What causes a Combo Box NOT to automatically go to the entries when you start typing

[JJordan]

I have a form that selects Contacts from the contacts table to enter donations in the Donations table. Because there are companies and individuals in contacts (fistname, lastname and companyname fields) I set up the box to select as follows

SELECT Contacts.ContactId, IIf([companyname] Is Null,[lastname],[companyname]) AS Expr1, IIf([CompanyName] Is Null,[firstname],[mailinglabelname]) AS Expr2 FROM Contacts ORDER BY IIf([companyname] Is Null,[lastname],[companyname]);

When I first did it, you could start typing in teh name and it would jump to the J's for example. Now it does NOTHING and you have to scoll through 1600 entires to get to the contact you want to find.

ContactID is an autonumber primary key field from Contacts. I need to be able to type in what appears in the First Visible Column (bound colum is column1, but it is set to ZERO width so what you see in the 2 visible colums are last name first name for individuals and Company Name malinglabelname for companies.

 

[charityg]

Make sure that the AutoExpand property for the combo box is set to true

 

[JJordan]

It is set to YES. Could it be becuase I have three items in the query/combobox, ContactID and two Expr's and the ContactID (number) field is the Bound Column with its width is set to Zero?

I have no idea. It was working and now it does not. Could it be that I need to open the form with some criteria or some mode (they are in Add Mode because I am Adding New Donations for exisiting contacts.

 

[vangogh228]

Is the "Restrict to List" property set to Yes?

 

[JJordan]

Yes, it is.

 

[HeatherL]

I am having the same problem in an Access 2000 database. My form has a combo box that will find a record on the form when clicked. This combo box works fine on my machine, but when I open the same database on a co-workers machine, the auto entry will not happen. I have tried re-installing Office on the machine, that didn't help. I've tried compacting and repairing the database, rebuilding the combo box all to no avail!

I will watch this forum to see if anyone else has any ideas!

Thanks,
Heather L

 

[Pat Hartman]

You need to get the company name and the individual name into the same field for your combo to work properly.

SELECT Contacts.ContactId, IIf(IsNull(companyname),[lastname] & "," & [firstname],[companyname]) AS SearchName
FROM Contacts
ORDER BY IIf(IsNull(companyname),[lastname] & "," & [firstname],[companyname]);

 

[JJordan]

Thanks Pat, that changed the Box contents, but did nto fix the probelm that when you start typing the list does not jump forward to the J's for example when you type J or to "Jor" when you tyope "Jor" . I hav eno idea except i tink it has something to do with the fact that the Bond colum is column 1 and that is the ContactID (an auto-number) not the name that you are typing in. You cannot practically change the bound column however.

 

[JJordan]

Any One Have any other thoughts -- this is a real problem since there are about 2000 donors entered and scrollling down to find a person whose name starts with S is Baloney ! I have created new forms and they work and then quit.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Try rebuilding the combo and the form if necessary. What you are asking for is the default behaviour. Something has to have changed it.

 

[JJordan]

I have already tried completly starting the Forms over from scratch and it still happens.

 

[HeatherL]

By any chance do you have Winfax installed on your system? The reason I'm asking, is that we had Winfax installed on the machine where the combo box wouldn't work. I went into the "Additional tools" on the toolbox toolbar, scrolled to the bottom of the list and there was one called "Winfax Pro attachments Combobox". I placed this on the form in question and then closed the form without saving. I quess all this really does is add a reference in the list of references to "Winfax Symantec Pro Controls". Then the combo box worked!?

I don't know why or how I managed to stumble across this, but it seems to have worked for me. As long as I have the reference to Winfax in my references list, if Winfax is installed on the machine.

Maybe you can get something out of this? I hope so.

Heather

 

[JJordan]

I DO have WinFax installed on ONE of the computers that I work on the database with (work). I did what you suggested -- added the Winfax combo box to ONE form, closed that form without saving and ALL my forms work now. What The heck is Up with That ? I hope they stay working. I will have to wait a while to see if the "quit" again, since I have had other things cause them to mysteriously start wrkign, but this looks like as tart although I have no idea WHY. Thank You.

 

[HeatherL]

I found one thing wrong with with having Winfax on only one of the computers. My computer (the one I design on) didn't have Winfax installed. If I tried to compile the code, it wouldn't compile properly. The reference to Winfax Symantec Combo box was missing. I would have to uncheck this box in order for my code to run. Then when I opened it on the computer with Winfax installed, the combo box wouldn't work again. I would have to reset the reference to Winfax Symantec Combo Box. This proved to be a problem as I was still in the process of some development work. I finally installed Winfax on my computer and now all is fine. The funny thing is that other databases that I have developed are run on computers that don't have Winfax installed and still seem to be fine?! Maybe it will come back to haunt me, but for now it seems to be working. I'm glad it helped you out as well. Just another quirky issue!

Heather

 

[JJordan]

Well, it does not work again on the new Three Trees computers so I guess I need to isntall WinFax on them ??? Damg it this is a bunch of BS !!!!