ACC: How to Dynamically Unlock a Control with a Message Box

• Microsoft Access versions 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

To protect the data in a control on a form from accidentally being changed, you can use a message box to prompt for verification when you try to enter data into that control. Clicking Yes in the message box unlocks the control and allows you to type.

MORE INFORMATION

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1. Start Microsoft Access, and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.



2. Open the Categories form in Design view.



3. Click Code on the View menu, and type the following line in the Declarations section:




Public fEditDescription As Boolean 

4. Set the OnCurrent property of the form to the following event procedure:




      Private Sub Form_Current()

         ' Lock the Description control for each record.
         Me!Description.Locked = True
         fEditDescription = False

      End Sub 

5. Open the property sheet of the Description text box, and change the Locked property to Yes.



6. Set the OnKeyDown property of Description to the following event procedure:




      Private Sub Description_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, _
         Shift As Integer)

         ' If the field is not flagged for editing, prompt the user
         ' for confirmation about unlocking the control.
         If fEditDescription = False Then
            If MsgBox("Do you want to change Description?", _
                  vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbDefaultButton2, _
                  "Confirmation") = vbYes Then

               ' If the response is Yes, unlock the field
               ' and flag it as being edited.
               Me!Description.Locked = False
               fEditDescription = True
            End If
         End If

      End Sub 

7. Switch to Form view and attempt to change the contents of Description.
   
   Note that a message box appears and asks whether you want to change Description. If you click Yes, Description is unlocked and you can edit its contents for that particular record. If you click No, Description remains locked.

REFERENCES

For more information about the MsgBox function, search the Help Index for "msgbox."

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: dialog confirm

Keywords          : kbcode kbprg OffVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto 

Last Reviewed: July 2, 1999