Color of a subform

[jimmonator]

I am adding a subform to a form. I am a graphic designer and all my stuff needs to look "designer-ish." I have a nice color scheme worked out in my main form. When I add a subform I seem to be constrained to the default look of the subform, that is to say, it is blue. I want all the design elements of my form to be under my control. A blue subform will not be acceptable. What can I do? I also would like to have control over the way the controls on the subform look, including scroll bars, buttons, etc.

[jimmonator]

Ideally, I would like the entire subform object (other than the data rows) to be invisible until clicked upon, whereupon the subform controls would become visible.

[ajetrumpet]

OK, so what have you experimented with?? Obviously the subform controls can be colored.

[jimmonator]

You know, Adam, I am not even sure I want a subform. What am trying to make is this:

I want a list that acts like a menu, that is to say, initially you see a single entry, the first record in the list displayed as two fields, a date: the most recent correspondence to the client, and a code, telling me which sales piece was sent out. When I click on that date I want to see a menu drop down, with 2 the fields. I should then be able to select the record I want, and have a pop-up window appear, displaying the entire record and all of its fields which would include the text of the mailing.
I want all of this: the drop-down menu "button," list, and the pop-up, colored and formatted to match the rest of my design scheme.

Can you at least point me in the right direction?How should I approach this?

[ajetrumpet]

sure, but let me ask first....what are you doing?? simply making a db for analyzing marketing campaigns??

reason: the campaigns that I've done with NP's CEO were basically sent out via PHP, but we kept track of the data and the letters in Access. All we really had was a form with controls on it. A name, address, phone and a huge memo field box with the letter text in it.

the other thing that made it so good, as in, NOT a waste of time, was the fact that we set it up so that only the relevant data was present. e.g. - the people that were interested in the product, or the ones we heard back from.

Also, please be aware that I sometimes unsubscribe from threads where the OP doesn't follow up in like a couple days or so. In this day in age, businesses can last one day, so I pretty much follow the second-by-second behavior that people are pretty much showing now. I just happened to see this. I do remember this though...

[jimmonator]

Adam,

Sorry about the delay. After no one responded within a couple hours I quit watching. Problem is, they only allow me time to work on this "between the cracks." So it's been a week since I looked at this at all. Terrible way to work, especially since all of my DB experience is in Filemaker Pro (A LOT easier to figure out!).

What I am doing is creating a database to track the wooing of potential tissue donors for a research project. I need to track the status of each potential donor: when we contacted them with a first pitch, when a response was received, when it was replied to, in addition to what was said. Mostly these contacts are made through Outlook, and I would like the database to be able to access the mail in outlook's folder, to display the text of the e-mails on demand.

This database will need to provide automatic ticklers for each of the follow-up stages, and easy stuff like client contact and health information and note note fields.

The design aspects are really secondary, but for me, important. All of the databases around here are hideous and hard to navigate. I am better that that (in my mind!). I hope to do a better job.

So there you have it. The drop-down list is intended as to be chronological list of correspondences, a quick identifier as to which stage of correspondence, and a quick access to the actual text of the e-mail. Sounds like a tall order but I'm sure if you can do it in Filemaker you can do it in Access. Hopefully without any coding, but you tell me, if you have the time.

I really appreciate your attention Adam. Thank you.

Jim

[ajetrumpet]

to display the text of an email, I'm not sure. Obviously the integration VBA coding is there if you need it, but in terms of streaming data, I can't think of another way at the moment.

Are you, or have you ever used, the email feature in acc 07?? you can data forms out, then import them back in to tables when a reply is made. but in terms of actually displaying email text on forms, I'm not sure.

I can tell you this though: To get info out of outlook, the code is all over the web via google. for instance, here: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&h...3fa2fab1e0dd34

there are very short samples on those pages, most of them using the "activeInspector" property and "GetNamespace" property. I've never understood things like MAPI, but it doesn't matter anyway. Coding with outlook is basically a rulebook. Just find the rules and follow them. Nothing else to it really, regarding VBA coding.

as far as a correspondence list is concerned, I would certainly have a contacts table and a correspondence table. Then, the listbox would simply come from sql via a JOIN sql statement in the property sheet. And it can happen on every form record.

But considering that the email text has to actually come from outlook, and assuming there are no other streaming methods out there other than .txt streaming via I/O, I would consider a batch import process of somekind when the db is opened. Either that, or overnight maybe?? Simply because, that way you can have the text in a memo field when the records are loaded so no library connections and/or external connections are needed to simply browse records.

HTH