>That's what I usually use, too - when the user has the ability to add records, it gives me the opportunity to show them the list before they add something that might already BE there (and profides editing capabilities). In this case, however, the user cannot add or edit the feild - so I thought the combo would be a better UI for the purpose....

Michael,

Just in case you would like to know the reasoning for not liking the combo with the add option in it, comboboxes are data controls used to display a list of acceptable values and to show the user the curretn value of something. Combos are not, usually, used for action items like Add, Edit, Save etc. Your list of itme in the combo you described is mostly data values except for one itme that is an action item. This causes the combo to contain a mixture of things that are not all related to each other and therefore can be confusing to the user. Also, it is not the general windows way of doing things to use a combo as an action control whihc also can introduce confusion for the user who expects a combo to show them data and allow them to select values. On the toher hand, a command button is an action control adn is the natural choice for the Add action.