In the Northwind database, open the Orders table in Design view. The last column in the top pane is the Description column. Its use is completely optional. Also, take note of the description listed for the ShipAddress field: Street address only- no post-office box allowed.

Click the View button at the far-left end of the toolbar to switch to Datasheet view. Click anywhere in that view’s Ship Address column; as you do, the description for Ship Address displays in the Status bar at the bottom of the window. Unlike a validation rule, a description has no impact on what value is entered; therefore, you can enter whatever value you want in the Ship Address column, regardless of the message.

Close the Orders table. And with the Orders table still selected in the Database window, open the Insert menu and click AutoForm. In the new form, click inside the Ship Address field of the first record; the same description that displayed in the table now appears in the Status bar of this form.

Add ControlTip Text

Although you can use a description to help you enter data, there are disadvantages. First, maybe you don’t want a particular description to always appear in the Status bar. Second, a description primarily serves as an explanation of the field and its purpose, so even though a description about how one should enter values into a field may be helpful, that’s not really the main objective. Third, although it is convenient that a field’s description in a table is inherited in a form, you may want an entirely different set of instructions for the form data.

ControlTip Text resolves these issues. This type of tip appears whenever you hover your mouse pointer over a particular field in a form, making the directions available when and where you need them. The sole purpose of ControlTip Text is to help users in whatever way possible. Plus, you can include ControlTip instructions that are specific to a certain field in the form.

To test it out, let’s add ControlTip Text for the Ship Address field. Click the View button on the toolbar to switch to Design view. Then, right-click the ShipAddress text box (the box on the right) and choose Properties. In the Text Box ShipAddress property sheet, choose the Other tab and scroll down to ControlTip Text. Next, type Enter a street address—no post-office box allowed in the ControlTip Text field. Click the Save button on the toolbar, type SC Orders in the Form Name field, and click OK. Close the property sheet.

Click the View button to switch to Form view. Now let your mouse pointer hover over the ShipAddress text box and wait a second or two to see the ControlTip Text appear (see Figure 1).

Note that context-sensitive advice of this type also can be useful for other information needs that aren’t directly tied (or only tied to a lesser degree) to data integrity. For example, you could use ControlTip Text to tell users where they can locate a particular type of data, such as: “Standard price list is in Price Sheet folder in Cabinet B.”

Include A Label

Although ControlTip Text is a useful tool, it does have its downside: Unless you’re aware that a certain field has this property and make it a point to hover your mouse over it, you won’t see the tip.

An alternative solution that eliminates this negative is to create a label. A label may be overkill, though, because it will always be in full view; but it may be what you need to get the job done. Moreover, you can hide the label or delete it after it’s no longer needed.

For example, let’s assume that despite including instructions that display both in the Status bar and as ControlTip Text, users are still occasionally using a post office address in the Ship Address field. In this type of situation, you may want to create a label that directly addresses the problem and tells users to include only a street address.

To do so, click the View button to return to Design view. In the toolbox, click the Label (has Aa icon) tool. (If the toolbox isn’t visible, open the View menu and select Toolbox.) Drag the label crosshairs to the form and click a little bit to the right of the Ship Address text box. Type Street address only! No post-office box allowed! and press ENTER. With the label selected, open the palette on the Font/Fore Color tool button (the A icon underlined in red) and select a red swatch (see Figure 2). Click the View button to return to Form view, and you’ll see that the warning is now plainly visible on the form.

If the label ever becomes tiresome, you can hide it. Click the View button to go back to the Design view. Select the label, open its property sheet open, choose the Format tab, and double-click Yes in the Visible field to change the setting to No. Click the View button, and when you see the Form view display, you’ll notice that the label is no longer visible.