Tab Order not working for some fields (1 Viewer)

[cliftonx]

In design view for forms, I click the detail button, then I click the tab order button, highlight the desire fields and move them to the desired position on the form. Save it and run the application and take the option to display the form and I can see the fields in its new position. Today, I’m trying the same steps on the form, but the field remains in its original position. I can see the tab order change, but why didn’t it change the field on the form, even though I made numerous fields updates the prior day?

 

[gemma-the-husky]

Changing the tab order changes the logical order of fields as you press the tab key to move from field to field. Try it. It doesn't change the physical placement of controls.

You have to physically move the controls around to change the presentation view, which can be quite awkward if you have a lot of controls.

Note that you may find that tabbing from the last control causes the focus to jump to a new record. You can change that behaviour with the cycle setting in the form's properties. Often single record is the best setting.

 

[June7]

Changing a control's tab order does not change its position on form. So I am not sure what you accomplished with the first form.

 

[theDBguy]

Hi. I agree. It's possible when you change the position of some controls on the form, that Access may automatically adjust the Tab Order. But, manually adjusting the Tab Order shouldn't "move" the controls around on the form.

 

[Pat Hartman]

To say it a different way, the Tab Order feature is just there to update the tab order property of controls to reflect their physical position on the form and get the two back in sync. You are expecting it to work the other way around and as the others have already mentioned, it doesn't move controls.

 

[cliftonx]

Thanks everyone for putting me on the right track. I found the ColumnOrder property that I was looking for to place the following fields in the proper order on the Datasheet:

Set Me.Recordset = rst
Forms!frmiimain.Form.Requery
Me.Phase.ColumnOrder = 32
Me.Skid.ColumnOrder = 33

 

[Pat Hartman]

That too
This gets people all the time. Access "remembers" when you reorder the columns of the recordset even though the visible query does not change. I usually just delete the RecordSource query, save the form and put it back.