ControlType Property
This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.
You can use the ControlType property in Visual Basic to determine the type of a control on a form or report.
Setting
The ControlType property setting is an intrinsic constant that specifies the control type.
| Constant | Control |
|---|---|
| acBoundObjectFrame | Bound object frame |
| acCheckBox | Check box |
| acComboBox | Combo box |
| acCommandButton | Command button |
| acCustomControl | ActiveX (custom) control |
| acImage | Image |
| acLabel | Label |
| acLine | Line |
| acListBox | List box |
| acObjectFrame | Unbound object frame or chart |
| acOptionButton | Option button |
| acOptionGroup | Option group |
| acPage | |
| acPageBreak | Page break |
| acRectangle | Rectangle |
| acSubform | Subform/subreport |
| acTabCtl | Tab |
| acTextBox | Text box |
| acToggleButton | Toggle button |
The ControlType property can only be set by using in form Design view or report Design view, but it can be read in all views.
Remarks
The ControlType property is useful not only for checking for a specific control type in code, but also for changing the type of control to another type. For example, you can change a text box to a combo box by setting the ControlType property for the text box to acComboBox while in form Design view.
You can use the ControlType property to change characteristics of similar controls on a form according to certain conditions. For example, if you don't want users to edit existing data in text boxes, you can set the SpecialEffect property for all text boxes to Flat and set the form's AllowEdits property to No. (The SpecialEffect property doesn't affect whether data can be edited; it's used here to provide a visual cue that the control behavior has changed.)
The ControlType property is also used to specify the type of control to create when you are using the method.