Need Help in Access 2003

[FFjwb]

I am designing a simple database at work to keep track of businesses in our Town. I need something that can be easily used by experienced and non-experienced users. My problem comes in with the switchboard and a search feature. What I would like to do is put a "Search" button on the Switchboard and then users can search one or all of three fields to obtain the information. I believe I need to create a search form and list parameters, which will be a "*" because I want it to find the specific information they input (i.e. address). So that is my first question because I know it is fairly simple and I can't figure that part out, secondly how to do I get that search form to be brought up when clicking on the button on the switchboard.



I have the form for all the information built and working, I just need to get this search feature done to allow us to use the database.

Thanks for all your help.

[pbaldy]

There is a sample db demonstrating one method of creating a search form here:

http://www.baldyweb.com/BuildSQL.htm

[FFjwb]

Thanks for the link, but for someone that doesn't have a background in Access, I have no idea what that page is saying.

[TheShabz]

Try using, in your query criteria
Like "*" & Forms!frmName!objName & "*"

This will take the entry in the form and look for all results that contain that string, regardless of it being at the beginning, middle, or end of the result. The only problem though, is that it wont fix spelling issues. For example, "Mian Street" will not return "Main Street" as a reply. You may want to call up Google and ask them how they do it.

[pbaldy]

You can also use this:

http://www.mvps.org/access/queries/qry0001.htm

Note that the technique posted by TheShabz is fine for text fields, not so good for numeric fields.