Force a user to enter data on a form

[easyrider]

Good morning! I've created a form to add a record to a table with unbound text boxes. The add record event is handled by a DoCmd.RunSQL INSERT statement.



Before running the INSERT command, I would like to make sure that the user has entered something in each text box before moving on to another text box by any means (tab, mouse-click, etc). If they try to move out of a blank text box, throw a warning and then return focus to the blank control.

I have tried most of the pertinent Events for the control (Click, Before Update, After Update, Exit). With any of those event subs, the MsgBox displays but focus does not go back to the blank control - instead, focus stays on the next control in the tab order.

Here is the code for the Exit event:

Private Sub VinNum_Exit(Cancel As Integer)

If IsNull(VinNum) Then

MsgBox "VIN # required.", vbExclamation, "Invalid Entry"

VinNum.SetFocus

End If

End Sub


Thoughts?

[Gicu]

Use the BeforeUpdate event and Cancel it if the control is empty.
https://documentation.help/MS-Access...foreUpdate.htm
Cheers,

[Micron]

I would like to make sure that the user has entered something in each text box before moving on to another text box by any means

I would not do that as it's too constricting to the point that it will be a PITA if you try to control the exact sequence of entries (unless you absolutely need to do that). Instead, use a form level event to trap any missing but required entries. I typically use .Tag property for these fields (set it to reqd) and loop over the form controls looking for that value. If found and the control has no value, then prompt. I'd rather build a list if there are many controls and present one message so that user doesn't get umpteen prompts every time they fire the event because they're fixing one at a time. Your way, you need an event for every control -maybe LostFocus would be better but I don't see why yours doesn't work except to say I'd always use Me.VinNum.SetFocus

Perhaps you'd need 2 events at the form level: 1 if you save the record with a button click and the other would be the unload event because you can cancel it if data is missing. You don't have to repeat the code for both events (although that would be easier) as there are other ways to consolidate the code. One would be to have the button perform a save & close action rather than just a save. That way, you only need the unload event.