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General Guidelines:

Naming of Controls on Forms and Reports

by A.D. Tejpal

1. For controls referenced in code or expressions, the names should not be the default names such as "Text13". It is best to modify the default name to something meaningful that eases maintenance of application.
   
   
2. An unbound or calculated control should not have its name identical to any of the fields contained in the record source. As a standing precaution, suitable prefix like Txt (or txt), Cbo (or cbo) etc should be used while naming such controls.
   
   
3. It is perfectly Ok if the name of a pure bound control is the same as its control source (unless, for some reason, you need a different name for the bound control - see para 4 below). It can also prove convenient in readily distinguishing the bound controls from others. However, in such an arrangement, care has to be exercised on following lines:
1. If the role of an erstwhile bound control bearing a name identical to its control source is subsequently changed to that of an unbound or calculated control, its name should be modified simultaneously (including suitable prefix as per 2 above) so as to differentiate it from field names.
2. If the control source of a bound control is subsequently changed, its name should be changed simultaneously, matching the new control source.
   
   
4. There is no objection however, to rename even bound controls, say by prefixing with Txt (or txt), Cbo (or cbo) etc. if the developer is keen to do so. In such a case, care should be taken to use the actual field name (and not the control name) while using the content in aggregate expressions in calculated controls e.g. =Sum([FieldName]). It would also be desirable to give meaningful names to such calculated controls e.g. txtTotal, or txtAvg etc.
   
   
5. For a control bearing the name of a particular field in record source, NEVER bind it to some other field.
   
   
6. Note - In allowing the names of bound controls to be identical with the control source, if the developer is not confident enough that the discipline envisaged in para 3 (a) & (b) above would be strictly observed, it might prove safer to rename all such controls in the beginning itself, as per para 4 above. In order to make such a task less taxing, suitable tool like Arvin Meyer's FixNames utility can be used if desired.

A.D.Tejpal