About right-to-left behavior in forms and reports

The default direction that was set on the International tab in the Options dialog box (Tools menu) determines whether your form has a left-to-right or right-to-left layout. If you have not changed the default, new controls added to the form are displayed with a right-to-left direction.

Whether a form or report is in a right-to-left or left-to-right direction, the ruler retains its origin in the upper-left corner of the design window. The same concept applies to the grid. This provision does not cause any problems when creating a right-to-left-oriented form. By dragging the right grid boundary to the right, controls on the grid move to the right in proportion to the distance the boundary is moved and the grid is extended from the left boundary.

The Set Control Defaults command on the Format menu recognizes all right-to-left properties in Microsoft Access 2000 (and later versions). When you select this command, Access applies all right-to-left properties.

When you change a control's type (for example, from a text box to a list box) by using the Change To command, Access transfers any relevant right-to-left properties from the original control to the new one.

These Format menu commands behave according to the direction of the current form or report.

Snap To Grid    When you place a new control on a left-to-right form or report, the upper-left corner of the control is aligned to the nearest point on the grid. When you place a new control on a right-to-left form or report, the upper-right corner aligns to the nearest point.

Align To Grid    In a left-to-right form or report, the upper-left corners of selected controls align to the nearest point in the grid. In a right-to-left form or report, upper-right corners of selected controls align to the nearest grid point.

Datasheet view in forms is the way to present tables with the most sophisticated right-to-left behavior. In addition to displaying the underlying data in the column and row layout generally associated with tables, each field in Datasheet view has the right-to-left properties of the associated Form view control.

For example, if you set the Numeral Shapes property to Arabic for a text box control bound to a Text field named Sales, then the keyboard language will automatically switch to Arabic whenever you click in the Sales field in Datasheet view. This feature is useful for volume data-entry applications because it reduces the need to make keyboard language changes when moving from one field to the next.

A hierarchy of control governs the orientation, overall appearance, and basic parameters of forms and reports. The following progression illustrates this point:

1. The Default Direction setting on the International tab in the Options dialog box (Tools menu) sets the text direction for new forms or reports to right-to-left (unless the default was manually changed).
2. In the property sheet for a form or report, you can change the direction for a specific form or report by setting the Orientation property. This change will determine the default value of related left-to-right and right-to-left direction properties for each new control on that form or report.
3. Each control has a default set of right-to-left properties that can be changed for that individual control.
4. After controls are placed on the design grid, you can move them and change their right-to-left properties to change their appearance and behavior.

Access displays the report in the direction in which it was designed, left-to-right or right-to-left.