Drop down list box colour

  • Thread starter Thread starter Billiam
  • Start date Start date
B

Billiam

I have a bound drop down list box which displays 7 set choices: Active,
Interim, On Leave, suspended, de-certifed, resigned and deceased. I would
like to add colour to some of the choices, so the items are noticed more
easily (ie the colour red is the background to the choice Suspended, the
colour green is the background to the choice Active).
Can this be done within the same drop down list box?
Billiam
 
I am not aware of a way within Access, but you might want to visit Stephen
Lebans' website to see if he's done something like this...

http://www.lebans.com/

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP
 
I am so sorry, Crystal, I did not receive notification of your reply...

I am afraid I am fairly new to all this, so bear with me
please...........................okay pretty please???

So if I make a seperate lookup/reference table, (Active, Suspended etc) base
a form on it and drop it on my main form that would work? As to the
conditional formatting, I do not know how to proceed--here is my best guess
(you can LOL if you like!:

I would add a conditional expression to the Validation Rule property of the
table
=IIf([Active] = "Yes", "Active (somehow add a hex value???ie green" "Active
somehow greyed out"
and somehow nest the other Status' in more IIf statements?????
:

I really do not know what to do, Crystal, any advice as to an examle posted
anywhere???
 
Hi Billiam (is that your name?)

in the design view of the form (you can do it in Form view but I feel it
is best to make design changes in design view):

click on the control

from the menu, choose Format, Conditional Formatting

for instance:
Expression Is --> [Active] = True
--> set Foreground Color, background color, Bold, Italic, Underline,
and/or enabled

~~~
for information on making a subform, read this:

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace


Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



I am so sorry, Crystal, I did not receive notification of your reply...

I am afraid I am fairly new to all this, so bear with me
please...........................okay pretty please???

So if I make a seperate lookup/reference table, (Active, Suspended etc) base
a form on it and drop it on my main form that would work? As to the
conditional formatting, I do not know how to proceed--here is my best guess
(you can LOL if you like!:

I would add a conditional expression to the Validation Rule property of the
table
=IIf([Active] = "Yes", "Active (somehow add a hex value???ie green" "Active
somehow greyed out"
and somehow nest the other Status' in more IIf statements?????
:

I really do not know what to do, Crystal, any advice as to an examle posted
anywhere???
How about using a subform with conditional formatting?

Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Crystal,

strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam (is that your name?)
Click to expand...

It's a nickname ...Bill+William=Billiam

I would just like to thank you sincerely for taking the time to help....I
have learned so much reading through these forums, and I find your resonses
extremely illuminating! So please except my sincerest thanks for taking the
time to help all of us newbies out--YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

I am going to give this a try on Monday so will let you know how I do!
Have a great weekend!

Billiam

in the design view of the form (you can do it in Form view but I feel it
is best to make design changes in design view):

click on the control

from the menu, choose Format, Conditional Formatting

for instance:
Expression Is --> [Active] = True
--> set Foreground Color, background color, Bold, Italic, Underline,
and/or enabled

~~~
for information on making a subform, read this:

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace


Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



I am so sorry, Crystal, I did not receive notification of your reply...

I am afraid I am fairly new to all this, so bear with me
please...........................okay pretty please???

So if I make a seperate lookup/reference table, (Active, Suspended etc) base
a form on it and drop it on my main form that would work? As to the
conditional formatting, I do not know how to proceed--here is my best guess
(you can LOL if you like!:

I would add a conditional expression to the Validation Rule property of the
table
=IIf([Active] = "Yes", "Active (somehow add a hex value???ie green" "Active
somehow greyed out"
and somehow nest the other Status' in more IIf statements?????
:

I really do not know what to do, Crystal, any advice as to an examle posted
anywhere???
How about using a subform with conditional formatting?

Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*




Billiam wrote:
I have a bound drop down list box which displays 7 set choices: Active,
Interim, On Leave, suspended, de-certifed, resigned and deceased. I would
like to add colour to some of the choices, so the items are noticed more
easily (ie the colour red is the background to the choice Suspended, the
colour green is the background to the choice Active).
Can this be done within the same drop down list box?
Billiam
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Billiam (thanks for explaining that <smile>)

you're welcome

please let us know if it works out

Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



Hi Crystal,

strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam (is that your name?)
Click to expand...

It's a nickname ...Bill+William=Billiam

I would just like to thank you sincerely for taking the time to help....I
have learned so much reading through these forums, and I find your resonses
extremely illuminating! So please except my sincerest thanks for taking the
time to help all of us newbies out--YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

I am going to give this a try on Monday so will let you know how I do!
Have a great weekend!

Billiam

in the design view of the form (you can do it in Form view but I feel it
is best to make design changes in design view):

click on the control

from the menu, choose Format, Conditional Formatting

for instance:
Expression Is --> [Active] = True
--> set Foreground Color, background color, Bold, Italic, Underline,
and/or enabled

~~~
for information on making a subform, read this:

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace


Warm Regards,
Crystal

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



I am so sorry, Crystal, I did not receive notification of your reply...

I am afraid I am fairly new to all this, so bear with me
please...........................okay pretty please???

So if I make a seperate lookup/reference table, (Active, Suspended etc) base
a form on it and drop it on my main form that would work? As to the
conditional formatting, I do not know how to proceed--here is my best guess
(you can LOL if you like!:

I would add a conditional expression to the Validation Rule property of the
table
=IIf([Active] = "Yes", "Active (somehow add a hex value???ie green" "Active
somehow greyed out"
and somehow nest the other Status' in more IIf statements?????
:

I really do not know what to do, Crystal, any advice as to an examle posted
anywhere???

How about using a subform with conditional formatting?

Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*




Billiam wrote:
I have a bound drop down list box which displays 7 set choices: Active,
Interim, On Leave, suspended, de-certifed, resigned and deceased. I would
like to add colour to some of the choices, so the items are noticed more
easily (ie the colour red is the background to the choice Suspended, the
colour green is the background to the choice Active).
Can this be done within the same drop down list box?
Billiam
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Crystal,

strive4peace said:
What is the data type for [Active] and [Suspended] ? If those
conditions aren't working, then they are probably text, not yes/no (as
they should be)
Click to expand...

I have a Field called "Status", text datatype, which is where the
Instructor's status is recorded from the bound combobox which supplies the
options. I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never
changed, and an Instructor can only have one status at a time. Do you still
think that I need to use Yes/No, and if so, would I have a field then for
each option in a lookup table???

Have a great day, and of course many thanks for your help!
Billiam
 
Hi Billiam,

no, Status is dynamic. If you have no need to know when particular
status happened, then keeping it in the table is ok

"I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never changed"

I do not understand...

generally Status is one of set choices -- it makes sense to have a teble
to supply them -- and use StatusID, a numeric foreign key, in your table
instead of storing the actual text value

I asked questions about [Active] and [Suspended] -- but you answered
with a question about [Status] -- are your issue resolved?


Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



Hi Crystal,

strive4peace said:
What is the data type for [Active] and [Suspended] ? If those
conditions aren't working, then they are probably text, not yes/no (as
they should be)
Click to expand...

I have a Field called "Status", text datatype, which is where the
Instructor's status is recorded from the bound combobox which supplies the
options. I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never
changed, and an Instructor can only have one status at a time. Do you still
think that I need to use Yes/No, and if so, would I have a field then for
each option in a lookup table???

