A sendkeys/setfocus glitch?

[Whizzo]

Hi folks;
I spent a little while some time ago building a touchscreen data entry interface into an Access 2003 form. I'm not too experienced in VBA at all so I was quite happy when I came up with a reasonably elegant solution, especially given that there's multiple text boxes involved. Each of the "keys" on the screen keyboard is a cmd button with its letter as a nice big caption on the front. The Mouse Down event triggers a bit of code:

Function addletter()
Screen.Previous Control.SetFocu s
Screen.ActiveFo rm.ActiveContro l.SelStart = 0
SendKeys "({END})" & Screen.Previous Control.Caption
End Function

The whole SelStart and "({END})" thing is a workaround to remove the highlighting you get when you switch focus to a filled text box, since we all know what happens if you highlight a bunch of text and then press "a"....

The Spacebar button was a bit trickier, I worked the Mouse Down event to run the following:

Function addspace()
Screen.Previous Control.SetFocu s
Screen.ActiveFo rm.ActiveContro l = Screen.ActiveFo rm.ActiveContro l & " "
Screen.ActiveFo rm.ActiveContro l.SelStart = Len(Screen.Acti veForm.ActiveCo ntrol)
End Function

Still not quite sure how it works but the space at the end of the text stays there, which is the main thing.

BUT... I have a problem. Under normal typing it's fine, you can type words followed by a single space followed by another word and it works great. But if the user accidentally presses space twice then sometimes the focus goes back to the text box where it belongs but sometimes it stays on cmdSpacebar.. As far as I can tell it's totally random, there's no telling when it might do what. And when it does stay on cmdSpacebar you click a letter key it tries to do a SendKeys on the PreviousControl (being, in this case, cmdSpacebar) and the whole thing comes crashing down. Does anybody know what's going on here and how I can program this little bug out of my database?

Thanks!

[OldBirdman]

This sounds kinda complex. I've noticed many threads with comments about SendKeys, and that they should be avoided. Sometimes can't, but sometimes you can.

Here's an idea that seems to solve all your issues.

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
 
 
Dim tbx As TextBox
Dim strInputSpace As String
 
Private Sub cmdA_Click()
    strInputSpace = strInputSpace & "A"
    tbx = strInputSpace
End Sub
 
Private Sub cmdB_Click()
    strInputSpace = strInputSpace & "B"
    tbx = strInputSpace
End Sub
 
Private Sub cmdC_Click()
    strInputSpace = strInputSpace & "C"
    tbx = strInputSpace
End Sub
 
Private Sub cmdSpace_Click()
    strInputSpace = strInputSpace & " "
    tbx = strInputSpace
End Sub
 
Private Sub txtTextBox1_GotFocus()
    cmdSmallControl.SetFocus
    Set tbx = txtTextBox1
    strInputSpace = Nz(txtTextBox1, "")
End Sub
 
Private Sub txtTextBox2_GotFocus()
    cmdSmallControl.SetFocus
    Set tbx = txtTextBox2
    strInputSpace = Nz(txtTextBox2, "")
End Sub

cmdSmallControl is a command button 1 pixel square, visible, in the upper left corner of the form. It is used for SetFocus to keep any other control from appearing to have the focus.

Of course, you would standardize the keys into a function or subroutine. You can have as many textboxes as needed. A "Shift" key would be easy to impliment. Whole keyboard could change to UCase for one "keypress".

Don't know yet how to select portions of text, or position cursor, but arrow keys and double-click in textbox would be my start.

[Whizzo]

Sounds like it might work, but I wanted above all to avoid having a separate bit of code unique to each key on the on-screen keyboard. That way, if you have to make one change you have to make 26! The way I do it (with the key caption) means I can have the same macro on every key that runs the same bit of code. As a whole it works perfectly apart from that damned spacebar bug! I think I'll see if I can do it with straight coding on cmdSpace rather than going via a macro, maybe that's the problem... Thanks though, it certainly helps to look in different directions!.

[OldBirdman]

I had figured that you would write a subroutine and each letter would call that common subroutine. Same code for all keys. Or you could capture the event through key preview for the form.

I do remember somewhere a tricky way to have Access treat multiple commands as an array of controls. Maybe someone else remembers that if you are interested.

[Whizzo]

All input gratefully received! I have managed to draw a bit more of a bead on the problem. If you click the cmdSpacebar slowly (once a second) you can keep going 'til the cows come home. The problem only crops up if you click it rapidly, a bit faster than a normal double-click that is. Is there a way of maybe Calling the event or using DoEvents?

[FishVal]

@OldBirdman
Here was one.

Regards,
Fish.

[Whizzo]

Fixed! I just changed the event that fires the procedure from On Mouse Down to Got Focus. As a bonus, I no longer get that nasty flicker on the button as it's clicked then suddenly has the focus snatched away from it. Cheers folks!