Spell check individual control
I would like to run spell check on a few controls (using A2013 runtime) and I don't want the user to have to push a button to make this happen because they just forget. So, I added the code to call the spell check to the on Exit event (that is the only event that works. Both Before and After update raise errors and Change isn't even a consideration.) of the controls I want to spellcheck. Below is the suggested code. I commented out a few lines that were causing a problem but it still creates a never ending loop. It seems to make Access forget where it was going when the LostFocus event was interrupted. The other piece of code from the same website that checks all the controls on a form works fine. But for this form, I have tab controls and those are interfering with the spell checker when it tries to set focus to a control.
I tried a couple of things such as comparing the .value property to the .oldvalue property. That works to avoid the spell check when the user is just tabbing through the controls without changing anything but once something is changed, the values are different so the spell checker keeps running.
It would be nice if there were some property that told us where Access thought it was going next so the spell check could just move the focus there but I don't know of any.
I tried a couple of things such as comparing the .value property to the .oldvalue property. That works to avoid the spell check when the user is just tabbing through the controls without changing anything but once something is changed, the values are different so the spell checker keeps running.
It would be nice if there were some property that told us where Access thought it was going next so the spell check could just move the focus there but I don't know of any.
Private Sub cmdSpell_Click()
Dim ctlSpell As Control
Set ctlSpell = Screen.PreviousControl
If TypeOf ctlSpell Is TextBox Then
If IsNull(Len(ctlSpell)) Or Len(ctlSpell) = 0 Then
''''MsgBox "There is nothing to spell check."
''''ctlSpell.SetFocus
Exit Sub
End If
With ctlSpell
.SetFocus
.SelStart = 0
.SelLength = Len(ctlSpell)
End With
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdSpelling
Else
MsgBox "Spell check is not available for this item."
End If
'''ctlSpell.SetFocus
End Sub
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I came across a similar issue a while back, I found this post and tweaked to meet my needs. Perhaps you can do the same for your specific need.
Here is the post solution I utilized is about 2/3 of the way down:
http://bytes.com/topic/access/answers/952205-vba-run-custom-spell-checker-log-errors-table
I used this in an older DB to meet a similar function, may also help in your way ahead.
I will check back as well, please update as you find a solution.
~:TLH:~
Here is the post solution I utilized is about 2/3 of the way down:
http://bytes.com/topic/access/answers/952205-vba-run-custom-spell-checker-log-errors-table
I used this in an older DB to meet a similar function, may also help in your way ahead.
Public Function SpellChecker(Calling As Form)
Dim ctlSpell As Control
Dim Incoming As String, Outgoing As String
DoCmd.SetWarnings False
Set ctlSpell = Calling.ActiveControl
If (ctlSpell.Locked) Then
Line1 = "Cannot spell check. Field is read-only"
mbResult = MessageBox("OK", "", "", Line1)
Else
If Len(ctlSpell) > 0 Then
Incoming = ctlSpell
With ctlSpell
.SetFocus
.SelStart = 0
.SelLength = Len(ctlSpell)
End With
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdSpelling
Outgoing = ctlSpell
End If
' See if any changes were made 09/29/04
If (Incoming <> Outgoing) Then
' Notify user that changes
' were made, if you want to,
' or give Bronx cheer
End If
End If
End Function
I will check back as well, please update as you find a solution.
~:TLH:~
Here's what I finally got to work. Calling the spell checker seems to make Access loose track of what you are doing and it ends up in a loop. On this particular subform, I had tried the code I originally posted and I called the spell checker from the BeforeUpdate() event of the form as the last line of code. I wanted to make sure that all the form and control level edits were completed before I got into fixing spelling errors. But even though the record got saved, the BeforeUpdate event never completed and the AfterUpdate event didn't run. So, the spell checker is interfering with the event model in Access.
Prompted by TLH's suggestion I went back to the field by field approach which I had abandoned earlier for other reasons and finally figured out a solution that seems to work. I call the spell checker from the control's LostFocus event but ONLY if the field was updated. Then the next statement moves focus to the next logical control. The trick comes at the end. The last control in the set has a GoToRecord to move the record pointer to a new record. Without that, you end up not being able to get out of the subform.
Note that in TLH's original code he set warnings Off but never set them back on. This is extremely dangerous as anyone who has been burned by having warnings off will attest. Warnings off not only stops the annoying messages you don't want your user to see, it also stops the "are you sure you want to close without saving" message that you most certainly want to see if you modify a form and than close it without explicitly saving.
To avoid this issue in my applications, I never just turn warnings off. I created two macros (the ONLY macros in my applications) . In addition to turning the warnings off, the macro turns the hourglass on and vice versa. That way if I inadvertently forget to turn the warnings back on, I have a visible clue that something is amiss.
Prompted by TLH's suggestion I went back to the field by field approach which I had abandoned earlier for other reasons and finally figured out a solution that seems to work. I call the spell checker from the control's LostFocus event but ONLY if the field was updated. Then the next statement moves focus to the next logical control. The trick comes at the end. The last control in the set has a GoToRecord to move the record pointer to a new record. Without that, you end up not being able to get out of the subform.
Private Sub txtNeeds_LostFocus()
If Me.txtNeeds & "" <> Me.txtNeeds.OldValue & "" Then 'only spell check if dirty
Call SpellChecker(Me)
Me.txtCHCPService.SetFocus
End If
End Sub
Private Sub txtCHCPService_LostFocus()
If Me.txtCHCPService & "" <> Me.txtCHCPService.OldValue & "" Then 'only spell check if dirty
Call SpellChecker(Me)
Me.txtMeasuredOutcome.SetFocus
End If
End Sub
Private Sub txtMeasuredOutcome_LostFocus()
If Me.txtMeasuredOutcome & "" <> Me.txtMeasuredOutcome.OldValue & "" Then 'only spell check if dirty
Call SpellChecker(Me)
DoCmd.GoToRecord , "", acNext
End If
End Sub
Public Function SpellChecker(Calling As Form)
Dim ctlSpell As Control
DoCmd.RunMacro "mWarningsOff"
Set ctlSpell = Calling.ActiveControl
If (ctlSpell.Locked) Then
''Ignore
Else
If Len(ctlSpell) > 0 Then
With ctlSpell
.SetFocus
.SelStart = 0
.SelLength = Len(ctlSpell)
End With
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdSpelling
End If
End If
DoCmd.RunMacro "mWarningsOn"
End Function
Note that in TLH's original code he set warnings Off but never set them back on. This is extremely dangerous as anyone who has been burned by having warnings off will attest. Warnings off not only stops the annoying messages you don't want your user to see, it also stops the "are you sure you want to close without saving" message that you most certainly want to see if you modify a form and than close it without explicitly saving.
To avoid this issue in my applications, I never just turn warnings off. I created two macros (the ONLY macros in my applications) . In addition to turning the warnings off, the macro turns the hourglass on and vice versa. That way if I inadvertently forget to turn the warnings back on, I have a visible clue that something is amiss.
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