Tab Event Problem

[WOTRAC]

I have a form with a memo field. The user wishes to enter text with a mixture of spaces, carriage returns and tabs.

Problem is when you use the tab key it exits the field.
I have considered using an alternative key ( say F12) but am unsure how to go about it, as my vba skills are limited.

Could anyone help, or maybe suggest an alternative method.

Please

 

[VBslammer]

I don't think you can do this using a regular text box control. When you need formatting capabilities the best control is the Rich Text Box control. To add tabs, trap the keystroke like this:

Private Sub rtfMemo_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer)
  If KeyCode = vbKeyTab Then
    Dim lngSel As Long
    With Me.rtfMemo.Object
      lngSel = .SelStart
      .Text = .Text & Chr(9)
      .SelStart = lngSel + Len(Chr(9))
    End With
    KeyCode = 0
  End If
End Sub

VBSlammer

Unemployed in Houston, Texas

 

[WOTRAC]

I don't appear to have a rich text box control in
Microsoft Access 2000.
Or am I mistaken

Paul

 

[VBslammer]

The rtf control comes with VB or Access Developer, but I did manage to find a way to do it with a standard Access textbox:

Private Sub MemoText_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
  If KeyCode = vbKeyTab Then
    SendKeys Space(4)
    KeyCode = 0
  End If
End Sub

"Necessity is the mother of invention..."
VBSlammer

Unemployed in Houston, Texas

 

[WOTRAC]

Brilliant!!

By the way I did manage to get the rich text box to work as I have a copy of vb 6.0

Only one problem, how do you convert the rich text back to plain text before saving it in the Access database.


Thanks

 

[VBslammer]

The rtf control's 'Value' (rtfControl.Value) will contain all the formatting tags in addition to the text, and if you bind it to a field that's what you'll store in the table.

If you just need the text without formatting, you could copy the text into another memo field in the Before_Update() event of the control using:

 [myMemoField] = rtfControl.Ojbect.Text

which returns the ascii text. Having 2 memo fields per record could get rather large over time, so you might just use a regular text box if you're not interested in bold or colored text, etc.

VBSlammer

Unemployed in Houston, Texas