ACC2000: How to Select the Entire Tab Control in Design View of a Form

When you click on a tab control in Design view of a form, you do not see the control handles (boxes around the control) that enable you to change the size of the control or to delete the control.

This article demonstrates how to select pages on the tab control, and how to select the entire tab control in Design view of a form.

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.

The following steps demonstrate how to select different portions of a tab control. Each page on a tab control, as well as the control itself, has a different set of properties that you can customize.

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
2. In the Database window, click Forms.
3. Click the New button to create a new form.
4. In the New Form dialog box, select Design View, and then click OK. A new form opens in Design view.
5. On the View menu, click Properties to display the form's property sheet (if it is not already showing). Move the property sheet on the screen so that you can see it and the detail section of the form at the same time.
6. Click the Tab Control button in the toolbox.
7. Click anywhere in the detail section of the form. Note that a tab control with two pages appears on the form and that the title bar of the property sheet displays Tab Control: TabCtl0. Also note the position of the control handles around the control. This is how the control appears when the entire tab control is selected.
8. Click anywhere in the blank area of the detail section of the form so that the tab control no longer has focus.
9. Click in the center of the tab control. Note that no part of the tab control is selected, and that the title bar of the property sheet displays Section: Detail.
10. Click on the Page1 tab of the tab control and note that the control handles appear only around the page itself, and not around the entire control. Note also that the title bar of the property sheet displays Page: Page1. Repeat this for the Page2 tab and note the similarities.
11. Click the blank area to the right of the Page2 tab, or click on the top, bottom, left, or right border of the tab control. Note that the control handles appear around the entire tab control, and that the title bar of the property sheet once again displays Tab Control:TabCtl0.

For more information about designing forms, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type designing forms in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

For more information about tab control, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type tab control in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.