MS Access: Filter/Search records in a form using main form and subform criteria from user input

Question

I'm currently working on a database which is rather complex, at least for my ability level. Essentially it is a database of projects, structures and contacts. Within these structures there are sub structures each with unique attributes.

Projects, structures and contacts are joined together in one main control form with a tabbed pane. And within these panes are the forms which have multiple subforms. I am trying to write a search function which I can place on each form that will allow the user to select multiple criteria to filter results. However, some of the criteria or on the forms and other criteria are drawn from multiple subforms and to top it off some fields in the subforms have multiple entries. I understand that this may not sound like very sound database design, but I've been told to adhere to a specific structure and layout which I am not skilled enough to work through.

I've been looking through allen browne's website regarding search criteria, but that is only one a single form. I've attempted to piece together the Subquery tutorial page as well, but to no avail. Essentially, I'm wondering if it is at all possible to filter information say.. the type of structure which is on the main form and then for example.. a range of numbers such as length which exists in a subform and an object proximity which exists in another subform, and have it so that the main form only displays records which fulfill that combination of criteria from the subforms and main form.

My apologies if this is vague, and if it'll help I can post up the general framework I have for my database thus far. Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

EDIT--- Added screenshots for more information I can't post images since my rep is below 10 but hopefully I can include links

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1594/99258898.png http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2186/27578829.png

It's difficult to see here, but within the combo boxes some are multi-valued lists. And the combo box on the first image to the right, is switched based on the selection of Type from the upper left combo box, which has different attributes. Ideally I'd like to be able to search through primary forms and subforms. and result in records which only fulfill all the user inputted data. Right now I've tried using filters, one for each criteria, but all that does is blank out information in the subforms which doesn't correspond to the filter criteria.

Answer 1

I create complex query-by-form interfaces for nearly all my Access apps. Why? Because my users want them! There are some screenshots of some older examples on my website, but none really is very clear. The point is that I'm writing SQL on-the-fly, and choosing whether to query particular tables based on whether there are criteria sought for that table.

I can say a lot more about, but it quickly shades into proprietary information. If these look like the direction you want to go, why don't you create a new question with enough information to suggest how it could be done based on these principles.

Answer 2

Do you have any screenshots you could possibly post?

This sounds to me like a larger design issue, perhaps mostly in your UI but possibly in your table structure as well. One my own principles I try to follow is to limit how many things a single screen/form does or shows. What your describing sounds quite confusing to me and I think the average user could easily be overwhelmed by it.

Normally subforms are the result of a main form. That is, they contain child records and are linked to records in the main form via the child records foreign key and the main forms primary key. It isn't that there aren't other ways to design your forms but this is considered "normal" or "standard" design. Your description indicates that filtering the main form is determine by filters set on the subforms. I guess I can't think of any problem that could possibly need solving through something as confusing and clumsy as this. I leave the possibility open that I haven't encountered something as difficult or complex as you're dealing with.

I think you may have some difficulty getting better help here as your question is really better suited to a discussion forum such as UtterAccess.com. You may consider posting a copy of your database on such a site so the users can review your design and possibly recommend a more solid and standard approach.

Edit1:
1) Based on your screenshots, I think you're trying to do too many things in one form. I would normally take each of your top tabs (Projects, Structures, Companies, Contacts) and make each of those their own form. Access 2007 and 2010 allow you to use a tabbed interface natively and I can't think of any real benefit to using the tabbed container control to develop your own tabbed interface.

2) It's my opinion that searches should normally be performed in a single main form that has a single listbox, datasheet view subform, or continuous forms subform. Whichever of these three you choose is not overly important. After performing the search, the user should be able to click in the resulting records in the listbox or subform to select that record and move to it on a details view form similar to what you've already built here. It might take several different search screens to allow your users to search all of the different ways you'd like them to. For example, you might build a screen to search projects, one to search structures, another to search contacts, and a fourth one to search companies. It should be possible to combine some of these in a query and allow the user to search by more than one criteria but it can get confusing if you try to allow them to search too many fields at once, especially if the fields they are searching are in separate tables. For example, if you build a query that shows all projects, structures, and companies together and use this as the recordsource for a datasheet subform, this could allow users to search by project, structure, or company. However, if a project has 10 structures that project will be listed 10 times in the query/form which could confuse users if they are thinking about searching by project. If they are instead searching by structure, it will make perfect sense to them that there are 10 entries for the same project since they'll see 10 different structures.

My basic recommendation is, be careful about trying to build too many functions into a single form. There are some types of tasks or sets of data that do require complex forms with multiple subforms and lots of controls, but in general you want to try to avoid this. It's better to build each form with a very focused task and just simply build more forms to accomplish all of the necessary tasks. Of course, you can take this approach too far as well but you do really need to try to minimize complexity to save yourself from headaches in the future.

As far as filtering based on multiple criteria, I'll see if I can find any good examples or maybe put one together and make it available. It isn't so difficult but it is a multi-step process to build and experience has led me to a general design that I'm happy with and that works almost flawlessly in every possible situation.

Edit2:
Here's how you can create a multi-field filter/search.

