Apply Format to TextBox on 1 Record Only (without conditional formatting)

[RMittelman]

Hi,

I have a continuous form which is tied to a particular table. Is there any way to apply a particular format to a TextBox, but only for a particular record (based on a data field in the record).

I can't use conditional formatting, because I'm trying to apply a text format rather than the type of formatting available in conditional formatting.

For example, one field in the table is for a phone number. That is the field that is bound to the particular TextBox.
But another field in the table (not a field that is displayed on my continuous form) contains a format string, such as "(@@@) @@@-@@@@".


What I want to do is format the TextBox so the phone number shows up with this format.

Currently, it is "all or nothing" unless you use conditional formatting, but conditional formatting does not allow for numeric formats.
If I try to apply a numeric format, then all records in the table/form show up with that numeric format, even if not applicable to that particular record.

I've described this as simply as I can, but if anyone is confused or needs more information about my issue, please reply and I will add a full description of why the same field in a different record may or may not want to be formatted.

Any way around this problem? Thanks...

[CJ_London]

the answer is no it can’t be done. What can be done is store the value in the required format in the first place

if you need more help provide examples, not descriptions

[Minty]

You could possibly apply the format in an underlying query using a calculation, maybe an IIf() would do it?

[RMittelman]

Thanks for the replies. Using your comments, I decided to format the data prior to displaying. Which means that if I click in a textbox to edit that data, I need to remove the formatting first (in the Enter event), then reformat it in the Exit or After_Update events. In my case, the easiest way was to have the underlying table have 2 different fields for the value: RawValue and FormattedValue, this one being the field bound to that textbox. On_Enter event replaces the formatted value with the raw value, and On_Exit or After_Update events re-formatting the raw value (which I may or may not have edited).

Thanks again...