Format a continuous form (an alternative)

The power of a listbox, combobox or continuous form for displaying large amounts of data is well known. The problems with these controls are their inability to apply formatting to individual list items.
Various solutions to this problem are to hide several boxes behind each other, Gurus have offered some API calls or you can purchase various custom controls from vendors.
The alternative I offer is to simulate these controls by combining their data power with the formatting capability of the other controls, like a textbox. The example below will simulate a continuous form. You can easily make it look like a combo or list box using flat and transparent borders
This code reads the data from the rows and columns of a listbox, places it in the text boxes, where you can format it.

Lets assume you want your continuous form to look like this

Name address amount owed
Tom 112 main $100.00
Fred 113main $125.00
Bob 114main $45.00
John 117main $210.00
Frank 119main $30.00
ETCà..
Begin by adding a listbox. Name it list0, Set its rowsource and column count property to display the data you want. Set column heads to yes. Now size this to about 1 inch square and set its visible property to no.
Now begin adding textboxes to the form place and size them in a grid the way you want the data to appear in your form. Add one row then copy and paste for as many rows you want displayed. Now you need to name them. In VB you could create an array, But in Access you will need to simulate that in how you name your fields.
Set it up in a grid like so. Remember the secret is in design
txname1 txadd1 txamt1 cdUp
txname2 txadd2 txamt2
txname3 txadd3 txamt3
txname4 txadd4 txamt4
txname5 txadd5 txamt5 cdDown

add 2 small comboboxes name them cbUp and cdDown these will allow you to scroll
now comes the coding
in the option explicit section declare a public variable

Dim intRowTracker as integer
ænow the function that does the work

Public Function FillText()
'function to load textboxes with values from a listbox
Dim IntX As Integer
Dim IntRecCnt As Integer

IntRecCnt = list0.ListCount
'Hides scroll buttons if not needed
If IntRecCnt > 5 Then ' set value to the amount of rows of text boxes you have
Me.cbDown.Visible = True
Me.cbUp.Visible = True
Else
Me.cbDown.Visible = False
Me.cbUp.Visible = False
End If
'fill the boxes
For IntX = 1 To 5 'set value to the amount of rows of text boxes you have
Me("txname" & IntX) = list0.Column(0, IntX + intRowTracker)
Me("txadd" & IntX) = list0.Column(1, IntX + intRowTracker)
Me("txamt" & IntX) = list0.Column(0, IntX + intRowTracker)
'place code to format here unlimited possibilities
If Me("txtamt" & IntX) >= 100 Then
Me("txtamt" & IntX).BackColor = vbYellow
ElseIf Me("txtamt" & IntX) >= 200 Then
Me("txtamt" & IntX).BackColor = vbRed
Else
Me("txtamt" & IntX).BackColor = vbWhite
End If
Next IntX
End Function
in the forms on Load event
Call FillText

Place In the onclick event of cbDown
æallows the list to scroll down
æset 5 to the amount of rows you have
If intRowTracker < list0.ListCount - 5 Then intRowTracker = intRowTracker + 1
Call FillText

Place In the onclick event of cbUp
'allows the list to scroll up
If intRowTracker > 1 Then intRowTracker = intRowTracker - 1
Call FillText

Run your form scroll thru records using the command buttons.
Incrementing intRowTracker causes a scrolling effect to your simulated grid by changing rows
Add a label for your column headers
Which controls you choose and how you use this is entirely up to your own creativity You can add buttons, number controls, Hide fields or rows.
Realize, you can also scroll horizontally by changing the first column value
You can sync to other controls like a form by setting list0 rowsource. If you do this, you will want to add
Me.list0.requery to FillText function before you load the textboxes
I realize this same thing can be accomplished by using arrays and recordsets but this offers an easy solution for Access coders.