Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Part I: Access Building Blocks

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FIGURE 7.2

Use the Form command to quickly create a new form with all the fields from a table or query.

The new form is opened in Layout view, which is populated with all the controls in the underlying

data source. Layout view gives you a good idea how the controls appear relative to one another,

but it can’t be used for resizing controls or moving controls about on the form. Right-click on the

form’s title bar and select Design View to rearrange controls on the form.

The Form Design button in the Forms group does essentially the same thing as the Form button,

except that no controls are added to the form’s design surface and the form is opened in Design

view. Form Design is most useful when you’re creating a new form that might not use all the fields

in the underlying data source, and you want more control over control placement from the start.

Similarly, the Blank Form option opens a new empty form, but this time in Layout view. You add

controls to the form’s surface from the Field List, but you have little control over control place-

ment. The Blank Form option is most useful for quickly building a form with bound controls with

little need for precise placement. A new blank form can be produced in less than a minute.

Using the Form Wizard

Use the Form Wizard command in the Forms group to create a form using a wizard. The Form

Wizard visually walks you through a series of questions about the form that you want to create and

then creates it for you automatically. The Form Wizard lets you select which fields you want on the

form, the form layout (Columnar, Tabular, Datasheet, Justified), the form style (Access 2003,

Access 2010, Apex, and so on), and the form title.