PRB: List Box Displays #Error

Article ID: Q106308
Creation Date: 04-NOV-1993
Revision Date: 19-SEP-1996

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access versions 1.0 and 1.1

SYMPTOMS

A list box that is filled by a list function displays one row with the following text:

   #Error

CAUSE

There are no elements to display in the list box. Microsoft Access displays the #Error row to show the user that it cannot display any elements.

RESOLUTION

To work around this situation, return -1, rather than zero, as the number of elements to display.

STATUS

This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Access version 2.0.

MORE INFORMATION

This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information on Access Basic, please refer to the "Introduction to Programming" manual.

The code below shows how to handle the case in which there are no rows to display within the list box. For "Case 0," use an If statement to determine if there are any records to show; if there are not, set the return value to -1.

   Option Explicit
   Function MyList (fld As Control, id, row, col, code)
      Static Entries
      Dim ReturnVal

      ReturnVal = Null

      Select Case code
         Case 0
            Entries = 0
            dbs(Entries) = Dir("C:\WINNT\*.INI")
            Do Until dbs(Entries) = "" Or Entries >= 127
               Entries = Entries + 1
               dbs(Entries) = Dir
            Loop

            ' If there are no entries to display, set the
            ' results to -1 so that #error, and horizontal
            ' scroll bar do not show and also so that the
            ' user cannot select any blank row in the list box.

            If Entries = 0 Then
               ReturnVal = -1
            Else
               ReturnVal = Entries
            End If

         Case 1
            ReturnVal = Timer
         Case 3
            ReturnVal = Entries
         Case 4
            ReturnVal = 1
         Case 5
            ReturnVal = -1
         Case 6
            ReturnVal = dbs(row)
         Case 9
       End Select

       MyList = ReturnVal

   End Function

REFERENCES

Microsoft Access "Introduction to Programming," page 82

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