Hopefully this is an easy question.

I have a query that looks up a part number entered in by users in one table and grabs the part description from another table. This query is used to produce a report. If the user enters a part number that is not valid or a description is not found, is there a way to display a 'not found' message in the part description field?

I know a combo field might be a better option to ensure accuracy, but we're talking over 6000 parts for a combo box of which 80% are rarely used, thus making it easier to just enter the part number in manually.

Thanks!

kmart320

Can you give a few more details? How do the users enter in the part number they are looking for? Via a control on a form or directly in the query design view?

Users enter part number via a text box on a form

And if a part is found you display the query results in a form or just the data sheet view?

just the datasheet view. a normal query wouldn't return a result,and I want them to be able to know which ones are incorrect.

Since the query is used in a report have you thought about using the On No Data event of the report? That way if the report has no data to display you could send the user a message that there were no matches to their entered part number.