Operation Manual

Step 5: Arrange controls.
A control in a form consists of two parts: label and field. This step in creating the form determines
where a control’s label and field are placed relative to each other. The four choices from left to right
are Columnar left, Columnar - Labels on top, As Data Sheet, and In Blocks - Labels Above.
1) Arrangement of the main form: Click the second icon (Columnar - Labels on top). The
labels will be placed above their field.
2) Arrangement of the sub form: Click the third icon (As Data Sheet). (The labels are column
headings and the field entries are in spreadsheet format.) Click Next.
Step 6: Set data entry.
Unless you have a need for any of these entries to be checked, accept the default settings. Click
Next.
Step 7: Apply styles.
1) Select the color you want in the Apply Styles list. (I chose the beige which is Orange 4 in
the Color table.)
2) Select the Field border you want. (I prefer the 3D look. You might want to experiment with
the different possible settings.)
3) Click Next.
Step 8: Set name.
1) Enter the name for the form. In this case, it is Fuel.
2) Click Modify the form.
3) Click Finish. The form opens in Edit mode.
Modifying a form
We will be moving the controls to different places in the form and changing the background to a
picture. We will also modify the label for the PaymentType field as well as change the field to a list
box.
First, we must decide what we want to change. The discussion will follow this outline of our
planned changes.
• Provide a drop-down capability for the Date field in the main form, and lengthen the field to
show the day of the week, month, day, and year.
• Shorten the length of the payment fields (all fields containing the word Payment).
• Move the controls into groups: food, fuel subform, and miscellaneous.
• Change the wording of some of the labels. Some single words should be two words. Some
abbreviations should be used if possible (Misc. for miscellaneous).
• Change the lengths of several fields and labels. Only Lunch, Supper, Motel, and Tolls have
acceptable lengths. But for a better appearance, changes will be made to these as well.
• Lengthen the Note field vertically, add a scroll bar, and move it.
• Make changes in the Date and PaymentType columns of the subform to match the
changes in the main form.
• Add headings for each group in the main form.
• Change the background to a picture, then modify some of the labels so that they can be
read clearly against this background.
• Change the font color of the headings.
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