How to take values from an Access table without creating Query

Question

I'm a newbie on Access and I'm trying to find an alternative (and more efficient) solution to my idea. I have a table with multiple fields and I'm interested in retrieving only one field (text values).

My goal is to create a combobox that shows all the values in that field (without duplicate) and I've managed to do it by linking the combobox to a manually-created query that eliminate duplicate for that field.

Here's an example to make it more clear:

Field 1       Combobox
AAA           AAA
AAA           BBB
BBB           CCC
BBB
CCC
CCC
CCC

How can I have the same result through VBA? Of course it has to be dynamic for any record change in field 1.

Answer 1

Set the Row Source property of your Combobox to:

select distinct [Field 1] from YourTable

Answer 2

If you want it done by VBA, however the answer by @Lee Mac is more easy, you can use the form load event to trigger vba code like the following:

Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim rst As DAO.Recordset
Dim strRowSource As String
Dim strSQL As String
Dim dbs As DAO.Database

Set dbs = CurrentDb

strSQL = "SELECT DISTINCT rowname FROM tablename"

Set rst = dbs.OpenRecordset(strSQL)

If Not (rst.EOF And rst.BOF) Then
    rst.MoveFirst
    Do Until rst.EOF = True
        strRowSource = strRowSource & rst!vehicle_name & ";"
        rst.MoveNext
    Loop
    With Me.ComboBoxname
        .RowSourceType = "Value List"
        .RowSource = strRowSource
    End With

End If

rst.Close
Set rst = Nothing

End Sub