Hi - I work in a sports academy which codes its classes using 5
characters.  (a-z  a-z  0-9  0-9  0-9)  A typical class codes is  fp216,
which is interpreted as Fall session, Parent & Tot, running on Tuesday,
class #16.

I need to design a form having a textbox which supports both * (any
number of characters) and  ? (one character)  wildcards.  Entering fp*,
for example, would cause all Fall Parent & Tot classes to be listed in
the adjacent combobox.   I need to be able to handle entries like
fp*,   w?4*, s?4?6, u*76, *4??.

I've spent a long time on this, but this calls for a better programmer
than me!  I'd be grateful for any help.       Brian D.

   WHERE ClassCode Like NZ(Forms!FormName.txtInput,"*")

If you are using the query grid the criteria for ClassCode would be

   Like NZ(Forms!urFormName.txtInput,"*")

You can do this by first setting up the combo box with a default row source
that displays all classes -- something like this:

    SELECT ClassCode, ClassDescription FROM tblClasses;

and then changing the rowsource whenever the text box is updated, like this:

    Private Sub txtClassFilter_AfterUpdate()
        If Len(Me!txtClassFilter & "") > 0 Then
            Me!cboClass.RowSource =  _
                "SELECT ClassCode, ClassDescription FROM tblClasses " & _
                "WHERE ClassCode Like '" & Me!txtClassFilter & "';"
        Else
            Me!cboClass.RowSource =  _
                "SELECT ClassCode, ClassDescription FROM tblClasses;"
        End If
    End Sub

Is this the sort of thing you were looking for?
--

Dirk Goldgar
(remove NOSPAM from reply address)