How do you keep records consistent across subforms in Access 2010?

Question

I have a form broken up into multiple different subforms, which I'd like to switch freely among without changing the record I'm looking at. More specifically, I select which record I want to modify on a "basic information" tab and then when I switch to other tabs--like my "costs" tab--I'd like for the same record to be selected. How do I do that in Access 2010? How do I do that with pop-up menus? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The most common approach in Access (and in fact in most software) is to use a tab control.

So you build the top part of the form with the one main record, and then for the seveal child forms, you simply drop in a tab control. Here is a Access screen shot:

And here is another Access screen shot:

And when I click on the other tab, you see this:

So the sub form that you display on the tab control can be fixed form, or even a continues form – it really is your choice.

It really is a very basic and common setup. As noted, the nice part is such a UI does not require any code on your part. As noted, you are free to place controls behind each tab you add, but you also free to place sub forms behind each tab also to display that child informaton. The "main" part of the form will not change and can continue to display the "main" reocrd information.

Note that we talking about using a tab contorl. Like this one: