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Custom Tags For Custom tags for form controls – reimagined code

by | Feb 19, 2025 | Blogging, MS Access, MS Access Forms, MS Access VBA Coding | 0 comments

I’m imagining what the new code might look like based on the last message I wrote on this topic.

Here is the URL to the previous article: https://www.accessjumpstart.com/custom-tags-for-form-controls-the-case-to-use-them-for/

So given this kind of syntax:

Dim ctlPositions As CustomCtlTags
Set ctlPositions = New CustomCtlTags

ctlPositions.Set ctl, "FromLeft", ctl.Left
Debug.Print ctlPositions.Get(ctl, "FromLeft")
Visual Basic

What would that look like in the existing code I’d want to update? Is it really buying me anything? Let’s see the old code first:

'This is the associated code that is setting the ctl.Tag property and populating it with a string
   ' Now store the original size and location values for each control
   For Each ctl In frm.Controls
      ctlLeft = ctl.Left
      ctlTop = ctl.Top
      ctlWidth = ctl.Width
      ctlHeight = ctl.Height
      Select Case ctl.ControlType
         Case acLabel, acCommandButton, acTextBox, acComboBox, acListBox, acTabCtl, acToggleButton
            ctlOrigFontSize = ctl.FontSize
         Case acSubform
            If DoSubForms Then
               On Error Resume Next
               Set SubForm = ctl.Form
               errorNum = Err.Number
               On Error GoTo ProcError
               If errorNum <> 0 Then GoTo NextTag  ' must be a subReport so skip it
               SaveControlPositions SubForm  ' recursively calling self here
            End If
            ctlOrigFontSize = 0
         Case Else
            ctlOrigFontSize = 0
      End Select
      ctl.Tag = RsBeg & ctlLeft & ":" & ctlTop & ":" & ctlWidth & ":" & ctlHeight & ":" & ctlOrigFontSize & RsEnd
NextTag: Next


'This is the associated code from inside the class that is reading the information using ctl.Tag
' property.
         'Split the Tag property into an array
         TagStr = Mid(ctl.Tag, InStr(ctl.Tag, RsBeg) + 5, InStr(ctl.Tag, RsEnd) - 6)
         tagArray = Split(TagStr, ":")
         ctl.Move ScaleFactor * (CDbl(tagArray(CtlPositionTag.FromLeft))), _
            ScaleFactor * (CDbl(tagArray(CtlPositionTag.FromTop))), _
            ScaleFactor * (CDbl(tagArray(CtlPositionTag.ControlWidth))), _
            ScaleFactor * (CDbl(tagArray(CtlPositionTag.ControlHeight)))
Visual Basic

And now I will change it to use the CustomCtlTags object to see what this simplifies.

Dim ctlPositions As CustomCtlTags
Set ctlPositions = New CustomCtlTags

'This is the associated code that is setting the ctl.Tag property and populating it with a string
   ' Now store the original size and location values for each control
   For Each ctl In frm.Controls
      ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigLeft", ctl.Left
      ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigTop", ctl.Top
      ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigWidth", ctl.Width
      ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigHeight", ctl.Height
      Select Case ctl.ControlType
         Case acLabel, acCommandButton, acTextBox, acComboBox, acListBox, acTabCtl, acToggleButton
            ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigFontSize", ctl.FontSize
         Case acSubform
            If DoSubForms Then
               On Error Resume Next
               Set SubForm = ctl.Form
               errorNum = Err.Number
               On Error GoTo ProcError
               If errorNum <> 0 Then GoTo NextTag  ' must be a subReport so skip it
               SaveControlPositions SubForm  ' recursively calling self here
            End If
            ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigFontSize", 0
         Case Else
            ctlPositions.Set ctl, "OrigFontSize", 0
      End Select
NextTag: Next


'This is the associated code from inside the class that is now retrieving the information
' from a global ctlPostions variable.
         ctl.Move ScaleFactor * (CDbl(ctlPositions.Get(ctl, "OrigLeft"))), _
            ScaleFactor * (CDbl(ctlPositions.Get(ctl, "OrigTop"))), _
            ScaleFactor * (CDbl(ctlPositions.Get(ctl, "OrigWidth"))), _
            ScaleFactor * (CDbl(ctlPositions.Get(ctl, "OrigHeight")))
Visual Basic

Frankly, it allowed me to remove about 4 lines of processing code, and would also allow me to remove the Enum definition which is another 6 lines. But then I’m adding 2 lines to Dim the class and instantiate it.

So overall, I’ve shortened the code by 8 or so lines and removed some comments. I think maybe it’s a little more readable, but I think I would desire a lot more simplicity out of it. I’ll revisit this later and see what I can come up with in terms of more simplified syntax.

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