VBA Status Bar - vba

I am working on a Word VBA macro app for 80 or so users. The office has high staff turnover, so training suffers, and so one of the self imposed requirements for this project is comprehensive, friendly documentation. However, to supplement this, and to save newbies having to open up a 100 page document when they want to try something new, I want a status bar on every userform (there are five) that provides contextual help. I find tooltips annoying.
I don't have a lot of experience, so I was wanting to
Essentially, I have a file containing every status string. (This is currently a text file, but I was wondering if I should use a spreadsheet or csv for ease of editing by other staff in future.) Every control has a MouseMove event which refers to a function: getStatus(cID) that opens the file, grabs the line and displays it in the status label. It also grabs a few parameters from the same line in the file, such as whether the label is clickable (to link to a page in the help file), and what colour the label should be.
So a few questions really:
Will the application be slow if a userform is constantly referring to a file? It feels fine to me, but I've been in it far too long, and I'm the only user accessing that file. There will be 80 constantly accessing it.
Is MouseMove over a control the best way? Should I instead use co-ordinates?
Most importantly (in terms of me having to do as little work as possible) is there some way to do this so that I do not have to have a MouseMove event on every single control? I have a good few hundred or so controls, each with their own identifier (well, not yet, but they will if this is the only way to do it). Maybe when the form loads I could load ALL the possible status lines so they're ready for whenever the control is moused over. But then, maybe the loading time is negligible?
Appreciate any ideas or thoughts - especially if VBA already has a whole range of functions to do this already and I'm just trying to reinvent the wheel. I can't use the application status bar, because the user rarely sees the application itself.
Thanks!
EDIT:
It is for both data entry, clicking around and a bit of document generation.
It is a controlled environment so macro security issues aren't a big concern for me - and if something goes wrong it's someone else's fault or problem :)

Is this data entry app or do they just click stuff? Because often the field with focus is different to the item the mouse is hovering over, this can cause a lot of confusion.
Constantly reading from a file is a huge waste of time and resources - it is much better to load them only once into an array or collection when the form is loaded.
On MouseMouse event is better than coordinates because you can move things around without worrying. It's a lot of code but you should be able to generate most of that if you have a list of control names because the code should be identical.
ie
Sub Control_MouseMove()
DisplayStatus(Control)
End sub

I would consider the StatusText property and ControlTipText property of controls for this kind of help.
StatusText
This example sets the status bar help text for the form field named "Age."
With ActiveDocument.FormFields("Age")
.OwnStatus = True
.StatusText = "Type your current age."
End With
ControlTipText
This can be assigned from the property sheet for the control.
Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
MultiPage1.Page1.ControlTipText = "Here in page 1"
MultiPage1.Page2.ControlTipText = "Now in page 2"
CommandButton1.ControlTipText = "And now here's"
CommandButton2.ControlTipText = "a tip from"
CommandButton3.ControlTipText = "your controls!"
End Sub

Related

How to change the order of open "tabbed forms" in MS Access via VBA

I am using "tabbed document" forms in MS Access (each main form that is open has a "tab" to allow users to easily move between forms).
Does anyone know of a way to reorder such opened forms via VBA? I have workaround code that closes all the forms and then re-opens them in the order I need, but it is clunky and slow (some of the forms are big so take a while to load, and often users have applied filters/sorts which I then need to individually re-apply, plus resetting the current record etc etc).
As all I need is to change the order of the forms on-screen, so my approach seems like overkill - but I can't seem to find info on how to do this anywhere!
(FYI I am NOT talking about the order of pages within a tab control, to avoid any confusion!)
Please attached screenshot with three tabbed forms open, I'd like to re-arrange them so eg left to right they become: #Home, Booking Detail, Enquiry Detail
Thanks
Ok, I have inadvertently figured this out.
In testing I found that if you hide a tabbed form, when you unhide it, it doesn't show up in the same position, but in fact now shows as the last form (ie the rightmost tab)
Eureka! Now to reorder the forms I simply hide them, and then unhide them in the order required. Combine this with DoCmd.Echo = False and there is, in my testing, virtually zero overhead.
Phew!
If the user is not seeing all the forms at once, you don't need to waste resource/time loading all forms at once. Load only what the user supposed to see. NavigationControl is very good for that.
Method 1
Move from tabbed documents to NavigationControl. Each tab is loaded OnDemand hence your main form start-up would be much more quicker. If the main and tabbed form are related to each other, use tabbed form's OnOpen event to dynamically change the record source.
I.e. Form_Open => me.RecordSource = Select * form T1 where T1.id = ParentForm.Id
Method 2
If you can't move to Navigation control, simulate the same effect as above.
When tab pages are changed/selected => underlying form gets a record source.
I.e.
Private Sub TabCtl2_Change()
If Me.TabCtl2.value = 1 Then
me.subform1.recordsource = source
me.subform1.LinkChildFields = linkingFieldName 'if related
me.subform1.LinkChildFields = LinkMasterFields 'if related
ElseIf Me.TabCtl2.value = 2 Then
'Your other form
end if
End Sub
This can help you to reduce your loading time.
[Cascading result sets]
In case if all of your forms are showing cascading results, you might want to consider remove record-source for all of your subforms and then re-apply at each selection.
The goal is to minimise loading time and show only necessary data the user is supposed to see/want to see. Hope this helps to have some idea.