Have a great day, and of course many thanks for your help!
Billiam
Click to expand...
 
strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam,

no, Status is dynamic. If you have no need to know when particular
status happened, then keeping it in the table is ok
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree Status is dynamic,however, I do not need to know when their
Status changed, and so I keep the current status in a field in the table.
"I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never changed"

I do not understand...
Click to expand...

What I mean is that the list of Status choices is very small and they have
never changed over the organzation's history of 20+years. I understand that
that does not mean they will never change ;-)
As I have several other lookup tables, I decided not to go with a seperate
Lookup Table of Statuses to keep the structure more simplistic. If you think
the payoff is worth it, I believe it would not be too hard to move them to a
lookup table...But I still am unclear where the yes/no would come in? I
believe I would simply have a table called Status, StatusID, Status, and
under the Status Field, I would list the 7 status types. As far as the form
is concerned, I would use a combobox to choose the current Status from, and
store the Status ID in my table...am I doing this right?

I asked questions about [Active] and [Suspended] -- but you answered
with a question about [Status] -- are your issue resolved?
Click to expand...

When you ask a question with square brackets around an item [Active] and
[Suspended] I think you are asking about fields or tables...and this is
confusing me. I only have 1 field called Status under which the status choice
is listed (Ie Active, Suspended) and the status choice is selected from
combobox. The datatype of the Status field is Text, and so all of the choices
are also text (Active, Suspended etc)
So I thought when I told you that the Field Status was datatype=Text, I
thought that would make it clear that the Status choices listed under that
field would also be text. I hope I am explaining my reasoning properly, but
it seems I must be missing something?

Best regards,
Billiam
Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



Hi Crystal,

strive4peace said:
What is the data type for [Active] and [Suspended] ? If those
conditions aren't working, then they are probably text, not yes/no (as
they should be)
Click to expand...

I have a Field called "Status", text datatype, which is where the
Instructor's status is recorded from the bound combobox which supplies the
options. I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never
changed, and an Instructor can only have one status at a time. Do you still
think that I need to use Yes/No, and if so, would I have a field then for
each option in a lookup table???

Have a great day, and of course many thanks for your help!
Billiam
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Billiam,

sorry for the delay in responding, we had some issues...

Personally, I would create:

Statuses
- StatusID, autonumber
- Status, text, 15 (ie: Active, Suspended)

It appears that the statuses you listed relate to people that are
available for work ... so you might have:

EmpStatus
- EmpStatID, autonumber
- EmpID, long -- FK to Employees
- StatusID, long -- FK to Statuses
- StatDate, date -- date that Status is effective

If, for instance, StatusID = 1 --> Active:
you would use a combobox similar to the following to choose from
employees who are currently active:

RowSource:
SELECT Employees.EmpID, [EmpLast] & ", " & [EmpFirst] AS Employee
FROM Employees INNER JOIN EmpStatus ON Employees.EmpID = EmpStatus.EmpID
WHERE ((EmpStatus.StatusID=1) AND
(EmpStatus.StatDate=DMax("StatDate","EmpStatus","EmpID=" &
[employees].[EmpID])));



Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam,

no, Status is dynamic. If you have no need to know when particular
status happened, then keeping it in the table is ok
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree Status is dynamic,however, I do not need to know when their
Status changed, and so I keep the current status in a field in the table.
"I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never changed"

I do not understand...
Click to expand...

What I mean is that the list of Status choices is very small and they have
never changed over the organzation's history of 20+years. I understand that
that does not mean they will never change ;-)
As I have several other lookup tables, I decided not to go with a seperate
Lookup Table of Statuses to keep the structure more simplistic. If you think
the payoff is worth it, I believe it would not be too hard to move them to a
lookup table...But I still am unclear where the yes/no would come in? I
believe I would simply have a table called Status, StatusID, Status, and
under the Status Field, I would list the 7 status types. As far as the form
is concerned, I would use a combobox to choose the current Status from, and
