Problems with tabbed form

Question

I have an Access 2010 database that we have been using for several months to track how we produce products.  The main data input form includes a subform that is a continuous form.  A couple of weeks ago, I added a table to track whether or not we have samples of a given product on hand.  When I did this, I replaced the main data input form with a tabbed form.  The first tab is exactly like the old data input form.  In fact, I copied the old form into the new form.  The second tab has two subforms on it (neither are continuous forms) with information about the sample inventory status.

Since we began using the tabbed form, we have been having 3 problems:

1)  The vertical scroll bar on the continuous subform will not appear on the tabbed form.  This makes it very difficult to use the form.  The scroll bar is there on the small form that is embedded into the tabbed form as the subform.  It is also there if I go back to the old input form (which still exists, we are just not using it).  But it is not there on the tabbed form.  If there was a problem with the settings, it should not appear anywhere because it is the same form and settings being used in all 3 places.  Since the problem is only on the tabbed form, it seems that the problem is with the tabbed form.

2)  When we try to print the tabbed form, Access will abort and shut itself down 9 times out of 10.  It comes back up on the screen you get when you are making a backup copy of the database and it asks you to name the backup file.  It doesn't do this when printing any other form - only the tabbed form. This did not happen immediately when we began using the tabbed form.  It worked fine for about a week and then all of the sudden it started doing this.  I am going to try to create a report to print instead of printing the form to see if it still does this, but nevertheless this should not be happening.

3)  In the occasional instance when Access does not abort when printing the form, it consistently does not print about an inch worth of data.  There is no space where the missing data should be, it just prints the form header, then starts in on the form body after it has skipped the top inch or so of data.  This began happening at the same time Access began aborting when we print a tabbed form.  No changes were made to the file when this happened.

Our database resides on a central computer and there are several networked computers running separate copies of Access that use the database.  The printing issues happen no matter which computer is being used - including the central computer where the database resides.

At this point I am regretting going to the tabbed form because there are too many serious glitches.  Has anybody run into these and found solutions?

Answer 1

I rebuilt the report from scratch and it works properly.  I have no idea why that was happening.  Something must have become corrupted.

Answer 2

This is my first experience with reports, so please bear with me.

I still am getting only the first page of the first record (the full first record should be two pages).  To troubleshoot this I opened the report by itself (not calling up the report through the form).  When in report view I can see at the bottom that I have nearly 2000 records.  I went to the last record and then went to preview mode.  Preview shows only the first page of the first record.  I switched to preview 4 pages at a time, and only the first page of the first record shows with 3 blank pages.

I noticed that the record source was blank in the report parameters, so I set it to the main table "NewSpecT".  Now when I preview I get page 1 of record 1 repeated 4 times.

Because this is happening in the report itself, I don't think it has anything to do with the coding that you helped me with above.  It seems that I must have some filter in the report, but for the life of me I can't find it.  Do you have any suggestions for what I should look at?

Thank you.

Answer 3

Change it to :

strFilter = "NewSpecF = " & Forms!NewSpec1!NewSpecF

If NewSpeccf is a number if not change it to:

strFilter = "NewSpecF = '" & Forms!NewSpec1!NewSpecF & "'"

Answer 4

Since the form printing causes such problems I have created a report to do the same job.  I am trying to get it to print the current record only.  I found code on a microsoft site.  I know it was written for Access 2000 but I would think it should still work.  Here is the site link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/aa190844(v=office.10).aspx .

However, it prints the first record, not the current record.  What am I doing wrong?

report name = specreport

form name = NewSpec1

unique field = NewSpecF

Here is my code:

Dim strDocName As String

Dim strFilter As String

strDocName = "specreport"

strFilter = "NewSpecF = Forms!NewSpec1!NewSpecF"

DoCmd.OpenReport "specreport", acViewNormal, , strFilter

Any help would be appreciated.

Also, something strange is happening with the scroll bar issue.  The scroll bar appears and disappears intermittently.  I opened the file on 3 different computers at the same time and it was there on 2 of them and not there on the third.  Has anybody ever seen this?

Answer 5

First Forms are not designed to be printed. Printing a form with a tab control is problematic. If you want to print create a report.

I've had no problems using a continuous form on a tab page. Are you sure the subform is sized properly?