Improving the appearance of a switchboard
Despite the number of different buttons and captions you will see as you
test the switchboard there is really only one switchboard form in the
database. The changes to its buttons and captions are managed by VBA
program code. All this happens automatically and it means that you can
maintain a consistent design style for your whole navigation structure by
just modifying this one form.
Once you have set up your switchboards you can go to the Forms tab of the
Database Window and edit the Switchboard form that you find there. Its
default appearance appears to be plain turquoise but if you investigate
then you will find that it is made up of a number of components:
![[Default appearance of the Switchboard Manager in Access XP.]](../media/images/switchboard1.gif "The Switchboard form template in Access XP.")
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HorizontalDividingLine
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The engraved line across the form.
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HorizontalHeaderBox
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A rectangle across the top of the screen surrounding the caption.
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Label1
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The caption in the turquoise box.
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Label2
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The shadow of the caption - please delete this if you have any
sense of style. It looked good in the early 90's but is a little
dated now.
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Option1..8
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You can move these buttons or change their appearance but don't delete
or rename them because the VBA program code of the switchboard form
refers to them by name.
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OptionLabel1..8
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These too must not be deleted or renamed.
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Picture
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Fills the left-hand side of the form.
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VerticalShadowBox
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The dark border between the left and right-hand sides.
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A few minutes work leaves you with a form which looks a lot better.
![[Custom appearance of the Switchboard Manager.]](../media/images/switchboard2.gif "An Access Switchboard from after manual editting.")
All that I have done to improve the appearance is to add a picture,
remove Label2 and the VerticalShadowBox, change some colours and the
styles of the OptionLabels and make the buttons a little bit bigger.
The only unusual feature here is the icon on the Exit button. It's
only possible because the main switchboard is the only form that has
five buttons on it. I added the exit icon to the fifth button of the
eight on the Switchboard form knowing that it would only ever be
visible on this one form.
Switchboards are not perfect as a user interface but they work and
the wizard lets you set them up very quickly. If you are writing something
that will only be used by yourself or by a few people in your department
then switchboard forms are very effective.
Other pages in this series
Part 1
Getting started
Part 2
Building the structure
Part 3
Improving the appearance
Part 4
Behind the scenes
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