How to maintain formatting for numbers in multi-value combo box? - sql

Question

I have a table that holds data of type Number that has a format of "R-"00 and in my Form that is linked to this table, I have a multi-combo box. When I go to select the values, they are correct - they all have the "R-00n" formatting where n is the actual number entry (auto-numbered). However, when I make my selection, the value will just read as 1, 2, 3 instead of R-001, R-002, R-003. How do I maintain my formatting after selections?
My query is SELECT Reference_ID FROM References for the Data of the combo-box in the form and it is pulling the right records, formatted correctly ("R-001, R-002, R-003") but when I make my selections, the value in the form is only 1, 2, 3. It drops the formatting. Is there something I need to configure in my Form to maintain the custom formatting?
Thank you.

Answer 1

I suppose you mean ListBox and not Combobox, right?
So I also suppose you already have some code to read the selected items of your ListBox like this:
Dim item As Variant
For Each item In YourListBox.ItemsSelected
Debug.Print YourListBox.ItemData(item)
Next
Regarding your problem:
You wrote that the tables field Reference_ID stores the number itself, but because it is formatted by "R-"000 it displays values like R-003.
So you already know, that the value itself stored is without formatting.
You could check that by retrieving the data like this:
?DLookup("Reference_ID","References","Reference_ID = 3")
It will show up 3 and not R-003.
So the same belongs when you read the data from the ListBoxes selected items.
As far as I know you can't read out the formatted text from the ListBox. But what you can do is to format the read value yourself:
Dim item As Variant
For Each item In YourListBox.ItemsSelected
Debug.Print Format(YourListBox.ItemData(item), "R-000")
Next
Another approach could be to set the Row Source of your ListBox to already formatted values:
Select Format(Reference_ID, "R-000") From References