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Adding Controls to the Form

Data entry controls are those controls that enable user input. While more than one type of control might functionally work for your situation, you may find that one is more intuitive for your users than another. Perhaps one type needs less explanation on the data entry form or another provides specific choices for the user.

Organizational>controls include the Group Box control and the Group Divider Line control. This type of control improves usability by organizing the data entry controls on your form into sections. Organizational controls cannot be modified by users at print-time.

ClosedTo add a data entry control using the Create menu

  1. From the Create menu of the Data Entry Form view, click Data Entry Control and select the control that you want to add to the Data Entry Form view. Alternatively, click the icon on the object toolbar and select the control that you want.

  2. Click on the data entry form to place the control at the cursor location.

  3. Double-click on the control to open the Control Properties dialog. Alternatively, select Properties from the control's context menu.

  4. From the list of available property pages in the Navigation Pane, select Linked Data Source.

  5. From the list of data sources on the Linked Data Source property page, select the data source you want linked to the selected control.

  6. Make any additional customizations to the control using the additional property pages in the Navigation Pane.

  7. Click Close to close the Control Properties dialog.

ClosedTo add a data entry control using the Data Sources Toolbox

  1. Open the Data Entry Form view.

  2. From the Data Sources pane of the Toolbox, locate the data source for which you want to create a data entry control.

  3. Click on that data source, and while holding the left mouse button down, drag the data source onto the data entry form to the location you want the control placed.

  4. Release the mouse button to open the Create Data Entry Control dialog. The Create Data Entry Control dialog displays only the controls that are appropriate for the data source type that was selected. For instance, if you selected a data source that is a "text" type, the number input box and slider controls are not available in the dialog.

  5. Click on the control type that you want to create, and click the Create button to insert that control on the data entry form.

  6. Double-click on the control to open the Control Properties dialog. Alternatively, select Properties from the control's context menu.

  7. Make any additional customizations to the control using the additional property pages in the Navigation Pane.

  8. Click Close to close the Control Properties dialog.

ClosedTo add a group box to the Data Entry Form

  1. From the Create menu of the Data Entry Form view, click Data Entry Control and select Group Box. Alternatively, click the icon on the object toolbar and select Group Box.

  2. Click on the data entry form to place the control at the cursor location.

  3. Double-click on the group box to open the Group Box Properties dialog. Alternatively, select Properties from the group box's context menu.

  4. In the Navigation Pane, select Group Box from the list of property pages.

  5. In the Text field, enter the heading you want for the selected group box.

  6. Click Close to close the dialog.

ClosedTo add a group divider line to the Data Entry Form

  1. From the Create menu of the Data Entry Form view, click Data Entry Control and select Group Divider Line. Alternatively, click the icon on the object toolbar and select Group Divider Line.

  2. Click on the data entry form to place the control at the cursor location. Group divider lines can be placed either horizontally or vertically.

  3. Double-click on the group divider line to open the Group Divider Line Properties dialog. Alternatively, select Properties from the group box's context menu.

  4. In the Navigation Pane, select Group Divider Line from the list of property pages.

  5. In the Length field, specify a specific length for the line.

  6. In the Navigation Pane, select Position from the list of property pages.

  7. In the X and Y fields, specify specific coordinates for the beginning point of the line on the data entry form.

  8. Click Close to close the dialog.

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