Problem with saving form data.

[Phonesa]

I have a form, CitationInfo, which is based off of say 2 tables, DefendantInfo(defendantid , defendantinfo) and Citations(citationno defendantid, citationdetails). If the defendant already exists in my DefendantInfo table, no problem. However, if this is a new defendant, I am getting an error message saying basically "can't find the defendant in the defendant info"! How do I tell Access to save the data needed to for my DefendantInfo table first?

I also have another question about saving data - is it possible to not save the data when you move to a subform through some nifty Access command? If no, how do I turn stop it from saving in my form's beforeupdate event so I can store the data in a variable and then save all my data using a save button?

 

[Captain Chaos]

Defendant

on your form you could put the possible defendant IDs in a combo box. the event 'not in list' will enable you to trap a new ID and capture it.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Your second question: If you don't attach the form to a table/query the data will sit in the controls unbound. At the end of the input when you want to save you can use a recordset to update the appropriate fields with the contents of the controls.