How to: Show records as a two-line list

Show a short list of records the way Outlook and Teams do (a bold title, a gray detail line, a colored status, and a button for each entry, with no column headers), such as the open sessions on a dashboard, with an End button only where a session can be ended.

Requires WKL Forms Object Library 1.36 or later.

• A view of WklGrid. Set ViewMode to wgvList and describe an entry in ItemTemplate. The record source, server mode, selection, the LinkMasterFields of a subform next to it, BeforeDelete, and DeleteSelected all work as they do in the grid. A continuous form can't do this, because it holds only a single instance of an ActiveX control.
• The template names fields: a title (optionally as a link), up to two lines with Access formats, a status pill with its kind field, a badge, a glyph, and up to two commands whose visibility and enabled state come from fields in the record.
• Events: ItemClick for the entry, LinkClick for the link, and ItemCommand for a button. The grid doesn't act on any of them by itself. RowSelect reports, as in the table, that the user selected another entry (keys or a click), not that code set SelectedKey. The table of all events of the list view is in the remarks on ViewMode in the API reference.

Create the sample table once (run the procedure from the Immediate window):

Public Sub CreateListSample()
    With CurrentDb
        .Execute "CREATE TABLE tblSession (ID LONG CONSTRAINT PK_Session PRIMARY KEY, Person TEXT(50), " & _
                 "Method TEXT(20), Origin TEXT(30), ExpiresAt DATETIME, State TEXT(20), StateKind TEXT(10), CanEnd YESNO)"
        .Execute "INSERT INTO tblSession VALUES (1, 'Jane Adams', 'Windows', '10.0.4.21', #2026-10-07 18:02:00#, 'Active', 'ok', True)"
        .Execute "INSERT INTO tblSession VALUES (2, 'Robert Baker', 'Password', Null, #2026-10-07 19:30:00#, 'Expired', 'warn', False)"
    End With
End Sub

The form frmStart contains a WklGrid named grdSessions. You usually make the settings once on the designer's List page (property sheet, Custom row, [...]); here they're made in code:

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    With Me!grdSessions.Object
        .RecordSource = "tblSession"
        .KeyField = "ID"
        .ItemTemplate = "{""title"":{""field"":""Person"",""link"":true}," & _
            """lines"":[[{""field"":""Method""},{""field"":""Origin""},{""field"":""ExpiresAt"",""format"":""hh:nn""}]]," & _
            """status"":{""field"":""State"",""kindField"":""StateKind""}," & _
            """commands"":[{""key"":""end"",""caption"":""End"",""visibleField"":""CanEnd""}]}"
        .EmptyText = "No open sessions."
        .AllowDeletions = True
        .ViewMode = wgvList
    End With
End Sub
 
Private Sub grdSessions_LinkClick(ByVal Key As Variant, ByVal Field As String)
    DoCmd.OpenForm "frmPerson", WhereCondition:="SessionID = " & Key
End Sub
 
Private Sub grdSessions_ItemCommand(ByVal Key As Variant, ByVal Command As String)
    If Command = "end" Then Me!grdSessions.Object.DeleteSelected
End Sub
 
Private Sub grdSessions_BeforeDelete(ByVal Key As Variant, ByVal Count As Long, Cancel As Integer, Confirm As Boolean)
    Confirm = False
    Cancel = (MsgBox("End this session?", vbYesNo + vbQuestion) = vbNo)
End Sub

The list shows „Jane Adams“ in semibold with „Windows · 10.0.4.21 · 18:02“ below it, a green „Active“ status, and an End button. „Robert Baker“ has no address (the empty value and its separator are left out) and no button, because CanEnd is False.

• A Null in a detail line is left out along with its separator. The formats are the same as for Access columns and follow the Windows regional settings. Relative times („5 min ago“) aren't built in; calculate them in the query.
• Requery keeps the selected record (SelectedKey), so you can call it from a timer to refresh a list such as the open sessions.
• An entry is as tall as its text unless ItemHeight is set; text that doesn't fit ends with „…“ and appears in full in its tooltip.
• Keyboard: Tab moves from the entry to its buttons and then on to the next control. Screen readers announce each entry as one sentence, and the link and buttons as separate elements.
• DeleteSelected in ItemCommand runs right after the procedure ends, so the BeforeDelete procedure above reaches the form (VBA doesn't deliver a grid event while one of the grid's event procedures is running). Code after DeleteSelected in ItemCommand still sees the record; show a message such as „Session ended“ with WklToast in AfterDelete.
• The list draws no columns. To sort by a field the entries don't show, add a hidden column by code: Set c = .Columns.Add("No"), c.Visible = False, c.SortDirection = wsdAscending.
• Tiles side by side (cards) aren't part of the list view.

• API reference: WklGrid.ViewMode, ItemTemplate, ItemCommand
• How to: Run grid commands from buttons: command columns in the table view.
• How to: Handle your own shortcuts in an application shell