trying to be a copycat--picture included

i'm using access 2007. i want to copy the idea of quickbooks pos that we use at our store b/c i know they used access when programming it. based on a multiple item form template (this is probably the same thing as continuous??), whenever a row is selected the row automatically expands to reveal various control buttons. here's a pic from their website (that i edited) to better explain what i'm talking about.

as you can see, the highlighted row appears to make a set of buttons visible while unselected rows have them hidden. i've tried messing with the can grow/shrink properties of the detail section and making textboxes (which is what i want to show/hide) become visible when the detail section is focused and hidden when loses focus through vba but the detail section never seems to shrink whenever the text boxes properties are set to invisible so every single row is gigantic.

right now my mind is going crazy trying to brainstorm a solution and i can't sleep! i'm out of ideas and hoping someone knowledgeable can point me in the right direction. i can post my code (if that would be helpful) tomorrow when i get back to work. thanks in advance!

re: trying to be a copycat--picture included

ok, as an update, i KNOW that it's a problem with the form itself. whatever size i adjust the detail section to in design mode, it stays the exact same size in form view even though there is plenty of blank space open. shouldn't the shrink property take care of this? i've made it work for reports and subreports... why won't it work for my form??

re: trying to be a copycat--picture included

CanShrink is only available in Reports, not Forms.

Linq ;0)>

re: trying to be a copycat--picture included

BTW - QB and QB Pro were most likely done using Visual Studio using VB or C#. Both have a lot of custom controls not available in Access including dynamic resizing. Some apps and/or functionality can be reproduced in Access.

re: trying to be a copycat--picture included

do you mean "can't" be reproduced? if you really meant "can be reproduced" should i be asking this in the visual basic forum?