I have a form that is bound to a table. On the form is a combo box that controls record selection. I also have a button that can add a new record, and a text box that shows the current record number.

I am not showing the navigation buttons or record selector.

What I want to do is:

1) when I add the new record, allow the combo box to accept value (that is not in the list) - i'm trying the event "NotInList( )"

Possibly requery the combo box.

2) when i add the new record, set the text box to display the new record number - does this automatically make the record dirty? (I don't want it to be considered dirty until other fields (like the combo box) have accepted new values.

thanks for the help.

Is the record number an autonumber or is it a user-defined record number?

If an autonumber, it will not appear, nor will the record become dirty, until you start typing values in the other fields. If this is the case, one wonders why you are showing record numbers. Autonumbers are not suppsed to be seen by users and make no sense to anyone. They're used ONLY by the computer to relate primary and foreign keys in various tables to each other.

If your record number is user-defined and "makes sense" to the user, the second you compile it and place it into the record number textbox, your record will be considered dirty. To avoid that, don't actually set the record number. Iinstead, compile its value like you normally do, but set the textbox's DEFAULT VALUE equal to the new record number. The default value will show, but because you didn't set the actual value of the textbox (just its default), the record will not be dirty. When you start typing in another field, the record number's default will be automatically entered into the field for you and THEN the record will become dirty as you type somewhere else.

__________________
Greg Serrano
Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality
Air Quality Division

I will look into this solution because I have tried several contortions of BeforeUpdate/AfterUpdate....