Add description for a text box in Access forms

[chanu]

I have a text box where the user is expected to enter dates.But i want to
display a message < dd-mm-yyyy> highlighted with a blue blackground to give a
visual clue that only such a date format will be accepted.

 

[ruralguy via AccessMonster.com]

You can use the ToolTip for this function but you do not have control over
the colors. Stephan Lebans has a ToolTip where you do have control over these
items.
http://www.lebans.com/tooltip.htm

 

[Linq Adams via AccessMonster.com]

Regardless of how much visual "guidance" you provide, you end users are going
to get it wrong at times. People simply tend to enter dates the way they
normally write them!

You'd be better off only allowing data entry thru the use of a popup calendar.
You can then control the formatting when assigning the value to the textbox.
You can use an ActiveX calendar control, but they tend to having troubles
when moving from one version of Access to another. Better to use a form-based
calendar, such as Allen Browne's:

http://allenbrowne.com/ser-51.html

And since you're using the British date format, you'd do well to read Allen's
tutorial on international dates:

http://allenbrowne.com/ser-36.html

 

[chanu]

Thank you for your help. In an attempt to simplify my query, I have
oversimplified it to mean a totally different thing. Actually my doubt is
FORMAT A NULL VALUE WITH CUSTOM MESSAGE.
FROMDATE TODATE MONTHLY RATE OF PAY
01-01-2009 30-09-2009 15000
01-10-2009 30-11-2009 17000
01-12-2009 20000

The user actually enters the pay rate for different periods. The pay rate
for the present period is Rupees 20,000 per month. We don’t know how long
the present pay rate will be continued. So, the TODATE field will be left
NULL. Instead of leaving it blank, I want to display a message:
<UPTO PRESENT>
This message should be the default value for TODATE field in the form
assuming that the rate the user enters now would be continued up to
present. So that the user need not scratch his head what to fill in the
TODATE field if he has no clue when this rate would end.