How do I create a new form instance whose name I have in a string?

Asked May 08 '19 at 14:40

Active Jul 15 '20 at 02:22

Viewed 42 times

In MS Access, there are two ways to open a new form:

DoCmd.OpenForm "myForm" - opens the "default instance" of a form
Set frm = New Form_myForm : frm.Visible = True - opens a new instance of a form.

I need to use the second option, because I want to open multiple instances of myForm. (If you are unfamiliar with it, more details about this technique can be found here.)

How would I do that if I have the name of the form only available as a string? I.e., I need to write some library method

Sub OpenAnotherInstanceOfForm(ByVal formName As String)
    Dim frm As Form ' or Object, late binding is fine for me in this case

    Set frm = ... ' <-- What goes here?
    frm.Visible = True

    ... ' Persist the object reference, so that frm stays open. I know how to do that.
End Sub

Here is what I have already tried:

Set frm = CreateObject("Form_" & formName) - Run time error 429
Set frm = Eval("New Form_" & formName) - Run time error 2482

edited Jul 15 '20 at 02:22

braX

11,506
5
20
33

asked May 08 '19 at 14:40

Heinzi

167,459
57
363
519

Previously: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10917896/how-to-create-a-new-form-instance-using-the-name-of-the-form-as-a-string – Tim Williams May 08 '19 at 15:12
@TimWilliams: Thanks, I did not see the duplicate! Ah, too bad it's not possible. Closing my question as a dupe. – Heinzi May 08 '19 at 15:16
Don't. I have a draft... – Mathieu Guindon May 08 '19 at 15:16
@MathieuGuindon: Ah, ok, then I'll wait. – Heinzi May 08 '19 at 15:17
Question though: I'm not very familiar with Access - would `Forms("formName")` yield a reference to the default instance if the form isn't loaded or opened? – Mathieu Guindon May 08 '19 at 15:23
@MathieuGuindon: No, that yields a run-time error. – Heinzi May 08 '19 at 15:25
Ugh. Gets tricky. I'll delete my answer then, I'm guessing `Select Case` was obvious, and without a default instance of the form class then the factory / `CallByName` approach doesn't hold water. – Mathieu Guindon May 08 '19 at 15:36
@MathieuGuindon: No problem, thank you for your efforts! – Heinzi May 08 '19 at 16:07

How do I create a new form instance whose name I have in a string?

0 Answers0