ACC2000: Overlapping List Box Controls Show Through One Another

ID: Q197594

The information in this article applies to:
Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.


SYMPTOMS

When your form has two or more list box controls, one on top of the other, you can see portions of the control on the bottom when you click the one on top.


RESOLUTION

You can work around this behavior by setting the Visible property of the underlying list box control(s) to False when not in use. The following example uses a command button to toggle the Visible properties of two list box controls.

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


  2. Create a new form not based on any table or query in Design view. Be sure to add the list box controls in the order listed below so List2 is on top of List0:


    3. 
   Form: frmListBox
   ------------------------
   Caption: Test List Boxes

   List Box:
      Name: List0
      RowSource: Employees
      ColumnCount: 2
      ColumnWidths: .25";1"
      Visible: Yes
      Left: 1"
      Top: .25"
      Width: 1.75"
      Height: 1.3"
   List Box:
      Name: List2
      RowSource: Customers
      ColumnCount: 2
      ColumnWidths: 0";1.25"
      Visible: No
      Left: 1"
      Top: .25"
      Width: 1.75"
      Height: 1.3"
   Command Button:
      Name: Command0
      Caption: Toggle Boxes
      OnClick: [Event Procedure]
  3. Set the OnClick property of the command button to the following event procedure:


    4. 
Private Sub Command0_Click
   'Toggle the Visible property of each list box
   List0.Visible = Not List0.Visible
   List2.Visible = Not List2.Visible
End Sub
  4. Switch the form to Form view. A list of ID numbers and last names from the Employees table is displayed in the List0 list box.


  5. Click the Toggle Boxes button. A list of company names from the Customers table is displayed in the List2 list box.


Note that as you toggle the list boxes and click items inside them, the items in the invisible list box do not appear.


STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.


MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

If you overlap two list boxes and toggle the Visible property of just one of them, you can see portions of the underlying list box control. This behavior does not occur in earlier versions of Microsoft Access.
  1. Follow steps 1 and 2 in the "Resolution" section of this article.


  2. Set the OnClick property of the command button to the following event procedure:


    3. 
Private Sub Command0_Click
   ' Toggle the Visible property of the top list box
   List2.Visible = Not List2.Visible
End Sub
  3. Switch the form to Form view. You can select information from the Employees table in the List0 list box with no problems.


  4. Click the Toggle Boxes button. Note that as you scroll up and down the List2 list box and click company names, you see portions of the List0 list box underneath. This is because the Visible property of the List0 list box is still set to True.


Additional query words: see through transparent pra 


Keywords          : kbdta FmsCmbo 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: July 15, 1999