MS Word RibbonX How can I dynamically populate a combobox when a dotm file opens?

I'm a little stumped here. I'm diving deeper into designing ribbons for MS Word 2010, and I came across something new: populating comboboxes on the fly. In the image below, you can see...
...that I'm a dude who likes music while he works, just like any other dude. Problem is my list of playlists changes from time to time, so I don't want to hard-code that list into my ribbon's combobox. I can easily hard-code it, but I want this thing to be dynamic. And so, in my ribbon code:
<comboBox id="cmbPLaylist" label="Playlist" getItemLabel="Document_Open">
<item id="none" label="None"/>
</comboBox>
I have left only one item, "none," which is fine if I want the music player to launch with no playlist loaded. But what if I want a playlist to automatically load?
First, from my Google and book research, I've determined that I need to have a getItemLabel callback to populate the control. Is this the right way to go? But how do I run that automatically when my Normal.dotm loads? I'm having problems running this thing in the Document_Open event, and I've been reading online that I'm not alone.
My problem is a bit threefold: first, I'm really new at using these predefined callbacks like getEnabled, getItemLabel, etc. The callback territory is a very new territory for me. Second, I've never used a combobox in a ribbon before. Three, I've never dynamically populated a combobox in a ribbon before. I might be trying to bite off more than I can chew at once, but can anyone point me in the right direction?
My code so far, inserted into my Normal.dotm Document_Open event, is such:
Private Sub Document_Open(control As IRibbonControl, ByRef label)
Dim ListOfPlaylists() As String
ListOfPlaylists = GetPlaylists()
ListOfPlaylists(UBound(ListOfPlaylists)) = "Random"
End Sub
After this, I'm stumped. As you can see, I'm not sure how to tell MS Word, "Hey, MS Word, insert this value into the combobox list!"
Maybe it's my newbness at this whole thing, but when I Google for an answer, I'm not seeing it in the code. So any help is appreciated. Thanks!
I actually did some fiddling and almost stumbled on the answer. I put this in my code and it seems to work just fine now:
Sub drpPlaylists_getItemCount(Control As IRibbonControl, ByRef drpPlaylists_itemCount)
drpPlaylists_itemCount = UBound(ReadDirectoryContents(MusicDirectory, "*.m3u"))
End Sub
I guess this gets launched every time the ribbon has to reload itself. But it's solved for now. Still have some things to study up on on when these callbacks get called, but I'll figure this out. Thanks for the help!

How to update an Access VBA app with 30 forms?

