Lesson 13

You can work with both forms and reports in Access Design view by opening them in separate Design View windows.
Here's how you can manage them effectively:

1. Open Forms and Reports in Design View:
   • In the Access Navigation Pane, locate the form or report you want to modify.
   • Right-click on the form or report.
   • Select Design View from the context menu. This will open the form or report in its own Design View window.
   • Repeat this process for any other forms or reports you need to work with simultaneously. Each will open in a separate window.
2. Switch Between Design View Windows:
   • Using the Taskbar: Each open Design View window for a form or report will have its own entry in the Windows taskbar. You can click on the respective taskbar button to switch between them.
   • Using the Access Window Tab Bar (if enabled): If you have enabled the display of document tabs in Access options, you will see tabs for each open form and report at the top of the Access window, allowing you to click and switch between them.
3. Work on Each Object Independently:
   • Once a form or report is open in Design View, you can modify its controls, layout, properties, and underlying data source without affecting the other open objects.
4. Copy and Paste Elements (if needed):
   • If you need to reuse elements between forms or reports (e.g., a specific control or formatting), you can copy it from one Design View window and paste it into another. Simply select the element in the source object, press Ctrl+C (or right-click and choose Copy), switch to the target object's Design View, and press Ctrl+V (or right-click and choose Paste).
5. Arrange Design View Windows:
   • You can arrange the Design View windows on your screen to see multiple objects at once if needed. Right-click on an empty area of the taskbar and choose an arrangement option like "Show windows side by side" or "Show windows stacked."

By following these steps, you can easily navigate and work with multiple forms and reports simultaneously within the Access Design view environment. This is useful for comparing designs, copying elements, or ensuring consistency across your database objects.

This module discussed Access Design view and working with both forms and reports. You should be getting more comfortable working with them by now you should also be convinced that Design view is a bit of a pain, and it is worth your while to start a report (or a form for that matter) with a wizard.
Although you have learned a lot about reports here, there is plenty more to learn. If you find yourself frustrated when you can not make a report look exactly as you want it to, it might be because you have not learned the right skill yet.
Make liberal use of Access's Help system since there is a lot of information there.
When you use the Query Design View in Access, you are actually building a SQL statement. Most of the time, you will not actually need to look at the SQL code, but you can see it using the SQL view if you are curious. Conversely, you can take most SQL statements, paste them into the SQL view of a new query, and then switch over to Design view to see how they work. There are a few types of SQL statements for which this will not work. For example, union queries and pass-through queries cannot be viewed using Design view. Even if you’re comfortable using SQL in queries, you may not be familiar with building SQL statements in VBA. If you are not, you are missing out this functionality.
Using SQL in VBA is a powerful technique that can enable many great features in your Access applications. By using VBA, you can build custom SQL statements for combo boxes, forms, and reports. For example, you will be able to change the sorting and selecting of records on continuous forms, control the record selection on reports, and limit the drop-down lists of combo boxes based on other combo boxes.

This module introduced you to the following terms and concepts:

1. Group
2. Sections
3. Summary calculations

In the next module you will learn about using Access 2013 tools: creating static Web pages from Access objects to present on the Web, exporting data to use in other applications, and more!