High Lighting

[Lana]

Is there a way to highlight a column in a form? I have gone to the
properties of both the queries and form and selected the highlight feature.
When I colse and reopen the form it is not highlighted. Did I miss a step
somewhere?

Thank you.

 

[smk23]

Are you trying to highlight the control that is active or is there a
particular field on your form that you want to look different all the time?

If the latter, just change some of the formatting properties on the
properties list.

Sam

 

[BruceM]

I don't know what you mean by "highlight feature". If you are asking about
formatting a form in datasheet view it is all or nothing, as far as I know.
However, you may be able to use conditional formatting by setting a
condition for a field that is always true or always false. For instance,
for a FirstName column you could use the criteria: <> "ZZZZZ", and set the
fill color to yellow if the condition is not met.

Other than something of that sort you could design a continuous form so that
it resembles a datasheet. You will have much more control over formatting.

 

[Lana]

I would like to set the column up so that it stays yellow all the time. I
thought I changed the properties called Back fill to Highlight. I did this in
the form and in the query. When I started the form up, it does not appear.
What other property do I need to change?

 

[BruceM]

There is a back color property for controls and form sections, but Highlight
is not among the choices in Access 2003 or any earlier version of which I am
aware.

See my other response for comments about the datasheet view for forms, and
how you may be able to use conditional formatting.

 

[Lana]

I am using Access 2007 and that is correct, but under the back color section,
I can choose hightlight. I thought this would highlight that particular area.

Thank you.
Lana

 

[BruceM]

I am not familiar enough with Access 2007 to offer anything specific. I
don't know if formatting a datasheet view of a form is different in Access
2007 than in previous versions, but I suppose you could try highlighting
controls in design view and seeing if it is reflected in datasheet view. I
doubt that highlighting a section would give you the desired result, but
again I'm not sure.

 

[Rod Plastow]

I've followed this discussion because I too was curious as to what Lana meant
by highlighting. I could find no such function or method.

My understanding of the choices offered in the Property Sheet in Access 2007
(including 'Highlight') is that they are simply an enumerated list of
colours. This is not a function or method.

Bruce your suggestion is a good one and will work well except (there's
always an except) for cases where the text box or whatever is smaller than
the cell in which it resides. The back color of the text box will be
formatted according to the conditional formatting rules. However there may
be a line top and bottom where the back colour of the section shows through.

To overcome this place a rectangle in the cell and set its back color to the
highlight color and send it to the back. Make the back color of the control
transparent.

I use the term cell loosely. What I mean by it is the area from the top to
the bottom of the detail section and from the envisaged left column boundary
to the envisaged right column boundary. By using a separate rectangle you
can extend the highlight as far left and right of your control as you wish,
and you can make sure it touches the top and bottom section boundaries so
that when displayed the highlight is seamless.

Rod