Screen.PreviousControl Property (Access)

You can use the PreviousControl property with the Screen object to return a reference to the control that last received the focus. Read-only.

Syntax

expression .PreviousControl

expression A variable that represents a Screen object.

Remarks

The PreviousControl property contains a reference to the control that last had the focus. Once you establish a reference to the control, you can access all the properties and methods of the control.

You can't use the PreviousControl property until more than one control on any form has received the focus after a form is opened. Microsoft Access generates an error if you attempt to use this property when only one control on a form has received the focus.

Example

The following example displays a message if the control that last received the focus wasn't the txtFinalEntry text box.

Public Function ProcessData() As Integer 
 
 ' No previous control error. 
 Const conNoPreviousControl = 2483 
 Dim ctlPrevious As Control 
 
 On Error GoTo Process_Err 
 
 Set ctlPrevious = Screen.PreviousControl 
 If ctlPrevious.Name = "txtFinalEntry" Then 
 ' 
 ' Process Data Here. 
 ' 
 ProcessData = True 
 Else 
 ' Set focus to txtFinalEntry and display message. 
 Me!txtFinalEntry.SetFocus 
 MsgBox "Please enter a value here." 
 ProcessData = False 
 End If 
 
Process_Exit: 
 Set ctlPrevious = Nothing 
 Exit Function 
 
Process_Err: 
 If Err = conNoPreviousControl Then 
 Me!txtFinalEntry.SetFocus 
 MsgBox "Please enter a value to process.", vbInformation 
 ProcessData = False 
 End If 
 Resume Process_Exit 
 
End Function

See Also

Concepts

Screen Object

Screen Object Members