Question

I’m doing a search form. On top, there are several comboboxes for users to choose a combination of criterias. Then I construct a Where string to filter a sub form displaying the results.

Me.sub.SourceObject = "subResultType_1"
Me.sub.Form.Filter = strWhere
Me.sub.Form.FilterOn = True

This code is in the “Search” button’s click event.

The problem is, when Me.sub.SourceObject = "subResultType_1" is executed, the subform will display all the records. Then it gets filtered. But what I want is the subform displays nothing until it gets filtered. This is because my program will be used as front/back end on the rather slow network.

PS: I think when a SQL clause with the WHERE part, or a form with filter, it gets filtered on the back end. So only a little amount of data will be transmitted on the network to the front end. If I’m wrong on this, tell me…

Answer 1

An alternative is one that I often use, which is to save the subform with a recordsource that produces one blank, uneditable record. The SQL I usually use is something like this:

  SELECT TOP 1 Null As Field1, Null As Field2, 0 As Field3
  FROM MyTable;

This displays one blank record with Nulls for some fields, 0 for others (as appropriate). I find it cosmetically more attractive than the alternative.

When I’m ready to display a filtered set, I change the Recordsource instead of setting a filter.