Combo Box Autofill Issue (1 Viewer)

[MattBaldry]

Hi All,

I have a new issue that has appeared with Windows 11. Below is an image with 6 combo boxes. All of these are setup the same with properties.

They all have 2 columns, with the first PK bound column width at 0cm. A query displays the right information, the combo holds the number.

The customer combo does NOT start to autofill when I type into, unless I put it into a dropdown state.

All the other combos DO start to autofill when I type into them. This doesn't happen on Windows 10.

Has anyone else experienced this with Windows 11?

~Matt

 

[MattBaldry]

Some new information, if I change the row source to the tbl, it works. If I base the combo on a query, it fails....

~Matt

 

[Pat Hartman]

Try setting the sort property on the control to sort by the text field.

 

[MattBaldry]

Try setting the sort property on the control to sort by the text field.

Hi Pat,

I already have this setup. This issue seems to be Windows 11 related, as I can open the same database on Windows 10 and there are no issues.

I have now switched back to my older, slower machine on Windows 10 as access run faster this way. Windows 11 was slower on every form used, which is very frustrating as the new machine is better for everything.

My main form on my old machines opens in less than a second. The same form on the newer Windows 11 machine is anywhere between 5 and 12 seconds, it makes no sense to me.

Any form based on a query is now painfully slow. But forms based on tables are lightning fast. Is there a query handling issue in Windows 11?

~Matt

 

[Pat Hartman]

You're right. It makes no sense. Is there a virus checker getting in the way? Use the Feedback in the Access backstage to report the issue to MS. They do look at these reports. Don't ever seem to do anything but they assure me that they look.

 

[shanegroff]

Try not to be so pessimistic, Pat. The Access team does review feedback, although there is a lot, so it may take time if only a small number of users are encountering an issue.

Matt, it does sound like a problem we should address if it only happens on Windows 11. The easiest way for us to find the issue would be if you could share a database that shows the problem (presumably with 'fake' data, and maybe extraneous controls removed, or maybe you can make a small case from scratch that shows the problem). If you can't share that, maybe you can share the SQL of the query you are using to fill the combo.

Shane

 

[Pat Hartman]

Try not to be so pessimistic

It gets really hard Shane when the access team thinks that Dataverse is the "savior" and so ignores YEARS of requests to upgrade the VBE and SQL editor and to give us a way to actually secure our intellectual property so Access could be a viable platform for saleable projects and add some new controls that don't depend on abomination data types.

But the seriously depressing part is looking at the marketing material for Office and seeing Access completely missing from products which contain it. Doesn't anyone at MS realize what a great FE Access is for SQL Server? The SQL Server team should be selling Access as a tool for certain kinds of projects. IT departments tend to have backlogs running to years. But judicious use of Access can allow teams to develop smallish applications (the size of the app isn't relevant, it is whether or not it can be built by ONE developer in a reasonable amount of time) with 10% of the resources required to develop using a "real" platform. So, even if the ultimate goal is a "real" application, using Access can capture the moment and what might be a fleeting business opportunity. The Access app can end up as an excellent template for future development and maybe the "real" application will never have to be built. If it turns out to be needed, the user department has an intermediate solution. --- Except that corporate America thinks of Access as a toy because the SQL Server people constantly bash it as they confuse Jet/ACE with Access the RAD tool so they won't even consider it. All my projects at Fortune 500 companies were directly with the user departments and getting access to SQL for the BE was like pulling teeth. On the other hand, IT was always very supportive when a client bought one of the auditing applications my partner and I sold. I guess it was because they knew they weren't going to have to resolve problems with the FE. Access is far and away a superior development platform for LAN applications which is why it doesn't die no matter what MS seems to do. I have a number of clients that run Access apps using Citrix or RD quite successfully. It would be great to just be able to link to WAN based databases the way web apps do but in 20 years of trying, MS hasn't managed to achieve this so RD and Citrix are how my clients survive. They love the flexibility and speed with which I can solve their problems using Access. Many have priced web solutions. Those that spent the money and time were sorry. The most common question from a new client is "yes, but, isn't Access dead?" That's what your marketing team has done for Access. Doesn't matter how hard the Access team works and even what they produce. If your marketing team can't/won't sell the product, potential customers are afraid to give it a shot if they have no previous experience with it.

