Tab facility in a Memo data type field

[three-pins]

Is there any facility to use a "tab" when entering narrative in a "memo" data type field in a form? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[vbaInet]

You could mimic it using the textbox's On Key Down event:

    If KeyCode = 9 And Shift = 0 Then
        Dim intSelStart As Long
        
        ' nullify
        KeyCode = 0

        intSelStart = Me.[COLOR=Red]MemoTextbox[/COLOR].SelStart
        
        ' pad
        If IsNull(Me.[COLOR=Red]MemoTextbox[/COLOR]) Then
            Me.[COLOR=Red]MemoTextbox[/COLOR].Value = "    "
        Else
            Me.[COLOR=Red]MemoTextbox[/COLOR].SelText = "    "
        End If
        
        ' set the insertion point
        Me.[COLOR=Red]MemoTextbox[/COLOR].SelStart = intSelStart + 4
    End If

Substitute MemoTextbox for the name of the memo textbox (as the name implies).

 

[three-pins]

Thanks for the reply. I get the gist of it and the solution could be of value to me, but I cannot get it to work. If the field is blank (null), then the first tab works but thereafter no tabs are created. If the field has something in it to start with then again no tabs are produced. I have included some message boxes in the code to obtain the variable values at various points and they seem sensible. Perhaps you could point to areas that could be investigated further.

 

[vbaInet]

Alrighty, after some tweaking:

    If KeyCode = 9 And Shift = 0 Then
        Dim intSelStart As Long
        
        ' nullify
        KeyCode = 0
        
        With Me.[COLOR=Red]MemoTextbox[/COLOR]
            intSelStart = .SelStart
            
            ' pad
            If Len(.Value) = .SelLength Then
                .Value = "    "
            Else
                .Value = Mid(.Text, 1, .SelStart) & "    " & _
                         Mid(.Text, .SelStart + .SelLength + 1)
            End If
    
            ' set the insertion point
            .SelStart = intSelStart + 4
        End With
    End If

NB: Not fully tested but it seems alright.

 

[three-pins]

Thanks for the revised code - this works well for me.

As a matter of possible interest, what started this enquiry was as follows. I have a database that allows for special conditions to be added to an order as a series of memo text fields as separate records. These are normally completed via a form, but in one instance the operator cut and pasted a special condition from a WORD document that included a number of "tabs". When the contract was printed it was noticed that all the tabs that had been inserted in WORD had disappeared. Although the text had been closed up, it still made sense. However, the system allows for a contract to be output as a PDF attachment to an e-mail, in which case the text on the PDF was completely un-intelligible where embedded tabs existed (Over printing etc.). As a test I cut and pasted the text back from the database to WORD and the tabs all re-appeared. Producing a PDF of this word doc gives a correct result. Is this problem due to the handling by PDF of data from an access database? Your comments would be welcome.

 

[vbaInet]

That's just one of the quirks of Access. Tabs can only be mimicked in Access.