ACC2000: Form Control Is Not Transparent When It Gets Focus

When you set the BackStyle property of a form control to Transparent, the control's background color is visible when the control has the focus.

You can display a transparent background at all times by setting the BackColor property of the control equal to the BackColor property of the form section in which it resides.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

CAUTION: If you follow the steps in this example, you modify the sample database Northwind.mdb. You may want to back up the Northwind.mdb file and follow these steps on a copy of the database.

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
2. Open the Employees form in Design view.
3. On the View menu, click Properties.
4. Click the Last Name text box, and set its BackStyle property to Transparent.
5. On the View menu, click Form View. Note that the background color of the Last Name control matches the background color of the detail section on the form.
6. Click the Last Name control so that it has the focus. Note that the background color changes to white.
7. Click another control on the form to move the focus away from the Last Name control. Note that the background color of the Last Name control changes to match the background color of the detail section on the form.
8. On the View menu, click Design View.
9. Click the Last Name control and set its BackColor property to -2147483633, which is the same as the BackColor property setting for the detail section on the form.
10. On the View menu, click Form. Click in and out of the Last Name control and note that the background color remains the same, whether or not the control has the focus.

For more information about the BackColor property, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type BackColor Property in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

For more information about setting the background style of a form control, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type BackStyle property in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.


For more information about how this relates to Windows system colors, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type Set color properties to Microsoft Windows system colors in forms and reports in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.