1) Build your query. Include all tables and fields which need to viewed by the user or searched on by the user. You can include fields here that will be searched on but not viewable by the user, although that could be confusing to the user. Save your query and give it an appropriate name. Be sure to include your id/primary key fields since those will be needed in step number 4.
2) Now Highlight your query in the navigation pane, go to the top menu and choose Create > More Forms > Datasheet (I'm using Access 2007). Allow access to create and show you a datasheet form which we will use as a subform. Save this and give it an appropriate name like subformProjectSearch of fsubProjectSearch.
3) Get the design view for the new form you just created. Change the properties to disallow additions, deletions, and edits unless you'd really like to allow any of these operations. In general, I don't allow any data entry in these kinds of search forms unless I have it well planned out and tested.
4) Go to the code for this form and add code to popup relevant detail forms on double click. For example, in the projectid or project name field, allow your user to double click to bring up the project details form. Add double click routines to any other textbox where the user might want to pop up a structure, company or contact, assuming you've chosen to include one or more of those in your query. You're code will look something like DoCmd.OpenForm "ProjectDetails", , , "ProjectID = " & Me!ProjectID Now save your form again and close it.
5) Now create a new blank form and add your first form as a subform. Leave room at the top to add controls for filtering. This form does not need to have any recordsource set.

Diversion: I usually take one of two different approaches to filtering. Number one is to give the user one textbox that they can type into. I think do fuzzy searches in a whole bunch of different fields using the data they've typed in. It's a perfectly awful approach performance wise, especially once the database grows past about 20,000 records. It can also lead to some confusion since too many results will likely come up for a short generic search. If they only type in the letter s and search for it they will likely get almost all records.

The second approach I use is probably more common. Give them a different textbox for every field they are likely to want to search by. You an also make it a checkbox or combobox if that fits the field they are searching on. These will not be bound controls. This allows the user to get fairly specific and it also is most likely to return the exact results they are looking for. As far as the code goes, I don't think that one approach is really much simpler than the other. With either approach that I've listed here you really need to check the type of data they've entered before you put it in your filter statement for certain fields. For example, you wouldn't want to try to filter a date field using their non-date, text input. On this second approach you can possibly eliminate more of this problem by using validation rules, input masks, or by setting the textboxes format property. Combos also help to prohibit incorrect data from being entered.

Yet a third option is somewhat of a hybrid approach. You can create one text box that searches on more than one field but not necessarily on all fields. For example, you might create one textbox that will be used to search on Company, FirstName, or LastName. You can create as many of these textboxes as you need. How the input in these textboxes gets used will be totally determined by you in your VBA code.

6) Now that you've decided which approach you want to take, you can go ahead and add your controls. Give them appropriate names and labels.
7) Now it's time to create the function that will build the filtering statement. Use one of the two ideas I listed below. Make sure you run these when the user presses your search button or on the controls AfterUpdate event.

    Private Sub txtSearch_AfterUpadate()
         Call FilterSubformOption1 
    End Sub

Private Sub FilterSubformOption1()
    Dim strFilter as String
    Dim sSearch as String
    sSearch = Replace(Nz(Me.txtSearch, ""), "'", "''")
    If sSearch <> "" Then
        If IsDate(sSearch) = False Then
            strFilter = "(ProjectName LIKE '*" & sSearch & "*' OR "
            strFilter = strFilter & "StructureName LIKE '*" & sSearch & "*' OR "
            strFilter = strFilter & "CompanyName LIKE '*" & sSearch & "*')"
        Else
            strFilter = "ProjectDate = #" & CDate(sSearch) & "#"
        End If
    End If
    If strFilter <> "" Then
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.Filter = strFilter
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.FilterOn = True
    Else
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.Filter = ""
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.FilterOn = False
    End If
End Sub


Private Sub FilterSubformOption2()
    Dim strFilter as String

    If Nz(Me.txtProjectName, "") <> "" Then
        strFilter = "ProjectName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtProjectName, "'", "''") & "*' AND "
    End If
    If Nz(Me.txtStructureName, "") <> "" Then
        strFilter = strFilter & "StructureName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtStructureName, "'", "''") & "*' AND "
    End If
    If Nz(Me.txtCompanyName, "") <> "" Then 'Search on multiple fields from one textbox
        strFilter = strFilter & "CompanyName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtCompanyName, "'", "''") & "*' AND "
    End If      
    If IsNull(Me.txtProjectDate) = False Then
        If IsDate(Me.txtProjectDate) = True Then
            strFilter = strFilter & "ProjectDate = #" & Me.txtProjectDate & "#"
        End If
    End If
    If Right(strFilter, 5) = " AND " THEN strFilter = Left(strFilter, Len(strFilter) - 5)
    If strFilter <> "" Then
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.Filter = strFilter
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.FilterOn = True
    Else
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.Filter = ""
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.FilterOn = False
    End If
End Sub 

Private Sub FilterSubformOption3()
    Dim strFilter as String

    If Nz(Me.txtProjectName, "") <> "" Then
        strFilter = "ProjectName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtProjectName, "'", "''") & "*' AND "
    End If
    If Nz(Me.txtStructureName, "") <> "" Then
        strFilter = strFilter & "StructureName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtStructureName, "'", "''") & "*' AND "
    End If
    If Nz(Me.txtName, "") <> "" Then 'Search on multiple fields from one textbox, the "hybrid" solution
        strFilter = strFilter & "(CompanyName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtName, "'", "''") & "*' OR "
        strFilter = strFilter & "FirstName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtName, "'", "''") & "*' OR "
        strFilter = strFitler & "LastName LIKE '*" & Replace(Me.txtName, "'", "''") & "*') AND "
    End If      
    If IsNull(Me.txtProjectDate) = False Then
        If IsDate(Me.txtProjectDate) = True Then
            strFilter = strFilter & "ProjectDate = #" & Me.txtProjectDate & "#"
        End If
    End If
    If Right(strFilter, 5) = " AND " THEN strFilter = Left(strFilter, Len(strFilter) - 5)
    If strFilter <> "" Then
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.Filter = strFilter
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.FilterOn = True
    Else
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.Filter = ""
        Me.fsubProjectSearch.Form.FilterOn = False
    End If
End Sub     

And that pretty much completes the multiple criteria filtering solution I typically use.