OpenOffice.org 2, Firefox, and Thunderbird for Windows All in One [Electronic resources]

138. Modify a Form

137 Create a Form

117 About Manipulating Objects

139 Enter Data Using a Form

After creating a form, you can modify it before using it to enter data into its associated table. For example, you might want to reposition a few

controls so that the table data will be in a more logical order, or be visible onscreen at the same time. Or you might want to simply add a few personal touches, such as selecting the font used for data entry or for the labels.

Normally, data is entered in a form in the order in which the controls appear onscreenin other words, when a user presses

Tab , the cursor automatically advances to the nearest control onscreen. However, you might prefer to change this activation order to make it easier for a user to enter data. For example, if the user has to pull data from several sources, you might want to have the cursor automatically move between just the fields being pulled from the source one, skipping any fields whose data comes from a secondary source. After the first fields are filled in, you can then have the cursor jump back to any fields you skipped the first time.

KEY TERM

Controls An object on a form similar to those you find in a typical dialog box, such as a text box, list box, check box, or option button.

Handles Small green boxes that appear around a selected object.