How does one, using VB, get access to the data in the fields of a row selected by a user? Drawing an analogy from excel, the activecell object is the range of the current selected cell. Various methods return information like the row number and value. Isn't there a similar object in Access? I couldn't find anything in the DAO or Access application object model. I could only find how to navigate through a recordset by using the various move methods.

I appreciate receiving any input on this problem.

Thank you.

Have a look at the field property of the recordset object. This is the equivalent to the Excel Cell.


Brian Skelton
Braxis Computer Services Ltd.

THe field property of the recordset object returns the first element of that field. The move methods allow you to navigate to other records in that field. However that is not what I am looking to do. I need to know the record number of a record selected by the user who is viewing a table. I can't seem to find a property that returns the record that is currently selected.

Can you give us a few more details? How is the user selecting a record? Are they using tables directly or through a form? What exactly do you want to do with the selected record




Brian Skelton
Braxis Computer Services Ltd.

Thanks for both of your responses.

I am talking about the case where a user is selecting a record from a table by clicking the record selecter. The table contains among other things, the names and addresses of clients.

My purposes is to create a custom menu where a user could choose to create an envelope , label or a return address on a letter by just selecting the record and clicking the custom menu item called "envelope" for example. The VB procedure would take the info from the client name and address fields and then create an enevelope throuh ms word. This is not the same as mail merge as the user is only interested in printing one envelope,letter of label for one client.

There's no way of doing this if the user is directly accessing a table. The UI to tables doesn't have an object model and cannot be programmed against.

What you can do is display the same data in a form. Once the user has navigated to the record they're interested in, you can then extract the information they're viewing, either by directly reading from the form's controls, or by using the form's recordsetclone property.


Brian Skelton
Braxis Computer Services Ltd.

I thank you for your response. Much appreciated. I got the feeling that thsi wasn't possible. I think what I will do is have the user enter the number of the record , either into a dialog or input box, for that client for whom they want to produce an envelope or mailing label.

I just stumbled across the property I was looking for:
 Screen.ActiveDatasheet.CurrentRecord returns the record number of the selected object.