what is the recommended way to do this?

[Tom Hanley]

1. I want to be able to open a form
2. populate it from a table
3. allow user to make changes but not change the table until the user
presses the "submit" button. I can't do the checking in each field on the
fly because some fields would rely on others on the form and it should be
checked just before updating the record or creating a new record.

 

[Rick Brandt]

1. I want to be able to open a form
2. populate it from a table
3. allow user to make changes but not change the table until the user
presses the "submit" button. I can't do the checking in each field on the
fly because some fields would rely on others on the form and it should be
checked just before updating the record or creating a new record.

No need for a [Submit] button. You can use the BeforeUpdate event of the
form (not individual controls) and perform any validation testing you want.
BeforeUpdate fires just before the record is saved and can be cancelled if
the validation fails.