CODEWITHSUNDEEP
formsms-accessmousedropdownbox
Sonny123
Sonny123

Reputation: 107

Access Forms prevent mouse from selecting values from dropdown, force keyb input

I have a data entry form. Its properly tab indexed etc. and there are three dropdown menus which automatically unfurl with the on enter event.

No matter how much advice i give to users about using the tab key and keboard and checking what they just input. they still insist on using the mouse to select values from the dropdown menus the problem is that in their haste they often make mistakes as a result of using the mouse.

I would like to be able to force users to input into these fields using the keyboard.

the drop down is neccessary for users see the appropriate values for the field because the values will vary based on previous selections.

I have already tried experimenting with onclick events but to no avail. Is there a way I can do this?

i am using access 2007 many of the users have access 2003.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 842

Answers (1)

mwolfe02
mwolfe02

Reputation: 24227

Based on your comments, I would take one of two different approaches.

If your users are really comfortable with the codes AND know which ones they should use based on their previous selections, then just use text boxes instead of combo boxes. You can still put some validation code in either the Form_BeforeUpdate event or the individual control's _BeforeUpdate event.

If the users are not that comfortable, then I would suggest you have the first field in the combo boxes be the description of the code, not the code itself. So instead of choosing from 101, 102, 103 they are instead choosing from "Small", "Medium", "Large" or whatever those codes actually apply to. If you still wanted to display the codes themselves, you could do that with a separate disabled text box.

Now to answer your actual question. For the record, I highly recommend against using this approach. The simplest way I can thing of to prevent your users from using the mouse to select the combo box, would be to add a Transparent button covering the combo box.

To do this, draw a regular command button over the combo. Set Transparent = Yes, Visible = Yes, Enabled = Yes, Tab Stop = No.

When users click on the combo now, they will actually be clicking on the Transparent button and nothing will happen. The ONLY way they will be able to get into the control is by tabbing from a neighboring control or using a hotkey (via '&' in attached label).

Once they enter the control via Tab and your code forces a dropdown, they will still be able to choose an option using the mouse. But by forcing them to use the keyboard initially, it will make it much more likely that they just stick with the keyboard.

Again--I can't stress this enough--I think this is a terrible, horrible, no-good idea. Please don't use this approach. But you asked a technical question and this site is all about giving technical answers, so there you go...

Upvotes: 2

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