ACC: How to Create a Cyclic Tab Order in a Form

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article describes a technique that you can use to create a cyclic tab order on a form, so that pressing TAB in the last control on a form moves you back to the first control on the form (instead of moving you to the first control on the next record); and pressing SHIFT+TAB in the first control on a form moves you to the last control on the form.

NOTE: In Microsoft Access 7.0 and 97, the cyclic tab order of a form can be controlled by setting the form's Cycle property to All Records, Current Record, or Current Page. The information below applies to Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 only.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example demonstrates how to create a cyclic tab order on the Customers form in the sample database NWIND.MDB. This technique uses two transparent command buttons, one at the top and one at the bottom of the form's tab order. When you press TAB in the last control, or SHIFT+TAB in the first control, you run a macro attached to the OnEnter property of the transparent command button at the top or bottom of the form's tab order.

1. Create a macro called CyclicCustomers with the following actions:

         MacroName   Action
         -----------------------
         GotoFirst   GotoControl
         GotoLast    GotoControl
   
         GotoFirst Actions
         ------------------------
         ControlName: Customer ID
   
         GotoLast Actions
         ----------------
         ControlName: Fax
   
   

2. Open the Customers form in Design view and add the following two command buttons with no labels:

         Command Button
         ------------------------------------
         ControlName: btnGotoLast
            OnEnter: CyclicCustomers.GotoLast
            Transparent: Yes
   
         Command Button
         -------------------------------------
            ControlName: btnGotoFirst
            OnEnter: CyclicCustomers.GotoFirst
            Transparent: Yes
   
      NOTE: Make these buttons very small, and position them so that users of
      the form are unlikely to choose them accidentally.
   
   

3. Set the form's OnOpen property to:

         OnOpen: CyclicCustomers.GotoFirst
   

   This is necessary because the btnGotoLast button will be the first control in the form's tab order. If you do not set the form's OnOpen property to CyclicCustomers.GotoFirst, the first command button will be selected when the form is opened, moving the focus to the last control on the form.

4. On the Edit menu, click Tab Order.

5. Scroll to the bottom of the list of control names to find the new btnGotoLast and btnGotoFirst controls. Select the btnGotoLast control and drag it to the top of the list. The btnGotoFirst control should remain at the bottom of the list.

6. View the form in Form view. The first Customer ID in the Customers table is displayed.

7. Press SHIFT+TAB. The Fax field (the last field in the form) is selected.

8. Press TAB. The Customer ID field is selected.

For more information about the Cycle property, search the Help Index for "cycle," or ask the Microsoft Access 97 Office Assistant.