I'm not very familiar with DAO, but I am with ADO, and the answer is probably similar for either technology. A recordset acts just like a data control, if you are trying to bind some bound controls to a programmatic recordset. There is no need to use a variable-like data control because you use a recordset in its place for everything the data control would do. I'm not sure this is what you're trying to do, but if it is, it works in ADO. Try it out.