Mysterious flickering

[eee333]

I'm having an issue with the form flickering when I update/enter information in a control. I've run through the form many times and there doesn't seem to be much consistency to what updated controls will make the screen flicker. I've tried a bunch of stuff and none of it seems to work, does anyone have suggestions?

What I've tried (although NOT in combination) and didn't work:

• Deleting all VBA code--even without ANY code in the form, screen is still flickering
• changing some unbound labels into text boxes--that seems to be just suggested for tab control, and my form isn't tabbed, but I figured I would try
• deleting all comboboxes
• setting application.echo to false--since my form is a popup, it not only didn't work, but freaked out and crashed mightily when I tried to switch back into design mode
• all controls set to not tab through are placed in a spot where tabbing through shouldn't lead to them in the middle of my form

Some details that may be relevant, I don't know
-My database is split, so I'm obviously working with the front end
-my form is a pop up
-the relevant popup form is opened by another form that is also a popup, and stays open behind my relevant form
-What seems to be flicking is mostly the unbound labels, some lines/boxes I have drawn on, and to a lesser/less frequent extent, bound labels, and some of the controls
-I'm remotely logged in, and our connection is terrible today. The backend is saved on a network drive that's likely affected by the remote connection. The flickering was occurring beforehand, but it did seem like it was to a lesser extent. Of course I don't know whether that's because I've been staring at it for the past couple hours paying close attention, or because it really is worse today.

The flickering is so frequent it's really obnoxious, I would say about every other control, when updated/entering new info makes the screen flicker. Anyone have any suggestions or further informational questions?

 

[Ranman256]

This sound less an Access problem , but rather a monitor refresh rate problem.

 

[JHB]

Do you've set the control source for some controls to other controls on the form or a kind of DLookup?
What is the recordsource for the form, table or query? If query, do you use other queries in the query or maybe some DLookup?
Only for error finding, make the form unbound if it is possible or create a new form with some unbound controls in it, to see if it is still flickering.
How about other forms, do they flicker?

 

[Minty]

Is there any conditional formatting applied to any controls ? That can cause slow screen updates particularly when there is lots of data involved.

 

[eee333]

Is there any conditional formatting applied to any controls ? That can cause slow screen updates particularly when there is lots of data involved.

There's no official conditional formatting, like through the conditional formatting button. I do some conditional formatting through VBA, but as I said, even when I deleted all the VBA code from a copy, the flickering still occurred.

 

[eee333]

Do you've set the control source for some controls to other controls on the form or a kind of DLookup?

I don't thiiink so? I'm not very fluent in VBA. I have a DLookup set for two controls, but not to set their value, just to check and make sure the number they entered isn't a duplicate. That should only run after that control is updated. None of the other controls that update and cause the screen to flicker are linked to other controls or have DLookups.

What is the recordsource for the form, table or query? If query, do you use other queries in the query or maybe some DLookup?

The source is a table, which is in the backend of the file.

How about other forms, do they flicker?

Other forms in the database don't flicker, but every other form only has 1-2 controls on it.

Only for error finding, make the form unbound if it is possible or create a new form with some unbound controls in it, to see if it is still flickering.

This fixed it! But I'm not sure how to proceed from here...

 

[eee333]

I've been experimenting a little more, apparently two things are contributing to this issue
1. My layout is like four columns of controls, which in testing appears to start causing flickering
2. It apparently REALLY doesn't like checkboxes to be in a column, that seems to be causing the flickering to increase by a lot

Still not a solution though, the layout is somewhat important

 

[JHB]

Could you show a printscreen of your form?
Or maybe post a sample database with the form, (zip it).
Couldn't you base the recordsource for the form on a query, (only selecting the necessary data), instead of the whole table.
I would create a new form, with the same record source and start creating controls one by one, only to see when the flickering starts.

 

[eee333]

Here's a screenshot of the form. I have experimented with adding controls in one by one, it does seem like the layout is the problem, which seems weird. I could have them all in one column and it wouldn't be a problem, but, that really doesn't work for me.

I guess I could try experimenting on running it off a query, but the form needs to be accessed in two instances--to do data entry (in which case it enters in data entry mode) or to search and find a previously entered record and then edit it. For that instance, I have it just open the same form but filtered to that record number.

 

[eee333]

I had a calculated field in my database that may have been too much for access, or maybe I just wrote it weirdly. Either way, deleting it seems to have greatly ameliorated the flickering--it's still there, but to an acceptable extent.

 

[JHB]

I had a calculated field in my database that may have been too much for access, or maybe I just wrote it weirdly. Either way, deleting it seems to have greatly ameliorated the flickering--it's still there, but to an acceptable extent.

Good you got it (partly) solved.
Did you try changing the recordsource to a query?

 

[access2016]

I found that OnFocus / SetFocus causes flickering of the Tab. Remove that will stop the flickering.
Edit: SetFocus within the Tab will cause flickering. SetFocus outside the Tab will not cause tab flickering.