Bookmark Property

Applies To

Form.

Description

You can use the Bookmark property with forms to set a bookmark that uniquely identifies a particular record in the form's underlying table, query, or SQL statement.

Setting

The Bookmark property contains a string expression created by Microsoft Access.

You can set this property by using a macro or Visual Basic.

Note You get or set the form's Bookmark property separately from the DAO Bookmark property of the underlying table or query.

Remarks

When a bound form is opened in Form view, each record is assigned a unique bookmark. In Visual Basic, you can save the bookmark for the current record by assigning the value of the form's Bookmark property to a string variable. To return to a saved record after moving to a different record, set the form's Bookmark property to the value of the saved string variable. You can use the StrComp function to compare a Variant or string variable to a bookmark, or when comparing a bookmark against a bookmark. The third argument for the StrComp function must be set to a value of zero.

Note Bookmarks are not saved with the records they represent and are only valid while the form is open. They are re-created by Microsoft Access each time a bound form is opened.

There is no limit to the number of bookmarks you can save if each is saved with a unique string variable.

The Bookmark property is only available for the form's current record. To save a bookmark for a record other than the current record, move to the desired record and assign the value of the Bookmark property to a string variable that identifies this record.

You can use bookmarks in any form that is based entirely on Microsoft Access tables. However, other database products may not support bookmarks. For example, you can't use bookmarks in a form based on a linked table that has no primary index.

Requerying a form invalidates any bookmarks set on records in the form. However, clicking Refresh on the Records menu doesn't affect bookmarks.

Since Microsoft Access creates a unique bookmark for each record in a form's recordset when a form is opened, a form's bookmark will not work on another recordset, even when the two recordsets are based on the same table, query, or SQL statement. For example, suppose you open a form bound to the Customers table. If you then open the Customers table by using Visual Basic and use the Seek method to locate a specific record in the table, you can't set the form's Bookmark property to the current table record. To perform this kind of operation you can use the FindFirst method with the form's RecordsetClone property.

An error occurs if you set the Bookmark property to a string variable and then try to return to that record after the record has been deleted.

The value of the Bookmark property isn't the same as a record number.

See Also

Bookmark property ("DAO Language Reference"), Bookmarkable property ("DAO Language Reference"), RecordsetClone property.

Example

To test the following example with the Northwind sample database, you need to add a command button named cmdFindContactName to the Suppliers form, and then add the following code to the button's Click event. When the button is clicked, the user is asked to enter a portion of the contact name to find. If the name is found, the form's Bookmark property is set to the Recordset object's DAO Bookmark property, which moves the form's current record to the found name.

Private Sub cmdFindContactName_Click()
    Dim rst As Recordset, strCriteria As String
    strCriteria = "[ContactName] Like '*" & InputBox("Enter the " _
        & "first few letters of the name to find") & "*'"

    Set rst = Me.RecordsetClone
    rst.FindFirst strCriteria
    If rst.NoMatch Then
        MsgBox "No entry found"
    Else
        Me.Bookmark = rst.Bookmark
    End If
End Sub