Help editing a form with nested 'subforms'

[wd4kav]

Hello...

I am a self taught Access 2000 user and I am trying to edit a form that has multiple forms (subforms?) nested in a main form.

When i go into edit mode, ALL the subforms are nested one on top of the other. The form I need to edit (change it's positon and size, when displayed on the main form) is buried under all the other forms.

I know how to edit this form seperately, but not how to re-size it or re-position it on the main form (because I can't see it to get to it). Changing the size of this form seperately (outside the main form) has NO effect on it's size or position when displayed in the main form.

How do I close all these other nested forms when the main form is in edit mode, so I can see and size/position the subform I need to change?

Thanks in advance for reading and replying!

Joe

 

[mrlw00r]

I think the answer here is that you can't easly....
I agree that it's a perfectly acceptable thing to place subforms on top of each other, and then use code to switch the things on and off, but when designing it makes things pretty hairy.
You can consider a few things:
Plan the design of the main form - decide on the size it's going to be, and what size each of the subforms needs to be too.
Create each subform and edit it on it's own (ie not as a subform). This allows you to see what you're doing. Then add them to the other form, and using the properties set the position. If you can no longer select one of them then ensure that the form has a module (the 'other' tab of the properties sheet) and go to the form in the visual basic editor. Select the form from the project explorer and you can then edit the location of the form with things like WindowHeight and WindowWidth.
Debugging the thing will still be difficult though, but you could just lay each subform out side by side whilst building it, and then when it all works set their position properties to all be the same value.
Alternatively you could rethink your interface and go for something like tabs (I did, cos I found overlaying forms to be a complete nightmare!)