Filter subform to reduce duplicates

Hi,
This may be a little difficult to do, but I would really appreciate this
functionality in my form. I am a relative newcomer to access so please bear
with me.
I have a database which contains thousands of records in the 'data elements'
table. Each of these records must be linked to an 'interface' in a seperate
table. As you can imagine, we have a problem in entering duplicate data
elements into the data elements table. There is no way for us to see if a
similar element has been entered previously.
What would be nice is to have a subform on the elements entry form which
will show in datasheet view any records which meet criteria as the new record
is being entered. For example 'matches the first four letters of stored
element'.

This is the only idea I have had for this. How can the entry of duplicates
be minimised? I am relatively unfamiliar with code but I would love to give
some of it a try. Thanks in advance. -Ben

Ben,
I have a database which contains thousands of records in the 'data
elements'
table. Each of these records must be linked to an **'interface'** in a
seperate
table.

**Not quite sure what you mean by that, but...
What is it that qualifies a record as a "duplicate". Is the entire
record an exact duplicate, or just a key field (like PartNo, or SerialNo,
etc...) that you use to link/associate with other tables in forms and
reports?

The real solution to this problem is to...
Prevent any further duplicates from being entered... immediately.
Find and delete the existing duplicate records.

If you don't fix the problem, you'll be fighting it forever. Don't code
to fix a problem... code to prevent the problem from occuring.

If you'll provide a bit more info on what constitutes a "dupe" we can get
down to a more detailed solution.
hth
Al Camp
Candia Computer Consulting - Candia NH
http://home.comcast.net/~cccsolutions

"Ben" wrote in message
...
Hi,
This may be a little difficult to do, but I would really appreciate this
functionality in my form. I am a relative newcomer to access so please
bear
with me.
I have a database which contains thousands of records in the 'data
elements'
table. Each of these records must be linked to an 'interface' in a
seperate
table. As you can imagine, we have a problem in entering duplicate data
elements into the data elements table. There is no way for us to see if a
similar element has been entered previously.
What would be nice is to have a subform on the elements entry form which
will show in datasheet view any records which meet criteria as the new
record
is being entered. For example 'matches the first four letters of stored
element'.

This is the only idea I have had for this. How can the entry of duplicates
be minimised? I am relatively unfamiliar with code but I would love to
give
some of it a try. Thanks in advance. -Ben