I need to update an Access VBA app with around 30 forms in it.
I have to amend a screen that seems to have been set up right at the start of the app, it uses a lot of SQL tables. Is there an way of finding my way to the start of the code?
I come from a procedural coding background and I am unused to code that doesn't have a start and an end; I also know a bit of VB, some ASP, some .Net and general computing.
When something "automagically" happens upon opening an Access database, it is almost always because
A "startup form" has been specified. (In Access_2010 that's done in File > Options > Current Database > Display Form.) ...or...
The database has a Macro named AutoExec which is automatically run when the database is opened (unless you bypass it by holding the [Shift] key down while opening).
In addition to #Gord's answer, there's a few things you need to know. I'm going to give you the quick & dirty version.
First, there's 2 types of code in Access. VBA & macros. Sometimes what's called a macro, is really VBA.
In Access, a macro is a set of instructions to do something to the database. It's very limited in what it can do. These are often used by novices who don't know how to program in VBA.
VBA is the real powerhouse behind the scenes. It can do everything a macro can do, but a whole lot more.
Access uses an Event-Driven / Object-Oriented (at least close enough for this discussion) interface. Do a Google search on those meanings. But very quickly, the listbox on a form is an object. It has properties (like width), methods (add an item), and events (click on an item).
To see the code, for macros look to to your navigation window to your left. For VBA (modules), look to the same window, or just press Alt-F11. VBA can be used standalone in a module, or behind the scenes of a form or report.
Once you get the hang of it, you'll find Access to be a handy RAD tool for small projects.
Good luck.
It appears that you already have found the form that opens when the app starts (if not, check out Gord Thompson's answer).
The first things that happen when an Access Form opens (the "start of the code", as you called it) are the Load and Open events.
If there is any code in this form that is connected to these events, then it's in the Form_Load() and Form_Open() functions in the code of the form.

Detecting if user has made changes to FontDialog object

I've got a FontDialog box called aFontDialog.
Can I detect changes made to this dialog box?
Initially my object creates the dialog using this code aFontDialog.ShowDialog, the user than makes changes, then if the user is happy with their changes then the application will receive Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK:
Is it possible to detect any changes made to this dialog by the user? Will I need to record the state of the different aspects of the dialog before and then compare to how they are after - or are there some properties or methods built into this dialog box that help me find any changes?
The most important concern here is - why do you need to know the changes. See, font is usually not a transactional object, so you normally don't need to avoid excessive network traffic or minimize number of database roundtrips.
I would just look if user pressed OK. If yes, set the new font, regardless of how similar it is to your current one. It's just one line of code - simple as assigning this new font to the old one:
Me.Font = MyFontDialog.Font 'Me could be any control in this case
Besides, I think it is your only way, if the font is different. Meaning you cannot for example set Font.Bold = True, because it's read-only. And it would not take a lot of processing time either, so no point in optimizing it.
If you really want to, you can examine FontDialog.Font after checking DialogResult for OK, and compare to what you passed there, although I don't see where this would be useful.

Excel: Fixed Button Position

Needing some help attaching an Excel/VBA button on an Excel sheet. I need it to stay in the same position on the screen regardless of how I scroll or zoom. Preferably, I need this on the bottom left or right of the screen.
I have tried adding a button. Then, I right clicked on the button. Clicked on Format Controls -> Properties -> selected Don't Move or Size With Cells. Am I missing something that's making this not work?
Thanks!
I know this post is old, but here's to anyone it could be useful. The VisibleRange property of ActiveWindow can solve this problem. Use something like this:
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
With ActiveSheet.OLEObjects("MY_BUTTON'S_NAME")
.Top = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Top + ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Height - 5
.Left = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Left + ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Width - .Width - 5
End With
End Sub
Here is the idea that I put across the comment earlier today :) Typically we can get a Floating User Form by setting the Modal property of the form to be 0 which is indeed a Modeless state.
Basic Points to consider:
Look & Feel of the form to make it look like a Button (Not show title bar/Not Resizable/
Hidden Close Button etc)
Setting the position of the Button
Which Event should trigger the form-button (WorkBook Open)
What would you do with Form Initialize Event
Whcih Events should keep it stick to the same position alive
Further Points to consider:
You might only want to keep this button vissible for the workbook you are working, and if you open another instance of a workbook, do you still want to keep the button
If you minimize the Excel Window instance, how do you plan to manage the state of the button and keep it visible
Post about keep displaying a form even the workbook is minimized.
One other great reference I happend to see, (little bit technical) but worth the shot - at least to get to know the certain properties/methods that you could make use: Extending VBA User Form Control.
The article include the following info, and please note the last line as well :)
They give you access to capabilities that are not available from VBA or from the objects (UserForms, Workbooks, etc.,) that make up a VBA Project. When you call an API, you are bypassing VBA and calling directly upon Windows. This means that you do not get the safety mechanisms such as type checking that VBA normally provides. If you pass an invalid value to an API or (a very common mistake) use a ByRef parameter instead of a ByVal parameter, you will most likely completely and immediately crash Excel and you will lose all your unsaved work. I recommend that until you are confident that your API calls are solid you save your work before calling an API function.
Add new Row on the beginning of your WorkSheet and set your button on it, then:
Freeze Top Row
Right click → properties → placement → change to 3.