Launch a form as a GUI

[rebfein]

I've created a simple database with one table, several reports & queries and two forms.

I would like to be able to launch one of the forms as the GUI for the database. First, is this possible? Second, does this require programming acumen (because I don't have any)?

Thank you,

Rebecca F.

[John_G]

You can specify which form is displayed when the database opens.

Click the File tab, then click Options , then Current Database.

From the Display form dropdown, select the form you want to display when the DB opens.

[rebfein]

OMG, it worked, thank you and you rock!!

A further question, is there anyway to deny access to other forms, reports, tables and queries? I don't want other users to change the designs and queries in those?

Thank you again,

[John_G]

It depends on how secure you want your database to be (which is another way of saying to what extent you trust your users).
some of the things you can do:

- you can hide the navigation pane
- you can create a run-time version of the database (.accde) and give that version to the users
- you can open your form in modal mode, meaning that users can't do anything outside it (including ribbon commands)
- you can close the database automatically when the form is closed

and there are others. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

One recommendation, if you haven't already done so: if you have multiple users who will be accessing the same data, you should always have a "split database", where the data tables (known as the back end) are in one file which is stored in a common area (network location), and the forms, reports, queries etc. are in a separate database file (known as the front end), with each user keeping a copy of the front end on their own workstation.

Having all users access the same copy of the front end file (i.e. a network copy) is a recipe for disaster - you would get corruption eventually.

Let us know which option(s) you think is best for you and we can go from there.