store the Status ID in my table...am I doing this right?

I asked questions about [Active] and [Suspended] -- but you answered
with a question about [Status] -- are your issue resolved?
Click to expand...

When you ask a question with square brackets around an item [Active] and
[Suspended] I think you are asking about fields or tables...and this is
confusing me. I only have 1 field called Status under which the status choice
is listed (Ie Active, Suspended) and the status choice is selected from
combobox. The datatype of the Status field is Text, and so all of the choices
are also text (Active, Suspended etc)
So I thought when I told you that the Field Status was datatype=Text, I
thought that would make it clear that the Status choices listed under that
field would also be text. I hope I am explaining my reasoning properly, but
it seems I must be missing something?

Best regards,
Billiam
Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



Hi Crystal,

:

What is the data type for [Active] and [Suspended] ? If those
conditions aren't working, then they are probably text, not yes/no (as
they should be)
I have a Field called "Status", text datatype, which is where the
Instructor's status is recorded from the bound combobox which supplies the
options. I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never
changed, and an Instructor can only have one status at a time. Do you still
think that I need to use Yes/No, and if so, would I have a field then for
each option in a lookup table???

Have a great day, and of course many thanks for your help!
Billiam
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Crystal,

No worries about the delay...it really is very kind of you to help out, so
no worries!

I hope to play around with this next week...I will let you know how it goes!

Again thanks for your really fantastic help--you ARE AWESOME!
Have a great weekend---we have a long weekend here...WAHOOOO!
Billiam

strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam,

sorry for the delay in responding, we had some issues...

Personally, I would create:

Statuses
- StatusID, autonumber
- Status, text, 15 (ie: Active, Suspended)

It appears that the statuses you listed relate to people that are
available for work ... so you might have:

EmpStatus
- EmpStatID, autonumber
- EmpID, long -- FK to Employees
- StatusID, long -- FK to Statuses
- StatDate, date -- date that Status is effective

If, for instance, StatusID = 1 --> Active:
you would use a combobox similar to the following to choose from
employees who are currently active:

RowSource:
SELECT Employees.EmpID, [EmpLast] & ", " & [EmpFirst] AS Employee
FROM Employees INNER JOIN EmpStatus ON Employees.EmpID = EmpStatus.EmpID
WHERE ((EmpStatus.StatusID=1) AND
(EmpStatus.StatDate=DMax("StatDate","EmpStatus","EmpID=" &
[employees].[EmpID])));



Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam,

no, Status is dynamic. If you have no need to know when particular
status happened, then keeping it in the table is ok
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree Status is dynamic,however, I do not need to know when their
Status changed, and so I keep the current status in a field in the table.
"I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never changed"

I do not understand...
Click to expand...

What I mean is that the list of Status choices is very small and they have
never changed over the organzation's history of 20+years. I understand that
that does not mean they will never change ;-)
As I have several other lookup tables, I decided not to go with a seperate
Lookup Table of Statuses to keep the structure more simplistic. If you think
the payoff is worth it, I believe it would not be too hard to move them to a
lookup table...But I still am unclear where the yes/no would come in? I
believe I would simply have a table called Status, StatusID, Status, and
under the Status Field, I would list the 7 status types. As far as the form
is concerned, I would use a combobox to choose the current Status from, and
store the Status ID in my table...am I doing this right?

I asked questions about [Active] and [Suspended] -- but you answered
with a question about [Status] -- are your issue resolved?
Click to expand...

When you ask a question with square brackets around an item [Active] and
[Suspended] I think you are asking about fields or tables...and this is
confusing me. I only have 1 field called Status under which the status choice
is listed (Ie Active, Suspended) and the status choice is selected from
combobox. The datatype of the Status field is Text, and so all of the choices
are also text (Active, Suspended etc)
So I thought when I told you that the Field Status was datatype=Text, I
thought that would make it clear that the Status choices listed under that
field would also be text. I hope I am explaining my reasoning properly, but
it seems I must be missing something?

Best regards,
Billiam
Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*




