Rockhill Music Festival

Activity 6
Form 1 – Lookups and Combo Boxes
Can you complete everything except
the ‘user should be able to select’
The user should be
able to select the
staff member’s job
role.
● Right click the jobroleID
field

● Select Change to ‘Combo

Box’

● This will now turn it into a

drop down box.
We are going to
decide what data
to show in drop
down box

Click the three dots on the

right of row source.
This brings up query builder
● Select what
you want to
appear in the
combo box
drop down
menu

● We want to
see the job
role ID and a
description of
job role.

● Then press
close
Press Yes for any pop up box.
The combo box now has a drop down, but
it only shows the first column.

We can go to the property sheet for the field and format

it to show the other field.
- We want two columns from the query builder to show, so
you put 2.
- You can then change the widths of the columns
- Also Column heads is the headings.
Format Column headers – (Use Alias’s)

But even with that the headings in the

box are a little ugly, CamelCase is more
for programmers and developers than
users...so change the data source by
using ‘nicer’ aliases for the data...

And that is all you need to know to do Table

lookups… But we also have Value lookups to learn
As there is
no table with
this
information
already in,

we need to
create a
‘value lookup’

This is where
we write our
own list to
appear in the
drop down.

(instead of
getting it
from a table)
Value lookup
● Right click the field for
availability

● Then ‘change to’

● And you can select Combo

box or List box.

● Before we continue… just a

little information about
list box vs combo box
List box vs combo box
● One distinction to make here
● The first is a ‘list box’
● This shows all options at all times
● The second is a combo box. This will only show details when you
click on it to reveal the drop down menu.

● Preference is up to you.
● They both have the same result, the user will select data
In the properties sheet, change the row source type to ‘value list’
 Writing the value list
● Then click on the row source
● You can type in the options that you want to appear in the
combo box/list box
● You now have a combo box that displays the value lookup

You now know both table lookups and value lookups

(These are vital for the complex form)
You already
know how to
do this!

Make sure it
is after the
SaveRecord
command
These will
be from
your
presence
checks.
Efficient Interface
Can you remember what this
means?

This includes:
- A neat layout
- A good title (so the user knows what
the form is meant to do)
- Instructions (so the user knows what
they should put where)
- Disabled ID fields (so the user cannot
mess them up)
● Sensible sized data entry boxes
● Drop down choices (so the user cannot
enter rubbish)
 Tidying it up...
• Edit the labels, add instructions

• Disable user entry to auto fields

• Add * to required fields

• Alter widths to be suitable

• Put spaces in labels