'Front End' Forms Not Displaying Correctly

[Paul Cooke]

I am a bit puzzled by this one so would appriciate any advice that can be offered..

I have done a test split on my database and set it up on my server at work.

It is on 2 desktops and one laptop with dual monitors.

All of the monitors are the same make model size etc but on two of them the forms do not show up correctly for example the control labels are over layed by the control boxes or the date boxes which should show 12/12/2011 actually show ##########.

It is as if the form has 'shrunk' on the screen or been 'squeezed' together (bit hard to explain but hopefully that makes sense!

On one of the machines it shows fine with no problems again same monitor.

I am assuming it has something to do with the display adpators / settings but I have looked at these on both the two 'incorrect' machines and set them up exactly the same as the one that is working but the forms still do not display correctly?

Anyone ever come across this issue before or have any advice on what I can do to resolve this?

Many thanks

Paul

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Commonly, this occurs when the screens have different pixel sizing. However, it could also occur when you have some type of desktop manager software on one of the screens that wants to be "your friend" when it comes to display management.

In essence, when you see your desktop on one of these "friendly" systems, you don't see your desktop. You see what your "desktop friend" thinks your desktop looks like. Your hardware setup shows you that the two screens are set the same way - but the "desktop helper" is reporting some other setting to the programs. These managers can sometimes induce such distortion in forms. See if that is possible.

There is also the issue, however, remote, that it is the printers. (No I'm not nuts. Well, that is, I'm not nuts if you don't talk to my wife about that subject - anyway...) If you have a network printer vs. a local printer, connect all machines to the same printer and verify that they use the same driver. I know it sounds whack-a-doodle, but Access sometimes thinks you might wish to PRINT your forms as they appear on screen. So it takes your printer settings into account, too. If you have a printer on one and a different printer on the other, their settings can also mess you up.

The key clue here is that what you believe to be the same settings on two different machines show correctly in one case and with ###### in the other. That can't happen unless there is a difference in the screen setup and Access somehow knows about it! If it were just a type of screen distortion, the date would display as digits but would be cropped. The digits are NOT cropped - they are substituted using the characters Access uses to tell you that it KNOWS this output would be cropped if it tried to display it. In other words, despite your belief that the settings are the same, they really are not.

Now, if I'm wrong - and that HAS been known to happen - I'm stumped. If the screen resolution really is the same, the printers are the same, and the video adapters are more or less the same, then you've got me on that one.

 

[Paul Cooke]

Hi thanks for the reply - I'm pretty sure the machines do not have any sort of desktop 'friend' but will check just to be 100% sure.

The printer bit makes sense and could be the cause as the machines that are not 'working' are using a network printer - so I will need to investigate that one as well - I would never in a million years have thought of that so tell your wife your not nuts !!

I will post back with the results hopefully positive ones !

Thanks again