Combo box dependent on another combo box, text part is blank

[lorirobn]

Hi,

I have a form with several combo boxes, continuous form format, with
record source a query off an Item Table. The fields are Category,
Subcategory, and Color. I am displaying descriptions, not ID's, so I
have to convert the ID's from various lookup tables.

The combo boxes work fine except for subcategory, which is dependent on
category. Depending on category, the drop-down box for subcategory
will display different items. (for example, when Category is
Furniture, Subcategory will display drop-down list of 'Dresser,
Nightstand, Desk...". Without clicking on the drop-down box,
subcategory will display in its text area the Description of the
subcategory ID of the existing record on the table.

The drop-down list for Subcategory works fine. However, the text
portion is blank for records on the 2nd category. In other words,
there are 10 records for the first category, Accessories. Subcategory
displays fine for these. But for the 11th record and subsequent
records, subcategory is blank (text portion, although drop-down works
correctly).

If I just display subcategory ID, and not convert to description, it
works fine.

My SQL statement for subcategory is:
"SELECT ItemSubcatID, ItemSubcatDesc FROM tlkpItemSubcate gory
WHERE (((ItemCategory ID)=[Forms]![frmItems]![cboItemCategory]))
ORDER BY ItemSubcatDesc; "

Column count is 2, column width is 0, 2. Bound column is 1.
I think the problem lies around here. When I have column width =
"1,1", I can see that my subcatgegory ID is displayed correctly.

I do a requery of subcategory on category_afteru pdate and
category_change ... but the combo boxes drop-down part seem to be
working fine.

If I run just the query that's the record source, it displays
subcategories correctly.

What would cause the text portion of my combo box to be blank?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Lori

[Mike Preston]

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 19:21:13 GMT, Lorirobn <an*******@devd ex.com>
wrote:

Hi Mike,
I will try my best to abort the infinite loop! ...

If you say that you will be displayingdescriptions that is fine. But what does "in addition to the ID's" mean?
That sounds like you are using the ID's as the bound column.

What I meant was: I was originally just displaying descriptions. But because you said I
could do what I wanted to do only if the bound column for the combo box
is displayed, that's when I thought "ok, then I will display the ID,
also".
That isn't what I meant to say, even if I said it.

What I meant to say is that the bound column must be what is
displayed. If you want to bind the ID, that is fine, as long as you
display the id. If you want to display the description, however, you
need to bind the description.

This is easier said than done.

It requires denormalizing your data.

It requires using the description as the "key".

It is less than optimal (as I previously indicated).
But, even when I was displaying descriptions, I did actually use
the ID's as the bound column.
Ooopsies.
Is this not correct?
Yes, it is not correct.
Could that be the
cause of my problem?
Indeed.
You can view my sql at the beginning of this
thread. It shows that I use the ID as my bound column. I am afraid this is as clear as mud????
I think it would be clearer to you if you re-read each message,
parsing each word. These things tend to get jumbled up on a quick
read.

You do this by changing the rowsource of the dependent combobox in the

after update routine of the first combobox.

What do I change the row source to? I have been doing a requery.

That works.
Thanks once again. Hope it's clearer. Thanks for sticking through the
infinite loop with me.

Let us know if it works.

mike