WklNavPane

Dim myWklNavPane As New WklNavPane

Arranges Access's own navigation pane from a model: one custom category with groups, shortcuts under display names, the group the pane opens with, and a lock.

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WklNavPane is an object, not a control. The navigation pane stays Access's own; the object writes one custom category into it and leaves the built-in categories (Object Type, Tables and Related Views) and other custom categories as they are.

• Designer and store. ShowDesigner opens the navigation pane designer for the current database (also from the add-in menu Database Tools › Add-Ins › WKL Navigation Pane Designer). Save writes a model into the table USysWklNavPane and applies it at once.
• Apply. Apply writes the saved model into the pane for the environment the database runs in and shows the category, filtered to the start group. Groups and entries carry conditions in the form of the ribbon commands: the connection profile (Profile, shared with WklRibbon), the kind of database (ACCDB, ACCDE, runtime) and a function of the application. What does not hold is not written at all. Because the pane keeps what was written last, an application whose pane differs per environment calls Apply when it starts; without conditions the pane written once stays.
• Take over. Categories and ReadCategory read a custom category someone arranged in Access as a model, so it can be kept as text and built again.

Hiding is a convenience, not a protection: an object left out of the pane can still be opened by code or by name. Where Access shows hidden objects (the option Show Hidden Objects of the navigation options, per Windows user), hidden groups show grayed; a developer machine with that option on sees more than the user.

The model is checked with the same rules everywhere (Check). An entry whose object the database does not have is not a rule violation: Save and Apply leave it out and name it in their result, the build tool stops on it.

Created with New WklNavPane or CreateObject.

' In the Load event of the start form: the pane for this environment (the development
' group shows only in the ACCDB, as the model says).
Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim missing As String
    missing = CreateObject("WklForms.NavPane").Apply()
    If Len(missing) > 0 Then Debug.Print missing
End Sub

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Function Check(ByVal Model As String) As String

Checks a model and returns its problems.

Return value: String – One problem per line, in the language of the components; empty when the model can be saved. A text that is no model gives its error as the only line; Check never raises an error.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function Canonical(ByVal Model As String) As String

Returns a model in its fixed text form.

Return value: String – The text the database keeps and the build tool exports: keys in fixed order, defaults left out, two spaces indentation, LF line ends.

A text that is no model raises wkeInvalidValue. The canonical text of a canonical text is the same, byte for byte.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function Load() As String

Returns the model of the current database.

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Return value: String – The model text from USysWklNavPane; empty when the database has none.

Needs an Access database open in this process; elsewhere it raises wkeNotConfigured.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function Save(ByVal Model As String, Optional ByVal Apply As Boolean = True) As String

Saves a model in the current database and applies it.

Return value: String – What Apply returns; empty when not applied.

A model with problems raises wkeInvalidValue with the problems; a refused write raises wkeSourceError.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function Apply() As String

Writes the saved model into the navigation pane for the current environment and shows it.

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Return value: String – One line per entry whose object the database does not have, in the language of the components; empty when every entry was written.

Apply deletes the groups and shortcuts of the model's category and writes them again, creating the category when it is missing; the pane then shows the category, filtered to the start group, and is locked when the model says so. Groups and entries whose condition does not hold are not written. Without a saved model it raises wkeNotConfigured; a model with problems raises wkeInvalidValue; a write Access refuses raises wkeSourceError.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function Categories() As String

Returns the custom categories of the navigation pane.

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Return value: String – The names separated by semicolons, in the order of the pane (Access's own category “Custom” included).

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function ReadCategory(ByVal Category As String) As String

Returns an existing custom category as a model.

Return value: String – The model text: groups in their order, hidden groups, shortcuts with a display name where it differs from the object name, and whether the group of unassigned objects is hidden.

Shortcuts to objects the database no longer has are left out; conditions and the start group start empty. An unknown category raises wkeKeyNotFound.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Function ShowDesigner() As Boolean

Opens the navigation pane designer for the current database.

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Return value: Boolean – True when it was closed with OK (the model is saved and applied then).

Without a saved model the designer starts with a category named after the database.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Property Get Profile() As String
Property Let Profile(RHS As String)

Gets or sets the connection profile the conditions use.

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Property value: String – A profile name such as DEV, TEST or PROD; an empty text returns to the detected profile.

Without a value set, the profile is the one most linked tables use (as WklLinkManager.DetectEnvironment). The value is shared with WklRibbon and lasts for the Access session.

Read/write.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Sub NavigateTo(Optional ByVal Group As String = "")

Shows the model's category in the navigation pane.

An unknown group raises wkeSourceError with Access's message; no dialog appears.

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Declared by WklNavPane.

Property Get Locked() As Boolean
Property Let Locked(RHS As Boolean)

Gets or sets whether the navigation pane is locked in this session.

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Property value: Boolean – True locks the pane: objects cannot be deleted, renamed or moved to other groups; opening them stays possible.

The lock is a state of the Access session (DoCmd.LockNavigationPane) and ends when Access closes. Access offers no way to read it; the value returned is the last one set through WklNavPane in this process, also by Apply with a model that locks.

Read/write.

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Declared by WklNavPane.