Access™ 2007 VBA Programmer's Reference

M.3. Find Records

Access provides some built-in ways to search for records, but they can be confusing for users that are running your application. The binoculars button pops up a dialog box with several search options, but most users don't know how to use it properly. The problem is that it is has too many options for users who probably just want to find a record containing a certain text value.

Instead, you can include a quick and easy way for your user to find records. Figure M-4 shows a form with a built-in technique to find records.

Figure M.4. Figure m-4

This record-finding technique allows any phrase to be entered in the text box, then finds the first (or next) record that contains that phrase anywhere in the displayed fields. Alternatively, the user may change the radio buttons to switch to an Exact match instead of a Contains search, where the entire field must match the phrase. Exact mode is not used very often, but it can be handy in searching for exact codes or numbers (such as membership or account numbers).

M.3.1. Calling the Record Finder Code

The On Click event of the First button (shown in Figure M-4) includes this code:

Private Sub cmdFirst_Click()
On Error GoTo Error_Handler

FindRecordLike "first"

Exit_Procedure:
  On Error Resume Next
  Exit Sub

Error_Handler:
  DisplayUnexpectedError Err.Number, Err.Description
  Resume Exit_Procedure
  Resume

End Sub

The code really ...