Navigate between open windows? (opinion)

[robert.waters]

Do you have your users rely on the windows taskbar to manage/navigate
between the forms they have open, or do you provide another (more
robust) method? Does anyone use a custom navigation system (like
keeping a selectable list of open forms in a listbox/commandbar/
breadcrumb trail etc.)?

[adironphoto]

Hello everyone,

This seemed like such a great idea because my users all have 15
forms open at once.

I wrote this code this morning. Let me know if I have done
something dangerous.

This is all in a form called "** Forms **" so we can find it
easily on the launch bar.

You open this form and then click on the Form you want to jump
to.

Tim Reed

' *************** *************** *************** ***
' Get list of open forms
Private Sub Form_Activate()

GetOpenFormsLis t

End Sub
' *************** *************** *************** **************
' Make a list of all open forms excluding this one
Private Sub GetOpenFormsLis t()

Dim obj As AccessObject, dbs As Object
Dim OpenFormName As String

DoCmd.SetWarnin gs False
DoCmd.RunSQL "DELETE FROM [Open Forms List];"
Set dbs = Application.Cur rentProject
For Each obj In dbs.AllForms
If (obj.IsLoaded) Then
OpenFormName = obj.Name
If (OpenFormName <"** Forms **") Then
SQL1 = "INSERT INTO [Open Forms List] "
SQL2 = "( [Form Name] ) VALUES ( '" & OpenFormName &
"' );"
DoCmd.RunSQL SQL1 & SQL2
End If
End If
Next obj
SQL1 = "SELECT * FROM [Open Forms List] "
SQL2 = "ORDER BY [Form Name];"
Me.RecordSource = SQL1 & SQL2

End Sub
' *************** *************** ***********
' Jump to the clicked Form
Private Sub FormNameList_Cl ick()

Dim stDocName As String, stLinkCriteria As String

stDocName = Me.FormNameList
DoCmd.OpenForm stDocName, , , stLinkCriteria

End Sub

[storrboy]

Without testing it, the two things I see are.. that I would not
attempt to open the form when clicked in the list. If the form is
already open, attempt to SetFocus or Restore. Mainly because it is
possible to have a form open more than once (multiple instances). So
if this code were to be re-used, it may not work. Also there are times
when certain criteria or events must take place before or during a
form opening. These may be prevented using your current method.

Second, will this code include reports being previewed?

[Rick Brandt]

storrboy wrote:

I can send you the one I have. I don't think it will paste properly
into a reply.
I've never noticed any speed issues, but most things I've done with
it, users would rarely have more than 10 windows open at a time.

I've had this for years as an option on the main toolbar. A list that
floats in the upper right showing all open forms and you can click on a name
to bring that form to the front. I have never once seen a user utilizing
it.

(Hey, I thought it was a good idea)
--
Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP
Email (as appropriate) to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com

[storrboy]

We used the menu I mentioned because two of the apps we made allowed
multiple instances of a form (Documents and Records). The same form
could be open many times with different records in them. Made sense
for us as the menu would allow locating and moving between them easier.