Total
Access Components
27 Powerful Custom Controls Designed Exclusively for Access
95 and 97
Microsoft Access has
supported ActiveX controls since version 2.0. Unfortunately, ActiveX controls designed for Visual Basic do
not necessarily work in Access.
Total Access Components is the only
collection of ActiveX controls specifically designed and tested for Microsoft Access. 27
ActiveX controls are included in Total Access Components. You can place them on your forms
and reports to enhance your applications ease of use, appearance, and operation.
Many controls allow you to provide new and enhanced display effects, while others allow
you to use properties and methods to perform complex operations with little or no
programming.
Make sure you try our fully functional
demo programs illustrating how the controls work. You won't believe you're looking at
Access forms! (Download
Demo).

The following image gives examples of
several of the visual controls available in the Total Access Components. For more information about a specific control, click on the image or see the
table below.


The following tables give you a listing of the features available in
Total Access Components. The controls are divided into five
categories:
Enhance
Form Functionality
Create
Fancy Forms and Reports
Improve
Data Display and Data Input
Add
Multimedia Effects
Easily
Incorporate Windows Features
Enhance Form Functionality
| Control |
Description |
| Form Resizer |
Automatically adjusts
every control when a User resizes a form. |
| Splitter Bars |
Use a vertical or
horizontal splitter to allow users to change the relative size of two parts of your Access
forms. |
| Multiple Timer Events |
Add multiple timers to
your form, when Access is normally limited to one timer per form. |
| Control |
Description |
| Analog
and Digital Clock |
Display a graphical
analog or digital clock in a variety of styles. |
| Bitmap Animation Effects |
Create catchy effects,
fades, and transitions between bitmaps. |
| Buttons with Text Effects & Graphics |
Go beyond the standard
Access button control by combining a variety of text effects, animation, and bitmap
styles. |
| Horizontal
and Vertical Tab Strips |
Create applications using
the popular tabbed-dialog interface with support for different styles and positions (top,
bottom, left, right). |
| Icon "Outlook" Style Menu |
Choose from many
alternate forms of menu selection. This control displays a series of icons similar to
Microsoft Outlook 97. |
| Pop-up Menus |
Add customized menu
support to your forms. You can specify a popup menu to appear when a user right-clicks on
objects in your application. |
| Rotated Text with 3-D & Other Effect |
Display rotated text with
custom display styles including 3-D and drop-shadows. |
| Rounded
Borders with Beveling and 3-D Effects |
Create rectangular frames
with a variety of styles: standard, 3-D, shadowed, and rounded. |
| Scrolling Marquees |
Display scrolling text
within a control. This text can be set for different 3-D styles, and the direction of the
scrolling can be se for left, up, right, or down. |
| Control |
Description |
| Digital "Calculator" Displays |
Display numbers using a
digital display similar to those found on calculators. |
| Gauges
and Odometer Dials |
Use this control to
provide feedback to your users on the progress of an operation or the size of a value. The
Gauge control simulates an analog gauge such as a gas gauge or a pressure meter. |
| Pop-up Yellow
"Sticky" Notes |
Add pop-up notes to your
application. |
| Progress Meters |
Provide feedback to your
users with standard or segmented progress meters in a variety of styles. Choose from flat,
Windows 95, or the unique segmented meter styles. |
| Slider
Bars |
Add horizontal or
vertical slider bars for user input or showing values. |
| Spin Buttons |
Increase or decrease
values by pressing on the up/down or left/right buttons of this control. |
| Control |
Description |
| Movie/Video Player for AVI Files |
Play Windows digitized
video .AVI files. You can play, pause, stop, rewind, and navigate in these video files,
and set repeat play. |
| CD Player |
Play audio
Compact Discs through your PCs CD Player. |
| Audio Player
for Wave and MIDI Files |
Play Windows
digitized audio .WAV files, and MIDI sequences through your PCs sound card. |
| Control |
Description |
| Clipboard |
Easily add
cut, copy, and paste features. |
| Computer and
System Information |
Retrieve a
variety of useful information about your users PC, including free memory and
resources, and other hardware information. |
| INI File
Manager |
Read and
write to a Windows initialization file without using Windows API calls. |
| Professional About Box |
Display information about
your program in an easily-customized dialog box. You can optionally supply a help file and
access to the Windows System Information program if it is available on your users
machines. |
| Windows Common Dialogs |
Use the Windows common
dialog controls from your application. Easily add File Open/Save dialogs, Font and Color
choosers, Printer Setup, and customized Help support to your application. |
| System
Registry Manager |
Read and
Write to the Windows Registry without using Windows API calls. |

Total Access Components is
designed exclusively for Access, fully tested on Access, and optimized for Access and the
needs of Access developers. If you are considering using ActiveX controls in Access, make
sure the vendor understands Access and verifies their controls work in it. Very few do.
Easy to Use
Total Access Components is
easy to use. Simply place a Total Access Components control on your form or report just
like a built-in Access control (e.g. text box, combo box, etc.). You can set its
properties interactively or programmatically. Many controls can even be bound
directly to a field.
There are visible controls
like tabs, gauges, progress meters, etc. and invisible controls such as clipboard
functions, common dialogs, form resizer, etc. Invisible controls are also placed on forms
and reports but are not visible to the user. Simply set its properties and invoke a one
line method to run it. That's all it takes to add Windows dialogs, form resizers, etc.!
All Controls in
One File
All 27 controls in Total
Access Components are stored in one OCX file. Most commercial ActiveX controls for Visual
Basic store each control in a separate OCX file. The one file design for Total Access
Components is superior and very important for Access developers:
- Performance: If you use
more than one control, the loading time for the second control is much faster when they
are stored in one file.
- Size: The entire OCX
file of 27 controls is under 550K. That may be a lot for a VB program, but it is not much
for an Access application. By using just one file, a lot of overhead is eliminated and it
is much smaller than 27 individual files.
- Distribution: Access
doesn't tell you which ActiveX controls are used in a database. Trying to remember which
of the 27 controls you used would be a pain and subject to error. Thankfully, you do not
need to remember that. With Total Access Components if you remember using any of its
controls, add its OCX file in your distribution (setup) program and that's it. No need to
wonder whether you missed one or not.

Total Access Components has two
versions: Version 8.0 for Access 95 and 97, and Version 11.0 for Access
2000, 2002, and 2003. Both versions
are currently available. Total Access Components is available as a part of the
Total Access Developer Suite or
Total Access Ultimate Suite.
Licensing is on a per developer basis.
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