Application.CreateControl method (Access)

The CreateControl method creates a control on a specified open form. For example, suppose you are building a custom wizard that allows users to easily construct a particular form. Use the CreateControl method in your wizard to add the appropriate controls to the form.

Syntax

expression.CreateControl (FormName, ControlType, Section, Parent, ColumnName, Left, Top, Width, Height)

expression A variable that represents an Application object.

Parameters

Return value

Control

Remarks

Use the CreateControl and CreateReportControl methods in a custom wizard to create controls on a form or report. Both methods return a Control object.

Use the CreateControl and CreateReportControl methods only in form Design view or report Design view, respectively.

You use the Parent argument to identify the relationship between a main control and a subordinate control. For example, if a text box has an attached label, the text box is the main (or parent) control and the label is the subordinate (or child) control. When you create the label control, set its Parent argument to a string identifying the name of the parent control. When you create the text box, set its Parent argument to a zero-length string.

You also set the Parent argument when you create check boxes, option buttons, or toggle buttons. An option group is the parent control of any check boxes, option buttons, or toggle buttons that it contains. The only controls that can have a parent control are a label, check box, option button, or toggle button. All of these controls can also be created independently, without a parent control.

Set the ColumnName argument according to the type of control that you are creating and whether or not it will be bound to a field in a table. The controls that may be bound to a field include the text box, list box, combo box, option group, and bound object frame. Additionally, the toggle button, option button, and check box controls may be bound to a field if they are not contained in an option group.

If you specify the name of a field for the ColumnName argument, you create a control that is bound to that field. All of the control's properties are then automatically set to the settings of any corresponding field properties. For example, the value of the control's ValidationRule property will be the same as the value of that property for the field.

To remove a control from a form or report, use the DeleteControl and DeleteReportControl methods.

Example

The following example first creates a new form based on an Orders table. It then uses the CreateControl method to create a text box control and an attached label control on the form.

Sub NewControls() 
 Dim frm As Form 
 Dim ctlLabel As Control, ctlText As Control 
 Dim intDataX As Integer, intDataY As Integer 
 Dim intLabelX As Integer, intLabelY As Integer 
 
 ' Create new form with Orders table as its record source. 
 Set frm = CreateForm 
 frm.RecordSource = "Orders" 
 ' Set positioning values for new controls. 
 intLabelX = 100 
 intLabelY = 100 
 intDataX = 1000 
 intDataY = 100 
 ' Create unbound default-size text box in detail section. 
 Set ctlText = CreateControl(frm.Name, acTextBox, , "", "", _ 
 intDataX, intDataY) 
 ' Create child label control for text box. 
 Set ctlLabel = CreateControl(frm.Name, acLabel, , _ 
 ctlText.Name, "NewLabel", intLabelX, intLabelY) 
 ' Restore form. 
 DoCmd.Restore 
End Sub

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