>We have a fairly large application which includes a ton of comboboxes whose Style property is set to 2 ("Dropdown List"). Now I have a new field for which I think the best user interface is a Style 1 ("Dropdown Combo") combobox. This combobox will have a few "standard" entries, but the user will also be able to type their own entry.
>
>My concern is that our users (many of whom are computer newbies), not used to being able to type in a combobox, might choose one of the "standard" entries rather than typing something more accurate when appropriate. One application I saw used blue "elephant ears" (something like parentheses which were colored in) around the combobox control to differentiate this combobox from others. Another option is a tooltip that says (essentially), "Select an option or type your own!"
>
>Does anyone have any other ideas on how to do this?
>zahid

Zahid,
What about not using a combo nor a lookup table at all ? Track what user types and compare to values entered before, highlight matching nontyped part. Nothing to add to an extra table.

Michael
Mike && Already entered

User types
M and sees Michael 'ichael' selected.
Mi and sees Michael 'chael' selected.
Mik and sees Mike 'e' selected.
Mika and sees nothing is selected - new entry

Or if you prefer with a combo use SQL rowsource and union "Select an option or type your own!" text with existing options.

Cetin