How to Make a Search Form with Combo Boxes in MS Access

Users LOVE good search options when they are using a data entry form that has a lot of data on it. Knowing how to make a fast filter form is one of the most essential skills for a database application developer. In this example, we’ll create a simple filter form by using two combo boxes with selections for us to choose from. You’ll learn how easy it can be to make a really good search screen with interactive controls.

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[angiefaerie]

I'm so glad I went looking for a better way to do this rather than the archaic way I was doing it before! Worked great!

[raulsansores]

Sean, I was about to go insane trying to come up with a workaround to get this working, then I found your video, followed exactly the same procedure you used and worked FANTASTIC! I can´t thank you enough for this amazing video!

[antonioj]

Thank you so much. This is exactly what I was looking for. Excelent explanation. Clear concepts and easy (after you know how to do it). Great. Best wishes from Canary Islands (Spain).

[stelkentritas]

Well done. Nice and simple explanation. Thank you.

[BryanDoesCinema]

Nice job! I have 6 combo boxes they want to search off of and couldn't get my head started on how to approach it, this helped a lot, ty

[andreasvanbergen]

Thanks Sean! This was a great help for me....Cheers!

[deltapixels]

HI Sean, Thank you so much for this video as I have been pulling my hair out (what's left of it lol) on how to do this.

[RungeCarl]

Another great Video. Can you do an advanced video showing how you can build a SQL using Combo boxes?

[هيثممكية]

thank you very Mach im haitham from iraq

[loganwinheim]

Hello Sean. Thank you very much for this video. The code works excellent on the form I built. I have another form that I used this code with to create a date range and keyword search. I am having trouble getting the form to filter with both date range and keyword search. Right now it’s one or the other. Do you know how I can get the criteria to work together?

[kiransalave]

After serching two days, I got the perfect one.
And it work on string not on number & for the number what could be changes in code or can you suggest your videos Sir.😍

[tamarah]

This is so helpful, thank you very much. Is it possible for you to show what the "And" part of the code would look like if you were to use a 3rd combo box? Everything i'm trying is not working. Thank you.

[jpaesen]

Hello Sean, Like you said yourself this is what the users want. This is something i was looking for myself to Integrate in some Databases with Huge amount of records! Realy Fantastic !! Is there a way also to pass true the filter from the first Sql to the second in the records in the combobox. So the options will be reduced after the first filter combobox? I don't want to fix it in the query. Because then I always have to Use all the Comboboxes. Just an Idea to make it userfriendly. Thanks for the great video 's for many years now.

[nemo]

This is a really cool tip but only works for single or continuous forms, I couldn't get it to work properly with split forms.

[Burnt_Toast]

@Sean Mackenzie Data Engineering

Hello Sean, amazing video! It was so easy to follow along and was at a good pace to follow.Great job. I was able to use the example you had and got it working, but I did have a question on how to add more combo boxes to filter a form. I’m having issues figuring that out and would appreciate some code example on how to do it!

[timnorov]

Hello Sean. Thank you for your video. I love it. I've done everything according to your instuctions. Works fantastic. I have a question. What if I want to make second filter dependened on first one? How can I do it? Like I filter with first combobox and the second one should contain data only of those lines selected in first one but not all of them. Thank you

[BobFeasey]

Great video thanks. Is there any way that the two boxes can be linked so that the second box only shows the corresponding items to the selection of the first box. I am putting together a rIsk Taxonomy and when I select the hazard I only want the types of hazard associated with the hazard selected to show in the second combo drop down.

[chantel]

Hello Sean, Thank you so much for this fantastic video! It was exactly what I was looking for. Is it possible to do a similiar concept using a combo box that is from a query with 2 fields of data, the first a number and the second a string? I have the query set-up to only be showing the second field, the string. Or am I stuck seeing the number for the filter? Thank you so much.

[estebanaranda]

Hello, how can I get the same result but pop it in a table format? (Its working but I'm looking for a better view experience)
Thx, nice videos!

[Nos.]

Hi sean，thanks a lot for this tutorial and how can I make this work on fields number? like search for number