Inserting blank row in subform in Access

Question

How do I insert a blank row in a subform in Access similar to Excel. Excel gives to insert a blank line in the middle of other lines, how do I do this in a Subform in Datasheet view in Access?

Answer 1

This is not really possible without doing some gymnastics. Datasheet views aren't really an Excel replacement even if they look similar.

Do put in a blank row you would need to create a new record that is completely blank and save it that way. You would also need to have a field that you use to set the Order of the Rows, and you'd have to set the value of that field so that the row would be inserted where you want it to be. That usually means rewriting the values of all the other rows below as well. And finally, you'd need to requery the form so that the blank row shows up where you want it to. The end result of this is that you have a blank record saved, and that you can't setup any validation rules to prevent that.

One of the only other ways to accomplish this would be to do basically the same thing but using either a disconnected ADO recordset or else a "temp table". This means that when the user actually chooses to save their changes you would need to use code to write the records back into the database. Although this is a pretty good idea, it is a fairly advanced technique and not something I recommend beginners tackling without some guidance.

There is one more option you might consider yet and that is using an ActiveX grid control such as iGrid from 10tec or the MS List View control. Most developers do recommend staying away from ActiveX controls, and for good reasons. If you do go this route, it's also going to be code intense. You'll have to write code to fill the grid, and write more code to write changes back to the database. It's also quite advanced and not something for the faint of heart and hardly something I recommend for the beginner.

In short, Access is not really designed to do what you want to do here. At least not easily.