combobox won't display concatenated fields

[merlin777]

I have a combobox in a form which I want to display/select a list of full names of a person. The names are currently in a table called tblnames which includes the fields, idnumber, firstname, lastname so somehow I have to concatenate the two name fields, display them in the combobox and select them so this can be used in a filter in a query (which also has these two fields concatenated into one 'fullname' field).



i Tried putting this:

=[tblnames]![FirstName] & [tblnames]![LastName]

in the control source file of the combobox and the row source is set to 'tblnames' but the combobox just displays the first 4 columns of 'tblnames' (I set the column count to 4).

So, why isn't this working and is there a better 'good practice' approach to achieve what I need?

[June7]

ControlSource: the field from the form RecordSource you want to save the selected ID into - however, if the combobox is used only to input filter criteria this property should be left empty, otherwise you change the value in record

RowSource: SELECT IDnumber, LastName & ", " & FirstName AS FullName FROM tblnames ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;

BoundColumn: 1

ColumnWidths: 0";2.0"

Really should use the IDnumber for filtering.

[merlin777]

I'm only getting the lastname displayed (how come the order is lastname, firstname in the expression?)

Also, for some reason when I click on something in the list to select it, it does not select and appear in the box.

[June7]

Because most people search for a lastname before first name, so type into the combobox starting with last name. Or do whatever order you prefer.

I forgot ColumnCount property, set it to 2, although it must already be set for the lastname to be showing.

I don't know why the combobox fails. Would have to review your db.

[merlin777]

Aha! I had the expression in the control source instead of the row source. Clumsy bugger.

Solved both problems.

Thanks!