Billiam wrote:
Hi Crystal,

:

What is the data type for [Active] and [Suspended] ? If those
conditions aren't working, then they are probably text, not yes/no (as
they should be)
I have a Field called "Status", text datatype, which is where the
Instructor's status is recorded from the bound combobox which supplies the
options. I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never
changed, and an Instructor can only have one status at a time. Do you still
think that I need to use Yes/No, and if so, would I have a field then for
each option in a lookup table???

Have a great day, and of course many thanks for your help!
Billiam
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
thank you, Bill ;) happy to help

enjoy your weekend <smile>

Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



Hi Crystal,

No worries about the delay...it really is very kind of you to help out, so
no worries!

I hope to play around with this next week...I will let you know how it goes!

Again thanks for your really fantastic help--you ARE AWESOME!
Have a great weekend---we have a long weekend here...WAHOOOO!
Billiam

strive4peace said:
Hi Billiam,

sorry for the delay in responding, we had some issues...

Personally, I would create:

Statuses
- StatusID, autonumber
- Status, text, 15 (ie: Active, Suspended)

It appears that the statuses you listed relate to people that are
available for work ... so you might have:

EmpStatus
- EmpStatID, autonumber
- EmpID, long -- FK to Employees
- StatusID, long -- FK to Statuses
- StatDate, date -- date that Status is effective

If, for instance, StatusID = 1 --> Active:
you would use a combobox similar to the following to choose from
employees who are currently active:

RowSource:
SELECT Employees.EmpID, [EmpLast] & ", " & [EmpFirst] AS Employee
FROM Employees INNER JOIN EmpStatus ON Employees.EmpID = EmpStatus.EmpID
WHERE ((EmpStatus.StatusID=1) AND
(EmpStatus.StatDate=DMax("StatDate","EmpStatus","EmpID=" &
[employees].[EmpID])));



Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*



:

Hi Billiam,

no, Status is dynamic. If you have no need to know when particular
status happened, then keeping it in the table is ok
Yes, I agree Status is dynamic,however, I do not need to know when their
Status changed, and so I keep the current status in a field in the table.
"I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never changed"

I do not understand...
What I mean is that the list of Status choices is very small and they have
never changed over the organzation's history of 20+years. I understand that
that does not mean they will never change ;-)
As I have several other lookup tables, I decided not to go with a seperate
Lookup Table of Statuses to keep the structure more simplistic. If you think
the payoff is worth it, I believe it would not be too hard to move them to a
lookup table...But I still am unclear where the yes/no would come in? I
believe I would simply have a table called Status, StatusID, Status, and
under the Status Field, I would list the 7 status types. As far as the form
is concerned, I would use a combobox to choose the current Status from, and
store the Status ID in my table...am I doing this right?


I asked questions about [Active] and [Suspended] -- but you answered
with a question about [Status] -- are your issue resolved?
When you ask a question with square brackets around an item [Active] and
[Suspended] I think you are asking about fields or tables...and this is
confusing me. I only have 1 field called Status under which the status choice
is listed (Ie Active, Suspended) and the status choice is selected from
combobox. The datatype of the Status field is Text, and so all of the choices
are also text (Active, Suspended etc)
So I thought when I told you that the Field Status was datatype=Text, I
thought that would make it clear that the Status choices listed under that
field would also be text. I hope I am explaining my reasoning properly, but
it seems I must be missing something?

Best regards,
Billiam

Warm Regards,
Crystal

remote programming and training

Access Basics
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
http://www.AccessMVP.com/strive4peace

*
(: have an awesome day :)
*




Billiam wrote:
Hi Crystal,

:

What is the data type for [Active] and [Suspended] ? If those
conditions aren't working, then they are probably text, not yes/no (as
they should be)
I have a Field called "Status", text datatype, which is where the
Instructor's status is recorded from the bound combobox which supplies the
options. I decided against using a lookup table as the options have never
changed, and an Instructor can only have one status at a time. Do you still
think that I need to use Yes/No, and if so, would I have a field then for
each option in a lookup table???

Have a great day, and of course many thanks for your help!
Billiam
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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