I assume that's in 2010 format, as I can't open it with 2007. Generally, I'd expect to have a related table for tasks, with a record for each task performed.