How do I access the selected rows in Access?

Question

Hi community,

I have a form which includes a data sheet. I would like to make it possible for a user to select multiple rows, click on a button and have some sql query run and perform some work on those rows.

Looking through my VBA code, I see how I can access the last selected record using the CurrentRecord property. Yet I don't see how I can know which rows were selected in a multiple selection. (I hope I'm clear...)

What's the standard way of doing this? Access VBA documentation is somewhat obscure on the net...

Thanks!

Answer 1

I've tried doing something like that before, but I never had any success with using a method that required the user to select multiple rows in the same style as a Windows File Dialog box (pressing Ctrl, Shift, etc.).

One method I've used is to use two list boxes. The user can double click on an item in the left list box or click a button when an item is selected, and it will move to the right list box.

Another option is to use a local table that is populated with your source data plus boolean values represented as checkboxes in a subform. After the user selects which data they want by clicking on checkboxes, the user presses a button (or some other event), at which time you go directly to the underlying table of data and query only those rows that were checked. I think this option is the best, though it requires a little bit of code to work properly.

Even in Access, I find sometimes it's easier to work with the tables and queries directly rather than trying to use the built-in tools in Access forms. Sometimes the built-in tools don't do exactly what you want.

Answer 2

Here is the code to do it, but there is a catch.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
     Dim i As Long
     Dim RS As Recordset
     Dim F As Form

     Set F = Me.sf.Form
     Set RS = F.RecordsetClone

     If F.SelHeight = 0 Then Exit Sub

     ' Move to the first selected record.
     RS.Move F.SelTop - 1

     For i = 1 To F.SelHeight
       MsgBox RS![myfield]
       RS.MoveNext
     Next i

End Sub

Here's the catch: If the code is added to a button, as soon as the user clicks that button, the selection is lost in the grid (selheight will be zero). So you need to capture that info and save it to a module level variable either with a timer or other events on the form.

Here is an article describing how to work around the catch in some detail.
http://www.mvps.org/access/forms/frm0033.htm

Catch 2: This only works with contiguous selections. They can't select mutliple non-sequential rows in the grid.

Update:
There might be a better event to trap this, but here is a working implementation using the form.timerinterval property that i have tested (at least in Access 2k3, but 2k7 should work just fine)

This code goes in the SUBFORM, use the property to get the selheight value in the master form.

Public m_save_selheight As Integer

Public Property Get save_selheight() As Integer
    save_selheight = m_save_selheight
End Property

Private Sub Form_Open(Cancel As Integer)
    Me.TimerInterval = 500
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Timer()
    m_save_selheight = Me.selheight
End Sub

Answer 3

I used the technique similar to JohnFx

To trap the Selection height before it disappears I used the Exit event of the subform control in the Main form.

So in the Main form:

Private Sub MySubForm_Exit(Cancel As Integer)

  With MySubForm.Form
    m_SelNumRecs = .SelHeight
    m_SelTopRec = .SelTop
    m_CurrentRec = .CurrentRecord
  End With

End Sub