Building a switchboard menu and start-up form in Base

A database that only you use can open on the navigation pane and nobody minds. Hand it to a colleague or a club volunteer and it is a different story. A list of tables, queries and reports is daunting if you don't know which ones matter. A switchboard in Base by Zaweba gives them a front door instead: a menu form with a button for each thing they might want to do.

Long time Access users will remember switchboards. The idea is the same, and Base makes one for you.

Making the switchboard

Create > Switchboard builds a menu form with a button for every form, report and query in the database. Base then offers to make it the start-up form, so it is the first thing anyone sees when they open the file.

The switchboard is an ordinary form, so you can open it in the form designer and change it. Remove buttons for things people don't need, such as working queries you use while designing. Reorder the rest so the everyday jobs come first. Add labels to group them, perhaps one heading for entering records and another for printing reports.

Forms with no table

A switchboard is an example of a form with no table behind it. Forms like that show only labels and buttons, since there are no records to display. You can make your own menu forms the same way, for example a reports menu that the main switchboard opens, so the front page stays short and each area has its own page of buttons.

Choosing the start-up form

Any form can be the start-up form, not only a switchboard. Right-click a form in the navigation pane to make it the start-up form. For a database whose main job is data entry, opening straight onto the entry form can make more sense than a menu. For a stock database, opening on a form showing low stock might be best.

The start-up form is one of the start-up options in the Database menu, together with the application title shown in the window and automatic backups. Setting a title, such as the club's name, and a start-up form together makes a Base file feel like a small application of its own.

Making it feel finished

Name buttons by the job, not by the object. "Add a new member" is clearer than "frmMembers". "Print this month's renewals" is clearer than "rptRenewals". If a report or query asks a question when it runs, a parameter query for instance, the button asks too, so a single button can cover every month or every town.

Keep the switchboard up to date. When you add a new form or report later, check that the menu has a button for it, and add one yourself or make a fresh switchboard and tidy it again.

Who it helps

Switchboards help anyone who opens the database occasionally: a treasurer once a month, a volunteer on a Saturday, a colleague covering a holiday. They don't need to learn where things are, only which button to press. They also protect the design a little, because people with a good menu tend not to wander into tables and change things by accident.

Ten minutes spent shaping a switchboard can save a great deal of explaining later.