Why does this combo box not display the placeholder text?

[mamradzelvy]

Hello,
I got two combo boxes next to each other, one of which is a month selector and the other a year selector.
For some reason i'm unable to display the placeholder text on my month selector.
I have tried various combinations such as @;"Mesic";"Mesic" to make up for the fact that it has two rows and one is hidden.
Any tips?

PS: Mesic is Czech for month...
PSPS: I know in the picture i'm missing a semicolon, i just took the picture while messing with it, the starting input was @;"Mesic"

 

[theDBguy]

Hi. What happens if you display the first column, just as a test? Is your combo bound to a numeric field?

 

[mamradzelvy]

Hi. What happens if you display the first column, just as a test? Is your combo bound to a numeric field?

yes, the first field are numbers representing the months. upon changing the size of the first column to 2cm from 0cm, nothing has changed.

 

[theDBguy]

yes, the first field are numbers representing the months. upon changing the size of the first column to 2cm from 0cm, nothing has changed.

So, just as a test, what happens if you tried this?

;;;"test"

 

[arnelgp]

see the "Note"

Access Cookbook

Create a Combo Box That Allows a User to Select N/A Problem You’d like to be able to create a combo box that looks up items in a table and … - Selection from Access Cookbook [Book]

www.oreilly.com

 

[mamradzelvy]

so uh, yesterday when i left work i saved my project with two semicolons (which at the time didnt display anything even upon restarting access) and today it displays what i wanted correctly.... access is a mystery.... thank you guys regardless.

 

[mamradzelvy]

so uh, yesterday when i left work i saved my project with two semicolons (which at the time didnt display anything even upon restarting access) and today it displays what i wanted correctly.... access is a mystery.... thank you guys regardless.

oh nevermind, upon switching it back to not display the first column, it once more is bugged...

 

[mamradzelvy]

OK, so i figured since the properties don't allow me to input ;;;"test" and none of the logical syntax works, i would just swap it around so that i would not be bound on column 1 but rather column 2, so i wen't from this row source :
"1";"Leden";"2";"Únor";"3";"Březen";"4";"Duben";"5";"Květen";"6";"Červen";"7";"Červenec";"8";"Srpen";"9";"Září";"10";"Říjen";"11";"Listopad";"12";"Prosinec"
To this one:
"Leden";"1";"Únor";"2";"Březen";"3";"Duben";"4";"Květen";"5";"Červen";"6";"Červenec";"7";"Srpen";"8";"Září";"9";"Říjen";"10";"Listopad";"11";"Prosinec";"12"
and now it works whilst hiding the second column.

 

[mamradzelvy]

OK, so i figured since the properties don't allow me to input ;;;"test" and none of the logical syntax works, i would just swap it around so that i would not be bound on column 1 but rather column 2, so i wen't from this row source :
"1";"Leden";"2";"Únor";"3";"Březen";"4";"Duben";"5";"Květen";"6";"Červen";"7";"Červenec";"8";"Srpen";"9";"Září";"10";"Říjen";"11";"Listopad";"12";"Prosinec"
To this one:
"Leden";"1";"Únor";"2";"Březen";"3";"Duben";"4";"Květen";"5";"Červen";"6";"Červenec";"7";"Srpen";"8";"Září";"9";"Říjen";"10";"Listopad";"11";"Prosinec";"12"
and now it works whilst hiding the second column.

And now it doesn't anymore, i'm so confused.

 

[mamradzelvy]

see the "Note"

Access Cookbook

Create a Combo Box That Allows a User to Select N/A Problem You’d like to be able to create a combo box that looks up items in a table and … - Selection from Access Cookbook [Book]

www.oreilly.com

The note specifically states that this does not work with combo boxes but rather text boxes.
i tried to enter that in my format property and it changed the text to this : sh"ort "d"ate";;;"<not scheduled>"

 

[mamradzelvy]

So, just as a test, what happens if you tried this?

;;;"test"

it just always starts working whenever i set the bound column to the text one instead of the number one, but that in return breaks my code, rendering the combo box unusable.....

 

[June7]

I have never bothered with 'placeholder' text for controls. Apparently doing it with Format doesn't work for multi-column combobox when BoundColumn is not the visible column. Review http://www.iaccessworld.com/display-default-text-combobox/

 

[theDBguy]

it just always starts working whenever i set the bound column to the text one instead of the number one, but that in return breaks my code, rendering the combo box unusable.....

Hi. As a last result, you might resort to overlaying a Textbox on top of your Combobox and use code to manage what the user sees and can do with them. Good luck!