Maybe, you should ask the MVP community or the folks here and at other forums for suggestions on marketing.

Changing the topic to documentation. I was looking at my old Access 95 and 97 packages because I wanted to review the books that came in the box and found a pretty fancy brochure with a bunch of supporting products and complete applications for sale. That was marketing It seems that the books I was actually looking for came only with A 2.0 and later with the Developer's toolkit - The Language Reference and the Data Access Reference. I was going to mention them to Jeff and see if he could resurrect them. It would be sooooooooooooo wonderful if there were updated, online versions of these available with a few more different kinds of examples. It would answer all the syntax questions that ever get posted here. I know I'm crazy. I actually read manuals- maybe because I used to edit them as a part time gig for IBM. I far prefer manuals (when they have good examples) than web searches that just keep bringing up wrong answers from forums rather than syntax. Why can't the search prioritize actual MS web syntax (at least with Bing) entries? The nice thing about these manuals in particular is you get to use the TOC to drill down to what you need. That makes them very useful to me but not necessarily to newbees which is why online versions are better because they can allow full text searches.

 

[MattBaldry]

This issue is still live. I have reported the issue, but nothing yet. It is not consistent on all combo boxes. Some work, some don't. Seems the fewer rows in the list, the better it works. It could not be more frustrating. I have a combo box where I really need to see the information I am typing, but it just will not work.

~Matt

 

[MattBaldry]

Update. I have now run out of things to try.

If I change the combo box to a different source with less rows, it works. Change it back to the source I want, fails

New query, fails
New form, fails
New database, fails

All options work on Windows 10.

It seems to be down to the number of rows. SQL for this is below, output is 31,697 rows

SELECT tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL.ProductID, tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL.ProductCode AS [Product Code]
FROM tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL
WHERE (((tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL.ProductLabourID) Is Not Null))
GROUP BY tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL.ProductID, tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL.ProductCode
ORDER BY tblProductLabourDuplicate_LOCAL.ProductCode;

Further update, anything that starts with a 0, works. no other numbers or letters work. If I add the number 0 to the front of EVERY row, they ALL work, no matter how many there are.

Another update, the 0 fix is now also broken. Only works 00, 01, 02, 03 now.

~Matt

 

[Jfruiz]

I have the same problem since I moved to a new windows 11 machine and posted about in Microsoft support groups.

Problem with combobox form controls - Microsoft Community Hub (can't paste links)

After some trials with other users the problem does not arise in any installation but only in some of them.

In my case I have two computers, with the same w11 os build, access builds and accdb. In one of then the combo boxes works and on the other it don't.

I find also that sometimes, after using the form for a while, a no reason "irresponsive" combo begins to work.

And I don't find any reasonable explanation...

 

[MattBaldry]

I have the same problem since I moved to a new windows 11 machine and posted about in Microsoft support groups.

Problem with combobox form controls - Microsoft Community Hub (can't paste links)

After some trials with other users the problem does not arise in any installation but only in some of them.

In my case I have two computers, with the same w11 os build, access builds and accdb. In one of then the combo boxes works and on the other it don't.

I find also that sometimes, after using the form for a while, a no reason "irresponsive" combo begins to work.

And I don't find any reasonable explanation...

I am like you, I still have the issue. And still no resolution. It is only Windows 11, it is very frustrating.

It only works with the top <insert number here> rows. I haven't yet worked out how many rows it works with.

~Matt

 

[Jfruiz]

Yes, you are right, the first available rows are "read" as you type (in my case sometimes, not always) but never all of them.

It's a really strange situation and it doesn't seem to affect all users, so knowing how Access support works I don't have much hope that they'll investigate it...

Maybe it would be a good idea to include data from our systems here and try to look for matches:

Processor: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1260P 2.10 GHz
RAM: 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)

Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 - Build 10.0.22621.1848 64-bit
Access 365 Version 2305 - Build 16.0.16501.20210 32-bit