Returning Data from Modal Form

[peridian]

Hello,

This may seem really stupid, but what's the best way to return data from a Modal form??

It seems that Access uses a different Forms library to the other MS apps, and does not have the usual .Show member.

I have a form I have set as Modal in its Form properties. I have a Class module with properties (i.e. my data object). The form has a private instance of this class, and as options are selected and set on the form, the data is set in the object.

The form is initially called from some VBA code, and I want to be able to retrieve that object in the form after the user hits run.

Access appears to have only one way to open and display a modal form, using DoCmd.Open, where the acDialog option can be used to prevent code from continuing on until the form is closed.

The problem with this is of course that the single line command effectively loads a new instance of the form, runs it, and then closes and unloads it straight away when the user closes it, without ever creating a referrable instance in the code.

This means no data can be passed to the form before showing, and cannot be retrieved after the form has been closed.

With other VBA apps I could load the form, call some properties on the form first to populate the form, show it, and the code would not advance until it was hidden. But the form would not unload from memory, so the data was still retrievable afterwards.

It seems while Access has got the Load/Unload options, it only has the .Visible property, which of course does not stop the code from advancing until the form is hidden, so the calling code tries to continue on.

The only workaround I can think of is to have a DoEvents loop after the form becomes visible checking for a flag on the form to be set before continuing, with code on the form setting the flag on the press of a button. This seems like a clunky workaround to me.

Any help is appreciated.

Regards,
Rob.

[RuralGuy]

Have you tried using global variables or maybe passing a control name in the OpenArgs argument?

[FishVal]

....
Access appears to have only one way to open and display a modal form, using DoCmd.Open, where the acDialog option can be used to prevent code from continuing on until the form is closed.
.....

Fortunately it is not the only option.
You may make form modal, anytime you like, setting its "Modal" property to True.

Regards,
Fish

P.S. You may find interesting this thread.

[peridian]

Fortunately it is not the only option.
You may make form modal, anytime you like, setting its "Modal" property to True.

Regards,
Fish

P.S. You may find interesting this thread.

Yes, I was aware of that, as I stated in my post. The problem is that simply setting that does not stop the code.

Have you tried using global variables or maybe passing a control name in the OpenArgs argument?

As much as I hate global variables, I suspect this is about the only way of doing this. I had hoped that the data manipulation could be encapsulated within the code and passed around correctly.

Thanks for your responses.

Regards,
Rob.

[FishVal]

Yes, I was aware of that, as I stated in my post. The problem is that simply setting that does not stop the code.

What for you want to stop code execution?

Kind regards,
Fish

[peridian]

What for you want to stop code execution?

Kind regards,
Fish

The reason for having the form be Modal is that it is for the user to supply options to a process.

The sequence goes:

1) Import data from sources.
2) Do some analysis and calculations
3) *Present user with options based on results*
4) Do output based on user options.

So I need to open the form to set data for the rest of the process to use.

The problem is that the options made available to the user will depend on the analysis, and the output will depend on the user options. So I need to be able to pass information to and from the form when opend/closed, but not allow the code in the background to carry on until the options have been chosen.

The alternative I've just considered is having an intermediate "save table" that makes the input and output available to both ends, but this is messy to me.

I'm planning on using a static property of the class object to make it available internally in the object calling the form, but accessible by the form without having to be passed the explicit instance of the object.

I know this would work in other languages, so I'll try it here.

Regards,
Rob.

[FishVal]

You may handle second form event in the first form module or you may call first form method/property from the second form module.

Regards,
Fish

[ADezii]

How about?

1. Opening the Form in Hidden Mode
2. Assign values to Form Fields while the Form is Hidden
3. Make the Form visible at the appropriate time
   

   DoCmd.OpenForm "Form2", acNormal, , , acFormEdit, acHidden
    
   Forms!Form2![Field3] = "Bart"
   Forms!Form2![Field4] = "Simpson"
    
   Forms!Form2.Visible = True

4. As far as retaining Form values once it is closed, how about assigning Field values to a Public Array for later, easy retrieval?