Geoff,

You may need to look at the combo box events.

The change event triggers when you either select an item in the list
or when you type a single character.

The exit event will trigger when you leave the combobox.

--
steveB

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"Geoff" wrote in message
...
Hi
The code seeks to establish whether data exists already on a given date
and
selected vehicle registration.
It works ok when using the mouse to select any registration from a
userform
combobox list but fails sometimes with a manual input. The reason being
the
required string is entered and tested as a whole.

To shorten the typing I have added an index column to the control. But if
this index is not known, it will be necessary for the registration to be
typed in as per frmMatchEntryComplete.

A manual input 'failure' occurs if the target vehicle is index 10 = Y123
ABC.
The Do Until Loop causes an escape as soon as 1 is typed. Though the
cursor
remains in the box for further input a message will have been triggered
before the second digit 0 can be entered.

1. How can I amend the code to suit both mouse and manual input?
2. After making a selection using the mouse, the input becomes selected.
This makes it easy to change. With a typed input neither an index nor
registration becomes selected. How can this be made similar? SelStart and
SelLength do not appear to work here.
3. With a mouse input it is easy to move the focus to the next control by
making the test if cbo1.textlength 0 then go. How could this be done
with
a manual input without having to manually tab?

I'd be grateful for advice.

T.I.A.

Geoff

To see how the code fails with manual input, put a default combobox on a
form and name it cbo1

On wksheet1 put the following data starting in cell A1

Date
10 May 2005
11 May 2005
12 May 2005
12 May 2005
12 May 2005
12 May 2005
13 May 2005

This starting in B1
Veh Reg
Y123 ABC
Y123 ABC
Y123 ABC
Y127 ABC
Y129 ABC
Y132 ABC
Y126 ABC

This starting in D1 (this is the database to populate the control)
Veh Reg
??
Y123 ABC
Y124 ABC
Y125 ABC
Y126 ABC
Y127 ABC
Y128 ABC
Y129 ABC
Y130 ABC
Y131 ABC
Y132 ABC

And finally this into the form module
Option Explicit
Dim VehReg() As String
Dim tbl As Range, rng As Range
Dim i As Integer
Dim cbo1cntr As Integer
Dim firstfind

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
With UserForm1
.Left = 250
.Top = 65
.startupposition = 0
End With
With cbo1
.ColumnCount = 2
.ColumnWidths = 15 & ";" & 30
.ListRows = 15
End With
Set tbl = Sheets(1).Range("D1").CurrentRegion.Offset(1, 0)
ReDim VehReg(0 To tbl.Rows.Count - 2, 1)
For i = 0 To tbl.Rows.Count - 2 'create index
VehReg(i, 0) = i
Next i
For i = 0 To tbl.Rows.Count - 2 'populate box
VehReg(i, 1) = Sheets(1).Cells(i + 2, 4)
Next i
cbo1.List() = VehReg
Range("A20").Select
End Sub

Private Sub cbo1_Change()
Set rng = Sheets(1).Range("A23") 'find date, example 12/05/2005
Set rng = Sheets(1).Columns(1).Find _
(what:=CDate("12 May 2005"), _
After:=rng, _
LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
Lookat:=xlWhole, _
SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
SearchDirection:=xlNext)
firstfind = ""
If Not rng Is Nothing And Not cbo1.Value = "" And Not cbo1.Value _
cbo1.ListCount Then
Do Until rng.Offset(, 1).Value = cbo1.Column(1) Or rng.Address =
firstfind
If firstfind = "" Then firstfind = rng.Address
Set rng = Sheets(1).Columns(1).FindNext(After:=rng)
Loop
If rng.Offset(, 1).Value = cbo1.Column(1) Then
Range(rng.Address, Cells(rng.Row, rng.Column + 1)).Select
MsgBox "A vehicle record exists on that date " & vbCr & _
"Do something"
Else
Range("A20").Select
MsgBox "No record exists " & vbCr & _
"Do something else "
End If
Else
If Not cbo1cntr = 1 Then 'if index is greater than list
cbo1cntr = 1
Range("A20").Select
MsgBox "Index does not exist "
cbo1.Value = ""
End If
End If
End Sub