I have a database containing a number of events for my Walking Group website. I have a History page where I would like to show details of the four most recent (past) events. I have a field in the database called "Start Date". I want to select those records whose "Start Date" is before today's date, and only a maximum of four records. I plan to display the results in descending order (i.e. most recent first) using a Datalist control.

I have set up a data source and am trying to configure it using the Wizard. I can create a simplified WHERE condition using the EventID field (an integer) to display some records, e.g. WHERE([EventID]>=6). This displays the four most recent walks, but only because the records were originally entered in ascending date sequence.

Do I have to define a Query that arranges the records in "Start Date" order and then somehow pick out the first few records, using the Query in the WHERE clause?

I am using VWD 2005 Express Edition with SQL Server Express (but my data source is an Access database).

Richard
Rugeley, UK
WinXP Pro SP2
VBW Express + SQL Server 2005 Express

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Richard
Rugeley, UK
WinXP Pro SP2
VBW Express + SQL Server 2005 Express

You can use a query such as this:

SELECT
  Top 4 *
FROM Table
WHERE [date] < getdate()
order by [date] desc

It has been a long time since i have used access but i think you might need to replace getdate() with Now() so that access returns the current date.

In any event that should work for you.

hth.

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Thanks, Doug. As soon as I saw your post I thought "I should have remembered that syntax" from my Access training! I tried substituting Now() in Access and in VWD and it's great.

Richard
Rugeley, UK
WinXP Pro SP2
VBW Express + SQL Server 2005 Express