possible to use predictive text?

[stangdriver00]

In the database at work we use a form to type in employee IDs or the last name to look-up employees which display all that employees information at the bottom of the page. I was curious to know if there is a way to put predictive text on the last name field and/or the employee id field so as someone types in a name it searches the proper field and brings up suggestions under the field that can be clicked? So i want to look-up Peterson, for the last name if i type "P" it goes to all the "P" last names in the database, then "E" it brings up all the "PE" names in the database and "T" then I can click Peterson in a drop down list. Such as google or yahoo use when you type in the search field. Is this possible?

 

[klynch0803]

Maybe someone else know how to do this I surely dont LOL..

But may I suggest trying to build a table of possible matches and make the field a lookup (not bound to list).. Maybe you can fnd a list of words or names or last names on the internet to fill this table with...

Just a thought...

 

[GolfProRM]

Other than using a combo box listing all of the names/ID's, I don't know of any other way to create this.

 

[stangdriver00]

i was hoping to not use a combo list as this database contains 3500 names and i was hoping that there was some quick way of doing this to save time so I don't have to actually work at work.

 

[GolfProRM]

You might check out this post from lagbolt.

This form has a "search as you type" function that you might be able to adapt to your situation. It wouldn't provide the results within the same textbox, but you could create a small subform that would list the search results.

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=669791&postcount=2

 

[missinglinq]

i was hoping to not use a combo list as this database contains 3500 names and i was hoping that there was some quick way of doing this to save time so I don't have to actually work at work.

Using the Combobox Wizard to set this up should take abut two minutes and 3500 names is nothing! When the user starts to type the name in the combobox the AutoExpand Property, which is turned on by default, will do exactly what you've described! Here's a quick step-step for doing it:

1. Add a combo box to your form. The Combobox Wizard will pop up
   
2. Select "Find a record based on the value I selected in my combobox."
   
3. From the query the form is based on, click on the field you're searching by (your EmployeeID field) to move it to the right side.
   
4. Hit Next.
   
5. Size the column appropriately.
   
6. Hit Next.
   
7. Name the combobox.
   
8. Hit Finish.

Now you can drop the combobox down and scroll down to the item to search by, or you can start to enter the item, and the combobox will "autofill" as you type. Hit <Enter> and the record will be retrieved.