Visually Setting Off An Area Of A Form?

P

(PeteCresswell)

Check out http://tinyurl.com/33dqmo

There's a little "All Sizes" icon above the pic that display a
larger version.

The client wants the L-shaped area within the thin red line to
stand out as a unit.

At it's current size, the screen pretty much fills up the display
of the laptops used by the client group, so enlarging it to get
more space between subforms is not an option. Slightly
shrinking the subforms - especially "Trades" height is an option.

A couple of solid colored rectangles positioned behind the
"Trades" and "Payment Schedule" subforms seems tb the obvious
move, but I'm wondering if there might be something a little more
elegant that doesn't involve degrading the screen's load time as
would a graphic.

The means doesn't have tb color - that just happens tb the only
thing that occurs to me.

Some sort of free-form vector object?

Other means besides background color?
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per Arvin Meyer [MVP]:
Access native rectangles shouldn't slow loading much if at all.
Click to expand...

That was my kneejerk solution.

Was trolling for something a little less harsh - maybe with
rounded instead of square corners - but not the
performance-killing trait of a bitmap graphic.
 
D

David W. Fenton

Per Arvin Meyer [MVP]:

That was my kneejerk solution.

Was trolling for something a little less harsh - maybe with
rounded instead of square corners - but not the
performance-killing trait of a bitmap graphic.
Click to expand...

Have you considered setting off the *remainder*, say by making it
indented? That means you'd only have to deal with a
rectangular-shaped area. You could make it de-emphasized and do
something with the background of the rest to make it stand out.

I wouldn't worry so much about rounded corners and that kind of
thing. Use the tools Access provides and it will be fast and easy to
maintain. Wishing you could do more will only cause problems (such
as bloat).
 
A

Arvin Meyer [MVP]

(PeteCresswell) said:
Per Arvin Meyer [MVP]:

That was my kneejerk solution.

Was trolling for something a little less harsh - maybe with
rounded instead of square corners - but not the
performance-killing trait of a bitmap graphic.
Click to expand...

I know of no way to get rounded corners in Access without using a bitmap or
other outside graphic.
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per Arvin Meyer [MVP]:
I know of no way to get rounded corners in Access without using a bitmap or
other outside graphic.
Click to expand...

I obsess about stuff like this *waaaaay* too much. -)

I went with .BackColors.

Set each subform's Section(0), ...1, and 2.

Also added a color pick dialog and saved the result so users can
specify their own color preference.

viz: http://tinyurl.com/2yb4pg
 
A

Arvin Meyer [MVP]

Also added a color pick dialog and saved the result so users can
specify their own color preference.
Click to expand...

So now, let them change all your forms. Build a dialog box to run this code
(changing the hardcoded backcolor to a variable)

Public Sub SetBackColor()
' Arvin Meyer 2/11/2007
On Error GoTo Error_Handler

Dim doc As DAO.Document
Dim db As DAO.Database
Dim frm As Form

Set db = CurrentDb

For Each doc In db.Containers("Forms").Documents
DoCmd.OpenForm doc.Name, acDesign
Set frm = Forms(doc.Name)
frm.Picture = "(none)"
On Error Resume Next
frm.Section(0).BackColor = 16777215
frm.Section(1).BackColor = 16777215
frm.Section(2).BackColor = 16777215
DoEvents
DoCmd.Close acForm, doc.Name, acSaveYes
Next

Exit_Here:
Set doc = Nothing
Set db = Nothing
Exit Sub

Error_Handler:
MsgBox Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description, vbOKOnly, "Error"
Resume Exit_Here

End Sub
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per Arvin Meyer [MVP]:
So now, let them change all your forms. Build a dialog box to run this code
(changing the hardcoded backcolor to a variable)
Click to expand...

Defeats the purpose of the color. Client wanted two of the
subforms tb set off from the rest as a logical unit ("Trades" and
"Payments" - money going in/out, I guess....)

Only reason I put the picker in is that past experience suggests
to me that one person's favorite color nauseates another.

Normally I'm extremely sparing with color.... tending towards
varying shades of grey when/if needed.

But for this big splotch.... I just figure one person's gonna
demand, say, lavender... and their replacement or colleague is
going to say they can't stand looking at lavender.
 
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