Access 2010: Dotted line appearing in form footer after command button click

Question

I have imported my database into Access 2010 from 2003.  When I click on a custom command button in my form's subform footer a command button outline (dotted line in the same shape of the command button being clicked on) appears off to the left of the row of buttons in the subform.

This did not occur previously in Access 2003.   The command buttons are for simple tasks such as record navigation, duplicate, delete, etc.  I have tried changing the properties of the subform footer: can grow, can shrink, auto height to NO without any change to the problem.  The form has all of its default navigation buttons, close, minimize, what's this button, and scroll bars disabled.

Has anyone else seen this or know of a way to prevent it?  Is this a bug in 2010?

I am using Windows XP SP3 and MS Office 2010. 

Cheers,
Jonathan

Answer 1

I think the dotted line around the button is just the indication that the button has been selected.  I'm getting the same thing.  The only difference is it is on mine, it appears right on top of the button.  Try setting the focus somewhere else to see if that changes anything.  That will at least tell you if that is what it is (and could serve as a workaround).  I don't know how you might get rid of it or move it to where it should be.

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Answer 2

Thank you for your response, susyQ.  After posting I noticed that this phenomena is happening on many of my forms, sub and parent forms.

I am hopeful that one of the MVPs has seen this thread and can shed some light on what may be occuring here.

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Jonathan Lafferty

Answer 3

Hi Jonathan,

In 2007 I get the same behavior as SuzyQ.  It appears on top of the botton to indicate that the botton has focus. 

I am not sure what you mean when you say, "off to the left of the row of buttons in the subform".  This seems really odd.  Try copying the button and then deleting the original and then pasting it back.  Maybe it was something that occured during the updating to 2010 and the program is confused as to the controls position.   You migh also just want to try moving it around first to see if it puts it back on top.

This is a wierd one!

-Mark-

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Mark Annett www.ISPManSys.com

Answer 4

Hi Mark,

If you look closely, you will see a dotted line box appear on top of any commad button during the On Click event.  Instead of the dotted line box appearing directly on top of the button to indicate where the focus is at, the dotted box appears elsewhere (off to the left, nearby) but no on top of the box as it should. 

I tend to agree that if I re-create all of my command buttons using the 2010 interface that this phenomena will stop, but that is a task that I simply don't have time for at this point.

Thanks for your suggestion.  In lieu of other responses, customized command buttons are not migrating correctly from Acces 2003 to Access 2010.

Cheers,
Jonathan

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Jonathan Lafferty

Answer 5

Did you try just moving it around?  You might not need to recreate them for Access to fix it.

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Mark Annett www.ISPManSys.com

Answer 6

Yes.  I did try moving it to a different position on the form.  The button focus still does not appear on top of the button.

Here is a screen capture of what is appearing in the left corner after a click on the Close Button in the right corner:

 

http://img210.imageshack.us/i/btnfocus.png

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Jonathan Lafferty

Answer 7

Totally Weird!!! 

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Mark Annett www.ISPManSys.com

Answer 8

This has been confirmed as a bug by Microsoft Support.  As of now, there is no official fix.

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Jonathan Lafferty

Answer 9

Interesting. After seeing your screen shot I was a little shocked and checked several of my applications that have been upgraded to Access 2010. I could not find anything similar. Did MS Support indicate the particular conditions necessary to cause the problem? Some of my applications were initially built in Access 1.0 or 2.0 and then upgraded to each successive version, and I still couldn't find anything.

Answer 10

I am seeing this effect all the time.  I have tried recreating the buttons and it does not help.

A colleage is also experiencing it.  Has anyone found any answers??

Answer 11

I was hopeful that Service Pack 1 would address this known issue, however, after installing SP1, the issue remains.

This bug remains unresolved.

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Jonathan Lafferty

Answer 12

I am encountering the same issue.  in The control's properties section, the decision to use the theme or not is the issue for me.  If i select 'No' in the Theme option block, i get the focus indicator in the upper left corner of the form.  If i select 'Yes', it goes away.  I now have to see how this control looks in older versions of Access when the Use Theme option is set to 'Yes'.  This is a work around I admit but it works for me.  Good Luck.

Answer 13

Thanks for posting that, Jonathan. Hopefully, SP2 will fix all these various bugs that are showing up in Access 2010, like the VBA corruption, the report filter failing when called in VBA and now the wayward control outline. I sure wouldn't want the job of being a programmer on the Access Dev Team. It must truly be a sisyphean job.

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Bill Mosca
http://www.thatlldoit.com
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MS_Access_Professionals

Answer 14

While this seems to be an acknowledged "bug", on another MSDN post, this answer may provide a work around:

"Set the 'Picture Property Storage Format' property in Options\Current Database to 'Preserve source image format'. Try setting that property as well as resetting the picture property in the control."

I cannot seem to reproduce the problem on my , leading me to think it may be video card/driver specific issue. I'd love to know if the above instructions work or not.

Regards,

Mark Davis

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moo

Answer 15

Afternoon Mark,

firstly, i wear a hat and a beard such as you and we could pass for 'doubles' on the street.  uncanny.

secondly, i appreciate your input, however, it was a programming bug that apparently has been cleared up.  The dotted box was a representation of a button control which located itself in the upper left corner.  it showed up for me when i imported  *.accdb elements (forms, reports, etc.) into an *.mdb program using Access 2010.  my work-around was to apply a dark colored banner at the top of the form and it would be hidden behind it.  For experimentation purposes, i altered the size of the button control and the size of the dotted box changed accordingly.  Again, thanks for your interest and concern and i appreciate you taking time to respond.  Have a great day.

John

Answer 16

Thanks Mark,

I've been searching for a solution to this problem for several days before I found this post. Your workaround seems to have solved the problem for me.

Joe