Quick combo box question

[NewShoes]

Hey all,

At the moment, when using a combo box to select options I normally use a query for the record source that filters out any options that have a "hide" or "ended" check box ticked. This is simply to stop users selecting options that are no longer applicable and also to stop the combobox list from growing too large.

The problem is that when I "end" an option, the records that have previously contained that option will no longer display it. I can see the reason for this but was wondering if there is a better way or a work around?

Many thanks,
-NS

 

[Never Hide]

I'm not sure that I understand exactly your question but let me know if this is what you want to do:
You want to have in your combobox field1,field2,field3 and so on fom a table,but in the form the user will only see just one of those fields(or two of them or whatever).

If that's the case then create your combobox,in the query builder of the combobox,select all the fields you want to use for it (and make sure all of them are "ticked"). Now go to the Property sheet(having the combobox selected of course ) and go to the "Format" tab. Find the property "Column Width"(might be a little differently written, I have the greek version of access so it's in greek).
This poperty allows you to set the width of the columns in your combobox as wide/narrow you want them and it works like this
2;3;3;4
This example is for a combobox with 4 columns and it will set the width of the 1st column to 2cm(or inches depending on your system). 2nd column will have a width of 3cm and so on. Now to make one column to be hidden all u have to do is set it's width to 0.

2;0;3;4
Here the 2nd column of the combobox will be hidden.

0;0;3;0
Here all the columns will be hidden exept for the 3rd one

Hope that helps

 

[NewShoes]

Thanks Never Hide, unfortunately that is not what I meant. When I talk about hiding options I mean actual items in the list, not the fields. For example, the items might be a list of all employees. If Joe Bloggs leaves the company, I want to tick a hide box next to his name in the employees form. This will stop his name appearing in the combo box. However, when I look back at old records, his name will not appear as it has been ended!

Hope that makes sense.
-NS