Making Automatic Form Resizing Work for You

This is a modified version of a presentation I gave to the online Access DevCon conference on 28 April 2023. For more information and all files referenced in this video, see isladogs.co.uk/using-afr/
A detailed 4-part series of tutorials is also available starting with isladogs.co.uk/automatic-form...
TIMES:
0:00 Intro
0:36 Why use Automatic Form Resizing? (AFR)
2:38 Example form using AFR
2:50 What happens using AFR?
4:35 Seven more examples of forms using AFR
7:58 CODE - Module modResizeForm declarations and scaling factor
9:58 CODE - Typical AFR code in forms and subforms
11:15 DEMO - Example AFR app showing resizing on all standard Access controls
12:37 Controls that cannot be resized: checkboxes/option buttons/images on command buttons...together with workarounds
14:15 DEMO - change monitor / resolution & scaling factor - resizing handles all of these perfectly
16:26 DEMO - form zoom to suit individual user preferences
17:23 DEMO - Stretch / shrink forms 'on the fly' as they are resized manually
19:15 DEMO - Resize datasheet subform / form
20:07 DEMO - Split forms & navigation forms
20:59 DEMO - Report as subform
21:25 How to get the best results from AFR
23:52 Using AFR to resize existing apps
24:18 DEMO - Reduce size of 'over-large' form
26:24 DEMO - Resize better date picker form with multiple re-draws
30:15 DEMO - Resize Northwind 2000 database - complex old database with many/varied forms of different types
37:05 CODE - ResizeForm & Resize procedures
39:37 CODE - Zoom form procedures
40:39 CODE - Stretch/shrink procedures
41:39 CODE - Datasheet form/subform procedures
42:40 Links to web article
43:10 Links to tutorial articles
43:24 Thanks for watching

[@terryhill7152]

Colin, Excellent. Would you believe that only a couple of days ago, and prior to your video, I installed your latest AFR into my project!. Works a treat. I agree, wouldn't it be nice if access had a built in function to do same. Appreciate your generosity in sharing this.

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

Glad you liked it

[@abdullahazrezar8005]

I don't find a word to describe your fabulous work

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

Many thanks for your kind words

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

Thanks Terry. Glad AFR worked well for you. There have been hints that the Access team may be willing to consider responsive forms at the same time as they increase the maximum form width. Lets hope that this becomes a built-in feature in the not-too-distant future.

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

Thanks Vitalii. Glad you found it useful. All code is available free from the links listed above

[@chrisbezant4760]

Colin this is fabulous stuff. I am partially sighted so this would be really useful to me.

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

Glad it was helpful! The optional Zoom feature may be particularly useful for your situation

[@erniehaverhals396]

Colin, Thanks for the great job and explanation. It's very useful.

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

Thanks. Glad you found it useful

[@binhhoduy5864]

Great. Thank you so much. So hard...

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

The code is complicated but using it in your own apps is very easy!

[@MarVitAlex]

Thank you very much for your hard work.

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

My pleasure!

[@alializadeh8195]

Thanks

[@larrywelch9359]

Mr Colin; great info. Thanks. I do need some help. Sorry about giving so much info. I have a MS Access Form "frmSearch" with a subform (frmSearchSub) and everything work ok. The subform is a continuous with a text control (which is RIch Text). I also have a Report (rptSearch) with a text control (which is Rich Text) which work ok. The text box on the Report will grow/shrink and fits great, however on the Form it will not. Is there anything that I can to make the text control grow/shrink depending on the number of characters inside the text control? If I need to, I can take screenshots and provide to you. THANKS IN ADVANCE

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

The grow/shrink property only works on reports. If you think about it, automatic form resizing won't help for this purpose as when a form is resized so are the controls and the font sizes of those controls. That means you will get exactly the same amount of data in each textbox after resizing.
There are two approaches you can use to autofit text to a control. Either increase the control width or reduce the font size. Both of those are explained (with code) in my article isladogs.co.uk/autofit-text/index.html. However, I recommend you use neither of those but instead just use a zoom box (also explained in that article)

[@larrywelch9359]

@@IsladogsOnAccess Thank you very much

[@larrywelch9359]

Thanks for the info. I have another questions: Can you provide info for creating and using class modules

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

@@larrywelch9359
Creating & using class modules is a huge topic and there are plenty of examples online you can study. I use class modules where doing so will be beneficial but doing so would, in my opinion, offer little or no value for the AFR code

[@larrywelch9359]

@@IsladogsOnAccess After more searching and review, I think I'll go a different route. What's your opinion on Select Case Function/Public sub?

[@chrisbezant4760]

Is the module for sale?

[@IsladogsOnAccess]

No. Its free. 😎 See the links in the video description