In Access, you use a form to enter records and view them on your computer screen. A form can be generated instantly with an AutoForm, while the Form Wizard can create well-designed forms in just a few more seconds. But you can also design a form from scratch to get it just the way you want it.
Even if you don’t see the need to design forms on your own, we suggest you give this tutorial a try. It will help you learn more about how a form works, which will help you modify the forms you’ve created under any method.
Create A Form
Suppose you’re a human resources manager at Northwind Trading. The Employees form provides you with detailed records with all the information about each employee. Still, you’d also like to have a simple form that provides a few key details: employees’ names, titles, and supervisors (ReportsTo). You can create a simple form from scratch to view these records.
Open the Northwind.mdb database in the Samples subfolder of your Microsoft Office folder. Assuming you have made a copy (or have a backup) of the Northwind database, open the file. In the Database window, click the Forms button. Click New. Click Design View to highlight it, and from the drop-down menu at the bottom, choose Employees, and click OK.
Access displays a blank form with grid dots in design view. Maximize this window. Note that there’s an open Employees list box with all the fields in the Employees table. Rulers and the toolbox should also be displayed, if not, choose View, Ruler or View, Toolbox.
Before we begin to add elements to the form, let’s widen it. Move the mouse pointer to the right boundary of the grid. When the pointer becomes a double-arrow with bar, drag it to the 6-inch mark on the horizontal ruler and release. Choose File, Save As. In the top field, type SC Test Form. Make sure the bottom field is Form and click OK.
Design The Form
First you’ll create a form title. In the toolbox, click the Aaicon and drag the pointer to the grid. With the crosshairs about two rows from the top and 2 inches from the left, draw a box about 2 inches wide by 0.5 inches long. Use the horizontal and vertical rulers to help size the box.
With the cursor flashing in the box, type Staff Positions. Click outside the box and then click the box again to select it. On the Formatting toolbar, the Font should be Tahoma; open the Font Size drop-down menu, and select 20; click the Center icon to center the text.
In the Employees field list, click FirstName. Drag it to the 1-inch by 1-inch mark and release. Access creates two controls: a label and a text box. The label First Name is on the left; in