I was introduced, by fellow MVP Ben Clothier, to a really nice way to code when defining a Form/Report object when referring to an existing form/report so as to gain intellisense for that database object.  You’re probably saying to yourself: “What is he talking about”, but bare with me for just a moment because it will be worth it!

Say you have a form name Form1 with various controls on it, with various properties, …

Up until relatively recently, when I was coding this with reference to a form such a s this I might use code along the lines of:

Public Sub SomeFunctionName()
    Dim frm                   As Access.Form

    Set frm = Forms![Form1].Form
    With frm
        '...
    End With
    Set frm = Nothing
End Sub

Now the above example works just fine, but one has to go back and forth between the actual form and the VBE to copy/paste control names, … to code.

Where it becomes truly fun is that with a very small change in code, one can gain the benfit of intellisense for the designated database object. Observe the following code:

Public Sub SomeFunctionName()
    Dim frm                   As Form_Form1

    Set frm = Forms![Form1].Form
    With frm
        '... Now, frm possesses Intellisense relative to Form1, coding just became much easier!!!
    End With
    Set frm = Nothing
End Sub

by declaring the variable frm as the specific form (As Form_YourFormName) you intend to work with instead of a generic Access.Form, you now gain Intellisense in the VBE for the designated form. Now control names, events, … are a keystroke away. This greatly facilitates coding, reduces typos, …

Similarily for reports you can do something along the lines of:

Public Sub SomeFunctionName()
    Dim rpt                   As Report_Report1

    Set rpt = Reports![Report1].Report
    With rpt
        '... Now, rpt possesses Intellisense relative to Report1
    End With
    Set rpt = Nothing
End Sub

Try it out and see for yourself how it makes your coding life a little bit easier!