Add return between entries in form field that allows multiple values

[Hey Lucy]

I have a subformClientOffers on my frmAllProperties. On the subformClientOffers is a field called Outside Agents. This field allows for multiple values to be selected.

The subfrmClientOffers is in datasheet view.

While the field Outside Agents DOES allow me to select more than one, they post in the field one after another:

Ken Shaw, John Doe, Jane Doe, Harlan Bestlyn

Therefore, the datasheet view of the subformClientOffers causes the field Outside Agents to get very long, much too long to view without scrolling. My client wishes for everything on the frmAllProperties to be viewable without scrolling.

Is there anyway, to cause the field Outside Agents to place a return between each selected name (sort of a wrap text kind of thing)?

One thing I might mention is that the field is a drop down field from tblOutsideAgents. The table itself has First Name and Last Name, but I concatenated that into Fullname on the form, so that when the user opens the drop down they see the entire name. I don't know if that would have any effect on making the 'return' thing work or not.

I can't use this field as a subdatasheet because I already have one subdatasheet attached to the subform to show multiple notes on each Client Offer.

Any suggestions?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

My client wishes for everything on the frmAllProperties to be viewable without scrolling.

You can adjust the odds, but you cannot prevent this from happening at some point unless you are wasteful of form space.

Is there anyway, to cause the field Outside Agents to place a return between each selected name (sort of a wrap text kind of thing)?

You can't do this to a bound field that easily. In datasheet view, if I read your description correctly, you probably cannot do this at all. But your description is a bit confusing.

Filling in an unbound field from a drop-down might be possible, but unbound fields don't exist in datasheet view. Therefore, I'm thinking that with this particular design / implementation, your answer is generally going to be NO, you can't do that.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

a simple observation is that your user can expand any text box with Shift-F2 (zoom box)

you can easily put this function on say, a double click.

with a datasheet, the user can also stretch the column header to resize columns.

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one issue with mutli valued lists is though -

what if you want to find all the properties where "Harlan Bestlyn" is the outside agent. how easy will that be.

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generally presentation of data is distinct from storage. get the storage (normalisation) correct first and everything else is far far easier.

so you may already have this, but you really need an outside agents table, so you store the name Harlan Bestlyn as the agent - which prevents users entering H Bestlyn, Harlan, or even a mis-spelled version of his name. (re-read, and I see you are doing this)

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i rarely use datasheets to be honest. i prefer continuous forms. then you can add buttons, and subforms to show data like this.

i agree with docman. screen real estate is finite and limited. it's hard to see how you can always show everything on a single screen. tab controls and subforms help make the most of what you do have.

 

[Hey Lucy]

Thanks for the responses. My multivalue list is generated from a table, so I do have the capabilities of querying for properties by outside agent and other things.

The list works great but I wish there was a way to limit the # of selections you can make. I posted about this in another forum and was told you could only do it with VB, which I don't know :-( ...guess I'll be researching yet another way to accomplish what I need.

Both of you are right...sometimes you just can't do anything about the viewable area of a form without scrolling, especially when the client keeps coming up with new ideas and stuff to add to the form...lol...The form is getting waaaaaaaaaay to busy for me...difficult to read....but client insists on it. Guess it isn't so hard for him to read, being more familiar with the industry, but I don't like busy forms. No matter....7 Hills Assistants (that's me!) goal equals happy client, so I do what he wants.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[gemma-the-husky]

limiting the number of selections is easy.

when they try to enter a new one, in the beforeinsert event, count if the selections are already "full", and cancel the insert.

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did you note the point about shift-F2 to expand a text box


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finally - yeah, you have to do what the client wants ultimately. don't let him design the tables for you - you need to have the tables normalised properly, but presentation of the data is differnet, and can be what the client wants to see - as long as the client accepts some compromises along the way.