AllowLayoutView (1 Viewer)

[Sun_Force]

According to documents AllowLayoutView is a Read/Write property.

Form.AllowLayoutView property (Access)

Office VBA reference topic

docs.microsoft.com

This is a part of a test:

Public Sub PrepareForm(frm As Access.Form)
    ......
    .AllowLayoutView = IsAdmin
    ......
End Sub

IsAdmin is a function to check if current user is a member of Admin group.
Running this code, I receive the following error.
To Set this property, open the form or report in Design view

1. If it's said AllowLayoutView can be set in vba, why I receive this error. It doesn't make sense to open a form in design view, change a property, save it and open it again in VBA.
2. Is it possible to allow some users being able to use layout view and others not dinamically?

thank you.

-

 

[MajP]

1. If it's said AllowLayoutView can be set in vba, why I receive this error. It doesn't make sense to open a form in design view, change a property, save it and open it again in VBA.

There are a lot of things that are read / write that cannot be set without being in design view. You may not like it, but that is how it is. Opening a form can be done if this is not an accde. So you could open in design view and hidden. Change the property and Open. Most people are building apps would have this locked down a lot more than that (custom menus, toolbars) that getting to layout view would not be possible except admins.

1. Is it possible to allow some users being able to use layout view and others not dinamically?

You could open, change, and close (all hidden) and open. This would happen seamlessly. It can be done, but I would never open in design view at runtime. Like I said you can provide your own ribbons and shortcut menus. I rarely show any ribbon except to admin

 

[pbaldy]

The form has to be open one way or the other to change a property. Perhaps set this in the open or load event?

 

[arnelgp]

don't take the word of everything that is written.
test to prove or break it.
post comment on "errata" section of that site.

 

[pbaldy]

don't take the word of everything that is written.
test to prove or break it..

Running this code, I receive the following error.
To Set this property, open the form or report in Design view

 

[CJ_London]

agree with other comments about a risky path to tread but you can open the form in layout view from docmd.openform

AcFormView enumeration (Access)

Office VBA reference topic

docs.microsoft.com

so set your view preference there, as part of opening the form

 

[Sun_Force]

The form has to be open one way or the other to change a property. Perhaps set this in the open or load event?

I should have explained that I'm running the function from on-open event. Sorry for not being clear enough.

 

[Sun_Force]

agree with other comments about a risky path

I'm sending this database to someone else. The owner of the shop needs to be able to access to layout view, but not his staff.
I thought I can set this property in open view of the form according to their rights.

I'm open to any other idea that may be helpful in this situation.

 

[pbaldy]

I should have explained that I'm running the function from on-open event. Sorry for not being clear enough.

My apologies, it appears the form has to be in design view. I initially thought you were doing this with the form closed and assumed it could be done while open. A brief test shows it has to be in design view, which others have addressed.

 

[Sun_Force]

You could open, change, and close (all hidden) and open. This would happen seamlessly. It can be done, but I would never open in design view at runtime. Like I said you can provide your own ribbons and shortcut menus. I rarely show any ribbon except to admin

Actually I had thought about this, but preferred to use it when any other solution fails.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[MajP]

I think you could do as @CJ_London states. You probably have a switchboard with different permissions for different users. You can have a button to open in layout view even though the form is defaulted to not allow.

 

[Sun_Force]

I think you could do as @CJ_London states. You probably have a switchboard with different permissions for different users. You can have a button to open in layout view even though the form is defaulted to not allow.

I'm sorry but I fail to understand how it works.
Let me explain the whole story.

The owner of the shop, opens and uses the forms like other staffs. But one day he decides he needs to change the size of a text box or some other minor changes in form design. He wants to be able to right click the form and select layout view and change the design of the form.
For sure I can tell him to open the database unlocked, search for the form, right click and select design or layout view, but he wants the easy way.

 

[arnelgp]

I'm sending this database to someone else. The owner of the shop needs to be able to access to layout view, but not his staff.

i wouldn't do that. it is highly prone to modification.

 

[arnelgp]

But one day he decides he need to change the size of a text box or some other minor changes of form design.

you can't give him and accde for sure.
you need to create a "special" shortcut menu that only he can access the Layout view.

 

[Sun_Force]

you can't give him and accde for sure.
you need to create a "special" shortcut menu that only he can access the Layout view.

The file is accdb.
I'm googling shortcut menu. But haven't find anything clear yet.
Any link you can share?

thanks.

 

[Pat Hartman]

The owner of the shop, opens and uses the forms like other staffs. But one day he decides he needs to change the size of a text box or some other minor changes in form design. He wants to be able to right click the form and select layout view and change the design of the form.
For sure I can tell him to open the database unlocked, search for the form, right click and select design or layout view, but he wants the easy way.

If you have set up the app correctly, the "owner" will be opening a copy of the FE that should NOT be changed. It will be overwritten the next time he reopens the app.

The owner, if he wants to be able to make changes himself, MUST learn to use the discipline of a programmer. That means, he copies the Master to his local drive, makes the FE changes he wants. Compiles and tests. When he is happy with the changes, he renames the current master and uploads the new master.

Personally, my position is, if the client wants to make changes himself, don't call me when it breaks. If he wants me to take his calls and fix things, I need to know that no one bur myself is making changes to anything.

 

[Sun_Force]

@Pat Hartman
I know all the advice I received here from you or others are the best way to go.
But it's a small shop with several staff and only one PC. He has written the database himself. Everyone logs in to the same FE to do some input data etc.

He knew I'm in collage and studying databases and asked me if I can find a way to allow him having access to layout view (only him).
I suggested to test AllowLayoutView, but it didn't work. So I asked the question here to see what experienced users do in this situation.
Apparently as @MajP pointed out, it seems things are not that simple. Though the document says it's a read/write parameter, but the form needs to be in design view and it makes no sense to open a form in vba, change a property and save it and open it again every time a user opens a form.

 

[isladogs]

The way to allow different permissions is to assign user levels to each user who will then need to login with user name and password.
Standard users will have limited permissions. The admin user will be able to do more.
That is a standard approach used to manage many databases.

However, the previous comments/warnings still apply.

 

[Sun_Force]

That is a standard approach used to manage many databases.

That system is inplace and works great. Each user logs in and has his/her own rights.
My question was how to allow a user access layout view and prevent others to access it. (with only one FE)

 

[CJ_London]

As advised.

1. You cannot change the view whilst in 'normal' view' so this cannot be done. End of

he decides he needs to change the size of a text box or some other minor changes in form design. He wants to be able to right click the form and select layout view and change the design of the form.

2. you can open the form in layout view, so if the owner decides he needs to edit the form, he needs to close it, and reopen it in layout view. He does not need to go into the full design of the app

To do this, you could

1. have a global boolean variable or tempvar called say 'designView'

2. on opening the app, this is set to false

3. somewhere in your app, probably a navigation or menu form you could have a button called say cmdDesignView, perhaps with some conditional formatting to show the current 'state' - i.e. 'normal' or 'design'

4. this would only be visible if the user is 'admin'/whatever