Making Access Have WinXP GUI on Forms

[Eddy]

Basically what I want to do is to make MS Access command
buttons et al look like buttons taken from WinXP
interface.

I have tried having manifest files but those did not help
on what I wanted to do it just made the text of the main
menu of access go bold.

I am using Access XP and WinXP Pro.

Someone please help

Thanks in advance

Eddy

 

[Graham R Seach]

Eddy,

The command buttons in Access are the same as those on the host system,
which means, if you are running Access on WinXP, the command buttons ARE the
XP ones. What do you perceived as being different?

Regards,
Graham R Seach
Microsoft Access MVP
Sydney, Australia

 

[Eddy]

What I perceive to be XP ones are like the round nice
looking buttons, not the ugly grey rectangular stuff you
get in Win98. The sort of things you get in Visio 2003 if
you select Software and then Windows GUI.

Regards

Eddy

 

[Graham R Seach]

Eddy,

If you're running on XP, they should already look like XP buttons. If you're
running on 98, the only way I can think of its to take screen captures of a
blank XP button, and use an Image control instead of a command button, in
which case, you'll need code in its MouseDown event to change the Picture
property to simulate the button being clicked.

Regards,
Graham R Seach
Microsoft Access MVP
Sydney, Australia

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

Sorry, I'm afraid the feature you're looking for ('Use Windows Themed
Controls on Forms') is new in Access 2003. It is not available in Access
2002.

 

[Jeff Bean]

Eddy,

The command buttons in Access are the same as those on the host system,
which means, if you are running Access on WinXP, the command buttons ARE the
XP ones. What do you perceived as being different?

Actually, I don't think the command buttons displayed by Access on a
form are Windows buttons at all. If you run the Spy++ utility from
Visual Studio you will find that the controls on the Access forms do not
show up on the window list at all. Only the forms appear on the list.
The buttons and other controls are drawn by Access itself and not by the
Windows user interface dlls.

That is the reason that the buttons on Access forms do not take on
Windows XP characteristics when the application is run on XP. Access
2003 allows its own dialogs (such as Tools/Customize) to conform to the
Windows XP style, but the controls on the forms you (the programmer)
create do not conform.

So to answer Eddy's question, I don't think it is possible to update the
appearance of the buttons.

Jeff Bean
CWC Software

 

[Jeff Bean]

That is the reason that the buttons on Access forms do not take on
Windows XP characteristics when the application is run on XP. Access
2003 allows its own dialogs (such as Tools/Customize) to conform to the
Windows XP style, but the controls on the forms you (the programmer)
create do not conform.

So to answer Eddy's question, I don't think it is possible to update the
appearance of the buttons.

Oops. Brendan is right. There is an option in Access 2003 which you
can turn on to make the form controls conform to the XP style. That
option is not there in Access 2002.

It is still true in both versions of Access that the form controls are
not drawn by Windows XP, but by Access itself.

Jeff Bean
CWC Software