Need better way to Add Comments

[TraciAnn via AccessMonster.com]

On my Contact form I have a fsubComments which is a Datasheet. There are 3 of
5 fields visible in the form: CommentID (PK) and ContactID (FK) are not
displayed whereas CommentTime (Date/Time) CommentUserInits (Text) and Comment
(Memo) are visible.

Most comments are less than a sentence long. But Datasheet view is very
confusing for the Comment column because if the user hits Enter, it looks
like they clear the field. When in fact, they have entered a new line and
since Datasheet is only displaying one line at a time, it moves the previous
line out of focus.

The initial view is what the users want to see (summarized comments) but I
need to provide something less confusing. I like the simple view of the
datasheet to quickly add a comment without popping up a module or something.

I would like to know what works for everyone else!

Thanks!

 

[fredg]

On my Contact form I have a fsubComments which is a Datasheet. There are 3 of
5 fields visible in the form: CommentID (PK) and ContactID (FK) are not
displayed whereas CommentTime (Date/Time) CommentUserInits (Text) and Comment
(Memo) are visible.

Most comments are less than a sentence long. But Datasheet view is very
confusing for the Comment column because if the user hits Enter, it looks
like they clear the field. When in fact, they have entered a new line and
since Datasheet is only displaying one line at a time, it moves the previous
line out of focus.

The initial view is what the users want to see (summarized comments) but I
need to provide something less confusing. I like the simple view of the
datasheet to quickly add a comment without popping up a module or something.

I would like to know what works for everyone else!

Thanks!

I would open a Zoom Box when double-clicking on that control?
Code the control's Double-click event:
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdZoomBox

Or... increase the height of each row (which will allow the user to
see more than on line), ..... and waste a lot of display real estate.

 

[Peter Hibbs]

TraciAnn.

What I do in this situation is to use a Continuous form (not
Datasheet) and enable the Form Footer. Place the Comment field in the
footer area (as well as on each line) and make the field much bigger.

Whenever the user clicks on a record, the Comment field in the footer
section of the form shows all the Comment text for that record. The
user can edit the text as normal. It depends on how much space you
have on the form but it may be what you want.

HTH

Peter Hibbs.

 

[TraciAnn via AccessMonster.com]

Interesting!

I would open a Zoom Box when double-clicking on that control?
Code the control's Double-click event:
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdZoomBox

I like the concept but the Zoom window opens centered on the screen. Based on
the location of the comment field it causes the user to "chase" the box to
either view or edit. Also, the Comment textbox doesn't have a Dbl Click Event,
Only a Click.

I like this in leiu of what I currently have, but I'm still looking for
something more applicable to my situation.

Or... increase the height of each row (which will allow the user to
see more than on line), ..... and waste a lot of display real estate.

Unable to set a different row height in the datasheet. I can type a different
"Height" for the property, but it doesn't adjust the displayed height at all.

Thanks Fred!

 

[fredg]

Interesting!


I like the concept but the Zoom window opens centered on the screen. Based on
the location of the comment field it causes the user to "chase" the box to
either view or edit. Also, the Comment textbox doesn't have a Dbl Click Event,
Only a Click.

"ALL" Access text controls have a double-click event, so I have no
idea what you are using.

I like this in leiu of what I currently have, but I'm still looking for
something more applicable to my situation.


Unable to set a different row height in the datasheet. I can type a different
"Height" for the property, but it doesn't adjust the displayed height at all.

You cannot set the height of a row that is displayed in Datasheet view
by setting a control's Height property.
The way to set the height of a row in datasheet view is to first open
the form in datasheet view, then either click on Format + Row Height
and enter a value, or place the cursor over the record selectors at
the left edge of the datasheet. Move the cursor. When the cursor
becomes a 2 directional arrow, hold down the left mouse button and
drag the row height to a larger size.

 

[TraciAnn via AccessMonster.com]

Peter,

I think this might work with some modifications; can you help me?

Due to screen real estate, the footer option will not work. However, I
switched to a Continuous Form and increased the height of the comment field.
The "Comment" section essentially looks something like:

Entered User Comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
4/24/09 | tlc | This is my most recent comment.
3:22 pm | | (this is the second line of the most recent comment)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
4/23/09 | cmd | This comment was entered today, which is yesterday if you

12:00pm| | are looking at this tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
4/20/09 | jcs | This entry was made earlier than the entries made after
it.
12:00pm| |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------

When the comment extends beyond two lines a scroll bar appears to the right
of the field which I like. I have enough real estate that will display 3.5
comments. So when I have 4 comments the subform has a scroll bar for users to
scroll down to see some of the older comments.

Also, notice I have the Order By set for the CommentDate (alias "Entered")
column in descending order.

The problem I have is, the user needs to scroll to the bottom of the list in
order to add a new comment.

To mitigate this I added a comand button in the subform header to add a new
record, but for some reason it isn't working. Here's the code:

=========
Private Sub cmdAddComment_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_cmdAddComment_Click

DoCmd.GoToRecord , , acNewRec

Exit_cmdAddComment_Click:
Exit Sub

Err_cmdAddComment_Click:
MsgBox Err.Description
Resume Exit_cmdAddComment_Click

End Sub
=========

Pretty simple, but when I click on it the subform scroll box scrolls almost
to the bottom but it isn't in "add mode". Is there a way I can have the text
cursor position in the comment field of the new record?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Peter Hibbs]

TraciAnn,

Have you tried adding this :-

DoCmd.GoToRecord , , acNewRec
Me.Comment.SetFocus

When you say -"but it isn't in 'add mode'" - what does that mean. Are
you saying that a new record is not created or do you mean that you
can't enter any data or what? I presume you also have some code to
enter the current date/time and User ID automatically.

Post back if you still cannot get it to work.

Peter Hibbs.

 

[TraciAnn via AccessMonster.com]

Thanks Peter!

The SetFocus is what was needed.

 

[Larry Linson]

I'll just add a tagalong comment that what rarely ever works well is
presenting datasheet view to the user of an Access database application --
continuous forms view is much preferrable.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

On my Contact form I have a fsubComments which is a Datasheet. There are 3
of
5 fields visible in the form: CommentID (PK) and ContactID (FK) are not
displayed whereas CommentTime (Date/Time) CommentUserInits (Text) and
Comment
(Memo) are visible.

Most comments are less than a sentence long. But Datasheet view is very
confusing for the Comment column because if the user hits Enter, it looks
like they clear the field. When in fact, they have entered a new line and
since Datasheet is only displaying one line at a time, it moves the
previous
line out of focus.

The initial view is what the users want to see (summarized comments) but I
need to provide something less confusing. I like the simple view of the
datasheet to quickly add a comment without popping up a module or
something.

I would like to know what works for everyone else!

Thanks!

--
---
TraciAnn





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