Microsoft Access Form Error Checking: Two Controls Using the Same Keyboard Shortcut

Provided by the FMS Development Team

In Microsoft Access 2003, a new feature has been added to help you determine if there are some common errors in the design view of you form. These errors are:

1. Unassociated label and control - a label and a non-label control that are not associated.
2. New unassociated labels - a label that is not associated to a non-label control
3. Keyboard shortcut errors - Two labels that share the same hotkey
4. Invalid control properties - A Bad ControlSource string or an two Option Value that share the same value.

To see an example of the error checking in action, try the following:

1. Open the Northwind database.
2. Open the form 'Main Switchboard' in design view.
3. Change the Button caption of 'Print Sales &Reports' to '&Print Sales Reports'. (This changes the Hotkey from 'R' to 'P'. Note that 'P' is already used for the "Products".

After making the change, either a SmartTag will be displayed (if the button is still selected), or if you select a different control, then the upper-left hand corner of each of the button will turn a different color. Clicking on either object will open the SmartTag. If you click on the SmartTag, it will drop down a menu, and at the top of it, it states, "Keyboard Shortcut Errors".

The drawback with the feature in Access is that you need to manually open each form and see if conflicts exist.

Additional Resource

For comprehensive documentation and analysis of your Access databases, check out our Total Access Analyzer program. Total Access Analyzer performs detailed analysis of all your Access forms to find these problems so you don't need to manually go to each one. This is just a few of the 280+ types of errors, suggestions, and performance tips Total Access Analyzer finds in your Microsoft Access databases.

• Best Practices for Microsoft Access Database Development