You could use a listbox instead of a combo box, if you never want the user
to enter a name that's not in the list. Listboxes can have multiple
columns.
But unless there's some strong reason not to, I'd recommend writing a
query in Access that gets you the string in the form you want it, and building
your dataset from that query.
If I add a new record I want it to appear in the combo box. OK, I can build
some logic to make it happen but I was hoping that I could make it happen
automatically. Naively I had though you could create a dataview using sql
acting on a table in the dataset.
Your list box is a good idea, I will explore that.
many thanks
Rod