Differences - Syntax & Form operations

[MS]

Just a general question here re VBA.

Can anyone explain the differences between "!" and "." when refering to a control?

eg Me!TxtBox and Me.TxtBox.

What is difference between "+" and "&" when working with strings.

eg MyStr = "I have " & MyNumber & " apples." and MyStr = "I have " + MyNumber + " apples."

Also, what are the differences between Loading a form and Opening a form, Similarly with Unload and Close.

From my observations, all the above pairs achieve the same things - I find I can interchange them without noticing any differences. Are there subtle differences, or are they basically the same?

Cheers!

[MGFoster]

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Bang (!) and dot (.) - basically the same. The exclamation point (bang)
means refer to the collection item. Since Me refers to the form, and
the form's default collection is Controls then Me!TxtBox refers to the
control "TxtBox" in the form's Controls collection.

The period (dot) means refer to the property. A control can also be a
property of the form, so Me.TxtBox refers to the control/property
"txtBox" and also any Field named "txtBox" in the form's Recordsource.

The ampersand (&) is purely a string concatenation operator. The plus
sign (+) is also a concatenation operator that sets the string to NULL
if NULL is the last value. E.g. (debug window):

? null & "this one" + null + " that one"
Null

? null & "this one" & null & " that one"
this one that one

Loading & Opening a form: Opening a form can be cancelled. Loading
can't cancel the opening of the form.

Unload & Close a form: Unload can be cancelled. Closing can't.

The order of events is:

Open: Open -> Load -> ...

Close: Unload -> Deactivate -> Close

--
MGFoster:::mgf0 0 <at> earthlink <decimal-point> net
Oakland, CA (USA)

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MS wrote:

Just a general question here re VBA.

Can anyone explain the differences between "!" and "." when refering to a control?

eg Me!TxtBox and Me.TxtBox.

What is difference between "+" and "&" when working with strings.

eg MyStr = "I have " & MyNumber & " apples." and MyStr = "I have " + MyNumber + " apples."

Also, what are the differences between Loading a form and Opening a form, Similarly with Unload and Close.

From my observations, all the above pairs achieve the same things - I find I can interchange them without noticing any differences. Are there subtle differences, or are they basically the same?

Cheers!

[MS]

"MGFoster" <[e-mail] > wrote in message
news:bh******** *********@newsr ead3.news.pas.e arthlink.net...

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Bang (!) and dot (.) - basically the same. The exclamation point (bang)
means refer to the collection item. Since Me refers to the form, and
the form's default collection is Controls then Me!TxtBox refers to the
control "TxtBox" in the form's Controls collection.

The period (dot) means refer to the property. A control can also be a
property of the form, so Me.TxtBox refers to the control/property
"txtBox" and also any Field named "txtBox" in the form's Recordsource.

The ampersand (&) is purely a string concatenation operator. The plus
sign (+) is also a concatenation operator that sets the string to NULL
if NULL is the last value. E.g. (debug window):

? null & "this one" + null + " that one"
Null

? null & "this one" & null & " that one"
this one that one

Loading & Opening a form: Opening a form can be cancelled. Loading
can't cancel the opening of the form.

Unload & Close a form: Unload can be cancelled. Closing can't.

The order of events is:

Open: Open -> Load -> ...

Close: Unload -> Deactivate -> Close

Thanks! :-)

[Trevor Best]

MGFoster wrote:

The period (dot) means refer to the property. A control can also be a
property of the form, so Me.TxtBox refers to the control/property
"txtBox" and also any Field named "txtBox" in the form's Recordsource.

Steer clear of using a dot for controls/fields, in some versions of
Access in cirtain circumstances it won't compile anyway and there's the
danger that some numpty named a field/control something like "Name" so
that Me.Name is now ambiguous. Doesn't need a numpty either, you can
name something perfectly sensible then MS make that name a keyword in
the next version of Access.

--
This sig left intentionally blank

[Bob Quintal]

Trevor Best <no****@besty.o rg.uk> wrote in
news:42******** **************@ news.zen.co.uk:

MGFoster wrote:

The period (dot) means refer to the property. A control can
also be a property of the form, so Me.TxtBox refers to the
control/property "txtBox" and also any Field named "txtBox"
in the form's Recordsource.

Steer clear of using a dot for controls/fields, in some
versions of Access in cirtain circumstances it won't compile
anyway and there's the danger that some numpty named a
field/control something like "Name" so that Me.Name is now
ambiguous. Doesn't need a numpty either, you can name
something perfectly sensible then MS make that name a keyword
in the next version of Access.

Even more insidious is a translation. Wrote some code using french
field names: nom, prénom, addresse, téléphone. It worked fine on my
english version of Access '97, but failed with the "nom est un mot
réservé" message when run on my customer's french version of Access
'97. grrrr!

--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.