Scroll Bar in Access 2003

[Ariana Perry]

I am creating a form in Access 2003. It has 3 subforms in it. Because of all the data in the form i need to be able to scroll since not all the information will fit on a single page.

I have gone to the scrollbar property box and set it to have a scroll bar both horizontally and vertically. The problem is, even after doing this there is no scroll bar going vertically. There is a space where the scroll bar should be, but there is no scroll bar there. I can't figure out if i am doing something wrong or if there is a glitch in my program. I compared the form i am working on to a different form that has a scroll bar and the properties are exactly the same.

[beacon]

Hi Ariana,

Welcome to Bytes!

Just so we're straight, you're trying to get the scroll bars to appear on the main form, not the subforms, right? Do you have the focus set to a control on the main form or is it set to a control on one of the subforms?

I know you said that you compared the properties with another form that has a working scroll bar, but have you tried to create a new test form to see if the scroll bars will work there?

If they don't work on the new form, I would think that it's possible that there are some issues with Access and you may want to try re-installing it with all the latest service packs.

If the scroll bars do work on the new form, there may be a property that is conflicting with your form setup or the form may be corrupt. It's hard to say without seeing how the database is setup and without ever experienced the problem personally (I tend to use the tab control on forms that otherwise would require the user to scroll...but that's personal preference).

Hope this helps and good luck,
beacon

[Ariana Perry]

Thanks! yes, you are correct, the scroll bar is on the main form, not the sub forms. I did try making a new form and the same thing happened. I don't understand why the 2 new forms are having this issue and the old one isn't, seems odd to me.

As for your suggestion about having the focus set to control on the main board, i don't know where that is or what that is so i don't know if it's set on the main board or not, how would i do that?

[beacon]

This not intended to be condescending, so if you know what I'm about to say, just ignore it. A control is something that you place on the form, like textboxes, comboboxes, subforms, etc.

When the focus is set to one of these controls, typically, at least in the case of the textbox and combobox, you have clicked in one of the boxes and your cursor is blinking inside it. For some controls, like a subform, the focus is on the subform whenever you have clicked or placed your cursor in a control on the subform (there's probably a little more to the focus as it relates to subforms, but we'll go with that for simplicity sake and hope the experts don't reem me for not going into more detail about that).

Anyway, my question was whether or not you had the focus on a control in the main form and not one of your subforms. The subforms should inherit any properties that you've set for the main form, so if you've set the scroll bars for the main form, it should cascade down to the subform.

However, it's worth taking another look at the main form's properties to be absolutely sure that you didn't set the scroll bar property for one of the subforms on accident.

Have your tried shrinking the size of the form window to see if the scroll bar will start working (click and drag the edge of the form to make it smaller)? I'm wondering if your viewable area is currently big enough that the form doesn't think it needs the scroll bars. The best way I can think of to check that is to shrink the size of the window. You could also extend the height of the form in the form properties as an alternate test.

Try this out and I'll keep thinking about of other things for you to try.

[Ariana Perry]

Thanks for the reply! definetly not condescending. Yes, the control is set on the main form, not the sub forms.

I just tried shrinking the form and the scroll bar is still not there. there is a white space where the scroll bar *should* be, and this white space goes away if i change the scroll bar option from "both" to "neither" or "horizontal". That suggests to me that the program knows there is suppose to be something there, but can't seem to show it completely.

I also extended the height, that didn't work either, good suggestions though!!


Thank you for all your help! i appreciate it, at a minimum at least i know i'm not totally stupid for not being able to solve this

[beacon]

This is probably a silly question, but have you tried clicking the white space where the scroll bar should be in different places to see if the page moves/jumps anywhere?

[Ariana Perry]

yep! nada

if i uninstall and reinstall access to try to solve this will i lose my data base?

[beacon]

You shouldn't. If you want to be on the safe side you can save a backup copy of it to a flash drive or something while it reinstalls.