Hi Joe,
With 98 K records in your main table, it's time for you to consider an
alternate strategy. Instead of opening a form bound to such a large
recordset, a more network friendly method (ie. less data transfer over the
network) is to open an unbound search form. This form can include a text box
for the user to enter an account number, along with various other controls to
enter additional search criteria. Additional search criteria might include
text boxes to enter a range of dates, a combo box for a lookup table (but not
for hundreds of records), perhaps a multi-select list box, etc.
Implementing such a technique will require that you learn some VBA code, but
if you are willing to dive in and try, I think you'll be amazed at how
powerful of a search form you are able to create. Yes, it can seem a bit
daunting at first to get knee deep into code, but it is do-able, if you take
it one step at a time (or, as another frequent poster to this newsgroup likes
to say, "Build a little, Test a little"). Here are some QBF samples that you
can download and play with:
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/downloads/customdialogbox.zip
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/downloads/elements.zip
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/downloads/Chap08QBF.zip
The first one, Custom Dialog box, allows one to use a form to supply
parameters to a query. This is the easiest to build, but not as powerful as
the other two. The second example, Elements, demonstrates the use of a
multi-select list box that allows the user to select one or more elements
from the periodic table (hey, I'm a Chemist, so this seemed like a fitting
example). However, this sample does not include functionality that allows one
to open a particular record for editing. I purposely kept this sample as
simple as possible, so it only demonstrates how to use VBA code to iterate
the .ItemsSelected property of a listbox.
The Chap08QBF sample is an enhanced version of a QBF (Query by Form) sample
that is published in Chapter 8 of Access 2000 Power Programming, written by
F. Scott Barker. This example builds on the Elements example, and allows one
to open a record for editing, by double-clicking the record in the subform.
Finally, I have one more sample currently available on the Seattle Access
web site. This sample includes a Word document and a modified copy of the
Northwind sample database, to demonstrate the QBF technique:
http://www.seattleaccess.org/downloads.htm
(Look for the Feb. 12, 2008 download).
To help get your VBA skills kick-started, you can try out the download for
Jan/Feb 2007 "DAO - Back To Basics Compilation" from the same page. Also,
Access MVP Crystal has a great set of tutorials available:
http://www.accessmvp.com/Strive4Peace/Index.htm
Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
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