Troubleshoot forms

A form may appear blank for any of the following reasons:

• The form may not be bound to an underlying record source. To bind a form to an underlying record source, open the form in Design view, and then double-click the form selector to open the property sheet. In the RecordSource property box, click a record source in the list or, if the record source is a query, click the Build button to open the Query Builder.

• The form may be bound to an underlying record source that doesn't have any data. Check the underlying record source to make sure that it has data.

• The form may be based on a query that doesn't return any data. To see if the query returns data, double-click the form selector to open the form's property sheet, click the Build button next to the RecordSource property box to open the Query Builder, and then click View in the Query Builder.

• The form may be open in Data Entry mode. When a form is open in Data Entry mode, it displays a blank record so that you can add data. To show all the records, click the Remove Filter/Sort command on the Records menu.

• The form header or form footer may be so large that there's no room for the detail section.

• When you open a form for the first time in PivotTable or PivotChart view, you don't see any data. Using the field list, add fields to the different areas of the view.

To see data from more than one table, you must base your form on a query that brings the data from the tables together. To create a multiple-table query without closing the form, do the following:

1. In form Design view, double-click the form selector to open the form's property sheet.

2. Click in the RecordSource property box, and then click the Build button next to the property box to open the Query Builder.

3. In the Query Builder, add the tables and fields you want to include in the underlying query, and then close the Query Builder.

Microsoft Access updates the RecordSource property to use the query you created.

Note  You can also create a multiple-table form by using the Form Wizard, PivotTable Wizard, or PivotChart Wizard.

You may not be able to edit data in a form for any of the following reasons:

• The form was created as a read-only form. If the AllowDeletions, AllowAdditions, and AllowEdits properties of the form are set to No, you won't be able to make changes to the underlying data.

• The Locked property for one or more controls may be set to Yes.

• Someone else may be using the form at the same time, and the RecordLocks property for the form is set to All Records or Edited Record. You'll see the locked record indicator in the record selector if this is the case. Wait a while, and try again.

• You may be trying to edit data in a calculated control. A calculated control displays the result of an expression. The data displayed in a calculated control isn't stored, so it can't be edited.

• The underlying query or SQL statement for the form may not be updatable.

• You can't edit data in PivotTable or PivotChart view.

• To scroll through the data in the PivotTable form, click the Edit PivotTable Object button, which opens Microsoft Excel. You can then see the entire PivotTable form and scroll through the data.

Before you can modify a PivotTable form, you need to update the data that's displayed in it.

1. Open the PivotTable form in Form view.

2. Click the Edit PivotTable Object button.

3. On the Data menu in Microsoft Excel, click Refresh Data.

Note  When you're editing the PivotTable form, you are using Microsoft Excel and can get Excel Help on PivotTable reports. If you don't find the answer you need in the Excel Help topics, you can use Microsoft Access Help when the PivotTable form is open in Form view, in Access.

A PivotTable object is an embedded object that is stored in Microsoft Access. If you want to work with the PivotTable object by using Excel's PivotTable Report Wizard, click the Edit PivotTable Object button on the Access form. Once you have the PivotTable object open in Excel, you can save a copy of it as an Excel PivotTable report. However, the PivotTable report in Excel and the PivotTable object on the Access form aren't linked. If you change the PivotTable object in Access, the changes won't be reflected in the PivotTable report in Excel, and vice versa, so the data will be inconsistent.

You cannot create PivotTable forms in Access 2002 or later. Instead, you can open a form in PivotTable view or PivotChart view to get the same functionality as a PivotTable form. You can also use the PivotTable or Chart wizards to build the view for a new form.

You need to link your main form and subform using the LinkChildFields and LinkMasterFields properties.

1. Open the main form in Design view.

2. Make sure the subform control is selected, and then click Properties on the toolbar to display the property sheet for the subform control.

3. Type the linking fields or controls in the LinkChildFields and LinkMasterFields properties. To enter more than one linking field or control, separate the field or control names with a semicolon. If you enter more than one field or control name, you must enter the names in the same order in both properties.

   • In the LinkChildFields property box, enter the name of each linking field in the subform. (You can’t use the name of a control in this property.)

   • In the LinkMasterFields property box, enter the name of each linking field or control in the main form.

     If you're unsure what the linking field or control is for either property, click the Build button next to the property box to open the Subform Field Linker.

4. Switch to Form view to test the link.

If you've already set the LinkChildFields and LinkMasterFields properties and the subform still doesn't work, make sure that you aren't using fields that have been renamed or deleted. Also make sure that you've spelled the field names correctly.

Notes

• The linking fields don't have to appear in the main form or the subform, but they must be included in the underlying record source.

• The linking fields must contain the same kind of data and have the same or a compatible data type or field size.

• Make sure that the LinkChildFields property is set to the name of a field (as specified in the ControlSource property), not the name of a control (as specified in the Name property). The LinkMasterFields property can be set to the name of either a field or a control.

To display a value from a subform on a main form, create a calculated control that refers to the subform control using the following syntax:

=Forms![formname]![subformname]![controlname]

For example, suppose you have an Orders form and an Orders subform. In the form footer of the subform, you have a text box named OrderSubtotal that sums the records in the subform. To display the value of this control on the main form, use the following expression:

=Forms![Orders]![Orders Subform]![OrderSubtotal]

If you're already using this syntax and you still get an error, check to make sure that the form, subform, and control names are correct. Make sure that the names you're referring to are the names specified in the Name property for each object. Also make sure that you're including the exclamation point in the right places.

A form or subform viewed in Datasheet view doesn't display a form header and footer even if you've included them in Design view. You can display a form header and footer in a subform and make it look like a datasheet by sizing the detail section of the form to the size of a single row and setting the DefaultView property of the subform to Continuous Forms.

To be able to open the property sheet when a form is open in Form view or Datasheet view, the AllowDesignChanges property of the form must be set to All Views.

Do one of the following:

• Convert the image to GIF or BMP graphic format.

• Reduce the size of the image.