ACC: How to Open MS Access to a Specific Form Using a Shortcut

• Microsoft Access versions 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

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

This article describes how you can create two types of shortcuts on the Windows 95 desktop that will start Microsoft Access and open a form of your choosing. You can create such a shortcut either by dragging the form from the Database window to the desktop or by using the /cmd command-line switch.

MORE INFORMATION

Method 1

You can drag a form from the Database window directly to the desktop. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.

2. Select the Customers form in the Database window.

3. Restore and position Microsoft Access so you can see the desktop as well as Microsoft Access.

4. Drag the Customers form to the desktop. Note that you now have a shortcut on your desktop named "Shortcut to Customers in Northwind."

5. Close Microsoft Access.

6. Double-click the shortcut on the desktop. Note that Microsoft Access starts with the Customers form of the sample database Northwind.mdb open.

Method 2

The following example shows how you can create two shortcuts that will start Microsoft Access and open either the Orders or the Employees form.

1. Right-click the Windows 95 desktop, point to New on the menu that appears, and then click Shortcut.

2. In the Create Shortcut dialog box, create the following two shortcuts (one at a time) with the following command-lines:

   NOTE: In the following sample, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as a line-continuation character. Remove the underscore from the end of the line when re-creating this sample.

         C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Msaccess.exe _
         C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb _
         /cmd "Orders"
   

         C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Msaccess.exe _
         C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb _
         /cmd "Employees"
   

   NOTE: These shortcuts assume that Microsoft Access is installed in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\ folder.

3. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb and create the following function in a new module:

       Function CheckCommandLine()
         ' Check value returned by Command function.
         If Command = "Orders" Then
            DoCmd.OpenForm "Orders"
         ElseIf Command = "Employees" Then
            DoCmd.OpenForm "Employees"
         Else
            Exit Function
         End If
       End Function
   
   

4. Create a new macro as follows and save it as AutoExec.

         Action
         -------
         RunCode
   

         AutoExec Actions
         -----------------------------------
         RunCode
            Function Name: CheckCommandLine()
   
   

5. Close Microsoft Access. On the desktop, double-click the first shortcut. Note that Microsoft Access starts with the Orders form of the sample database Northwind.mdb open.

6. Close Microsoft Access. On the desktop, double-click the second shortcut. Note that Microsoft Access starts with the Employees form of the sample database Northwind.mdb open.

REFERENCES

For more information about command-line switches, search the Help Index for "command-line."