1. Lessons Learned (from the Simple HTML Editor) A Presentation for the Microsoft Access SIG of the North Texas PC User Group by Larry Linson. © Copyright 2000 by L.M. Linson, all rights reserved

2. Specifications u Prepare a Microsoft Access database u Simple text editor for SIG Leader u Allow addition of new records u Allow deletion of existing records u Allow editing of new and existing records

3. Specifications u Automate insertion of HTML markup – for paragraph – for break (new line) – for bold – for italic – for link or anchor u Supply appropriate ending markup

4. The Plan... u Main form allows: –Display –Selection –Addition –Deletion –Editing u Click button for function

5. The Plan, cont’d u Popup Form for Link –Universal Resource Locator (URL) –Option to open in new Window –Text to be displayed u Anchor markup deferred (not to be done)

6. Seems Simple Enough... u Combo Box for Selection u Text Box for Title / Identification u Text Box for Date (default to Today) u Text Box for HTML Text u Buttons for Add, Delete, Close, Markup

7. Seems Simple Enough, cont’d u Processing markup – when a Markup button is clicked – use the Text Box.SelStart and.SelLength properties to – Split the text, – Insert the beginning markup, »precede by new line if or – Reinsert highlighted text, if appropriate, – Insert the ending markup, if appropriate, – Append the remainder of the original

8. Seems Simple Enough, cont’d u Processing a Link – When the Link button is clicked – Open the popup, dialog Form – Text Box for URL – Disabled Selection, Text Boxes for Anchor – Text Box for Display Text – OK Button – Cancel Button

9. Seems Simple Enough, cont’d u Processing a Link – Display the highlighted text in URL Text Box – Display the highlighted text in Display Text Box »if no text was highlighted, leave both empty – Allow Cancel – If OK, create a link of the form Site Name –where href contains contents of URL Text Box –“Site Name” is contents of Display Text Box

10. Seems Simple Enough, cont’d u When done with any markup, return the cursor u To the HTML Text Box on the main Form u With the originally highlighted text still highlighted u Except, if a Link, with the Display Text highlighted

11. Let’s Take a Look at how the SIG Leaders HTML Editor turned out

12. First Lesson Learned u When you move off a TextBox – Highlighting vanishes – No SelStart – No SelText u Workaround – Save SelStart and SelText in the LostFocus event

13. Another Lesson Learned u When you store modified text – Back into the text box – You are back at the beginning – Nothing highlighted u Workaround – Modify the saved SelStart and SelText values and reset them so the same text is highlighted as before the markup

14. Side Lesson u When you reset the SelStart and SelText – Highlighted code will be visible – But not where you left it positioned – May be at bottom of box u Workaround – I couldn’t find one

15. Yet Another Lesson Learned u Vanishing highlights – If the modal popup dialog had been used – Sometimes no SelStart and SelText – Why? I didn’t figure it out! u Workaround – Save SelStart and SelText values in the KeyUp event instead of Lost Focus

16. Conclusion u There are some unobvious stumbling blocks u There are workarounds for most u There are no workarounds for a few u You can write an editor in Access BUT u There are probably better tools for writing editors

17. Thank you  Thank you for your kind attention  Please come again u And, please... –Gently wake your neighbor before leaving