Fred,

Most of that is pretty scary, but thanks for the enlightenment. At least it
tells me what I need to worry about, and what I don't. That's helpful.

write on

Dear Fred,

Wow! That's pretty cool!

I use ZoomText for screen magnification, and I love it. The downside is, it
doesn't play well with my graphics card (or visa versa), so mouse control can
be a hassle. The mouse can be difficult to position exactly where I need it;
it's hard to control highlighting of text, and may not stop highlighting when
I let go of the mouse button; mouse pointer may jump around the screen
out-of-control.

This has led me to learn and use keyboard shortcuts as much as I can. But
that presents its own set of challenges. First of all, There are cases where
the ZoomText hotkeys conflict with Microsoft shortcuts. ZoomText always wins.
Then I have to do the MS function another way--usually ALT+menu keys. But
even that doesn't always work. (Case in point: If I open a new message window
in Outlook Express, there is an address book icon next to the "To:" box
label. The idea is, you click that icon to open your address book and select
an address to put in the "To:" field. I cannot find a way to open that icon
without a mouse. I cannot even get it to receive focus so I can try to open
it. And this function can't be done with ALT+menus either. Do screen readers
have a way around this?)

Receiving focus is often a problem when trying to navigate. ZoomText has a
function that lets me ALT+TAB through all open windows, until I get to the
one I want. But the window I stop at doesn't always receive focus the way it
should, so that my next keyboard command will work there. I particularly have
trouble with Outlook in this regard.

Navigating within a window is usually a pain. The F6 key doesn't work most
of the time (to move between panes) the way MS shortcut key lists say it is
supposed to, and I don't even know why. I can't even find ZoomText conflicts
to explain that. There are certain areas of the Outlook main window, for
example, that just can't be had without a mouse.

Internet Explorer is a nightmare without a mouse. I can't even TAB or F6 out
of the menu bar/toolbar area, into the actual web page. This is where MS
MouseKeys comes in handy. I can use keys to move and click the mouse; once
you get used to it, control is much better than handling the mouse, although
it's slower. (See Accessibility Wizard in Control Panel. You can also adjust
the thickness and blink rate of the cusor.) ZoomText does have the Web Finder
feature that works with IE. That is useful, if I am determined to use the
keyboard just on principle, but it is more cumbersome and time-consuming than
using the mouse.

As for Access and keyboard shortcuts--well, I haven't even gotten that far
yet. Just getting comfortable with Access itself is all I can handle right
now. The shortcut learning curve will have to wait. And I'm leary of it,
because I supsect all the navigating between multiple objects and views will
be really hairy. Again, the ALT+TAB does help for switching windows. But
receiving focus...? I don't know.

Do you work with ZoomText much? Got any tips for me?

write on
P.S. Should we change the subject, and/or move this discussion to a
different forum? Can we? Will "Notify me of replies" work if we do?

Dear Albert,

But I tried started with the Control Wizard, and it dsplayed the (Supplier)
ID instead of the name in the (Products) table. That's when I started taking
Northwinds apart with a fine-toothed comb. I never did figure out what was
wrong with mine. Sigh.

I won't have time to mess with this again until tomorrow. I'll try again,
this time with a new database that I haven't had time to screw up yet, and
following your instructions instead of the Idiot's Guide. I'll let you know.

Thanks,

write on

OK, here is what I did that finally worked...almost.

I created the table (actually, two tables) in design view first. I created a
combo box in the table, where I wanted the (in this case) CategoryName, from
the previously created Category Table. I used the expression builder to add
the CategoryID and CategoryName fields to the grid. (An aside: In the field
list, the first choice is an "*". I have found instructions for how to use
it, but I can't figure out what it does, or when/why I should or shouldn't
use it. Will someone please educate me?) I set the Bound Column to 1, and the
Column Count to 2. I set the Column Width for the first column (CategoryID)
to 0". I switched to table view, and verified that this worked as desired: I
could use the drop down combo box list to select the CategoryName I wanted
for each record. When the table was complete, I used AutoForm to create a
form based on that table, and it put the combo box in for me. I don't
remember if I had to tweak the combo box properties in form design--maybe. I
did this for two sets of table-and-form.

With those in place, I started using the form to enter data in the first
table. I was happy as a clam, until... I came to a category field where I
wanted to enter something that wasn't in my list (from Category Table). Since
this was a combo box, that shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong. Access
wouldn't let me enter a value that wasn't on the list. I went to design view
to figure out why. I looked at properties for the combo box. I noticed that
"Limit to List" was marked "Yes." I thought setting that to "No" would solve
the problem. But Access said it couldn't change that setting right now,
because the first visible row was not equal to the bound column. The message
instructed me to adjust the column width appropriately, then change the
setting. But if I put a column width, other than zero, in for the Bound
Column, I was back to getting ID#s, instead of Names, to choose from in my
combo box. So what's the point of having a combo box, if you can't enter a
value that isn't in the list? Does this only work when you have manually
typed in the list, and not when you are picking it from a table?

The other issue I have come across is wanting to merge these two tables
together. I found an example of roughly want I want in Northwinds (sample
database--the Union Query "Customers and Suppliers by City," with a
"Relationship" field to show whether the Name is a customer or a supplier),
but it looks as if it has to be done in SQL, and I don't think I'm up to all
that.

I have these two tables with closely related, but not quite the same,  
groups of data. About half of the fields are the same, or close enough. One
field could be accomplished with a set of three checkboxes to choose from:
the first two (choose one) would apply to Table 1 item; the third box would
apply only to Table 2 items. There is one field that is not quite the same
thing, but the format (hyperlink) is the same, and I could use one field for
both groups (may or may not be an email address for Table 1 items, will
always be a website URL for Table 2 items). Then there are 3 or 4 fields that
pertain only to Table 1 items.

It occurred to me that I might try merging the two groups of data into one
table and form that used all the common fields. Then, use a subform for the
fields that apply only to one group, and save that in a separte table, much
like Northwinds' Orders and Order Detail tables, with a Order Detail subform
in the Orders form. So which is easier--a union query in SQL, or deciding
which fields to put in which table and setting up a subform? The latter still
uses two tables, not to mention a complicated subform. Then I still have to
write the query or queries I need. Maybe I'm better off with what I have for
now. Thoughts, anyone?