form within a form

I have Office Professional 2007 (Vista) . I have a simple data base with
about 500+ names, addresses, etc. Many of the names have unusual spelling.
I would like to make some type of form on my basic form that would allow me
to enter the first letter of a last name and have all names starting with
that letter to show up. I have a parameter query and made a parameter sub
form, and it works fine by itself but if I try to put it in the design when I
then try to save it the subform wants to work right then and does but when I
close the design view the parameter subform is just blank. I am not a
programmer but I can follow basic instructions that windows uses.
Is there any way this can be done some other way?
Foster1

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:30:01 -0800, Foster1
wrote:

I have Office Professional 2007 (Vista) . I have a simple data base with
about 500+ names, addresses, etc. Many of the names have unusual spelling.
I would like to make some type of form on my basic form that would allow me
to enter the first letter of a last name and have all names starting with
that letter to show up. I have a parameter query and made a parameter sub
form, and it works fine by itself but if I try to put it in the design when I
then try to save it the subform wants to work right then and does but when I
close the design view the parameter subform is just blank. I am not a
programmer but I can follow basic instructions that windows uses.
Is there any way this can be done some other way?
Foster1

By far the simplest way is to put an unbound Combo Box on the form, based on
the table, sorted alphabetically by name. If you type the first letter of the
name into the combo, it will display names starting at that point in the
alphabet; typing a second letter will drill down - e.g. typing "Ts" will show
Tsilovski, Tsongas and Tuttle, and then on through the names following those.

The Combo Box Wizard in the toolbox will help you set this up. Choose the
option "Use this combo to find a record in the form".

If you really want a Subform, please post your current subform's Recordsource
(post the SQL) and its master/child link fields, and explain by "try to save
it the subform wants to work". I have no idea what that means!

--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

The way I edit sub forms is to open them seperatly in design mode with the
"master" form closed. I then open the "master" form to test it after I have
saved and closed the sub form.
--

Thanks,
Tek


"Foster1" wrote:

I have Office Professional 2007 (Vista) . I have a simple data base with
about 500+ names, addresses, etc. Many of the names have unusual spelling.
I would like to make some type of form on my basic form that would allow me
to enter the first letter of a last name and have all names starting with
that letter to show up. I have a parameter query and made a parameter sub
form, and it works fine by itself but if I try to put it in the design when I
then try to save it the subform wants to work right then and does but when I
close the design view the parameter subform is just blank. I am not a
programmer but I can follow basic instructions that windows uses.
Is there any way this can be done some other way?
Foster1