Microsoft Built-In wizards are very useful but they have one annoying flaw.  That is, no naming conventions are used.  Naming conventions are commonly used standards that all professional developers use to better manage their code and their projects.  Even controls on forms should have standard naming conventions.  For example, combo box usually begin with cbo (i.e., cboNames) and text boxes start with txt (i.e. txtAddress).  When these conventions are used it makes managing the code associated with the controls easier.

The Microsoft wizards do NOT use these conventions.  So when you create a form or report with the wizard,  instead of "cboName" or "txtAddress" you get simply get "Name" or "Address".  (This can cause some expressions to return #Name instead of the correct value, expecially in reports.)  The problem is that it is difficult to remember the standard naming convention prefixes for controls and renaming them can be time consuming.

The Name Builder will correctly prefix a control with the right convention based on its type.  To use it (the name builder is installed by the setup program) simply select the control and view its property sheet.  Select the Name property from the property sheet.  Click on the Build (...) button that is to the right of the property.  It will take the current name that is in the property cell and replace it with the same value stripped of spaces and other undesirable text and prefixed with the right three letter convention.

New Feature:  A Name Builder wizard that will rename ALL controls on a new form using proper conventions.

To view/download the tools you must be a registered user.  If you are registered user you will see a hyperlink to the downloads page below.  Otherwise, register on the site and come back to this page.