>I want to create an edit screen where only records meeting a certain criteria is displayed; for example, a claim number equal to a number entered by the user. How do I prompt the user for the claim number? Once they enter the claim number, how do I create the dataset? I started by experimenting with a view, am I on the correct path?

I would say yes. The refresh the grid based on the user criteria, you can use the Requery() method.