Your could create a form with two pages. On the first page you can
place the text boxes on which you would enter your search criteria and
on the second page you can place a list box where the search result
would be displayed.

on the following example, I have three text boxes and one listbox

txt1ABFirstName = First Name of Customer
txt1ABLastName = Last Name of Customer
txt1ABPhoneNo = Phone Number (on my table each customer can have 1 or 2
TEL Nos)

lstSearchCustomers

This code I extracted from a working Search form, it may not be the
correct approach but it works.

Dim cn As Connection
Dim rs As ADODB.Recordset

Set cn = CurrentProject.Connection
Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset

SQL = "SELECT "
SQL = SQL & "    tblCustomer.CustomerID, "
SQL = SQL & "    tblCustomer.FirstName+' '+tblCustomer.LastName AS
CustomerName, "
SQL = SQL & "    ISNULL(tblCustomer.Phone1,tblCustomer.Phone2), "
SQL = SQL & "    tblArea.AreaCode " & _ " "
SQL = SQL & "FROM tblCustomer "
SQL = SQL & "INNER JOIN "
SQL = SQL & "    tblAgent "
SQL = SQL & "    ON tblCustomer.AgenteID = tblAgent.AgentID "
SQL = SQL & "INNER JOIN "
SQL = SQL & "    tblArea "
SQL = SQL & "    ON tblAgent.AreaID = tblArea.AreaID " & _ " "
SQL = SQL & "WHERE ( tblCustomer.FirstName LIKE '%" &
Form("txt1ABFirstName") & "%' ) "
SQL = SQL & "    AND ( tblCustomer.LastName LIKE '%" &
Form("txt1ABLastName") & "%' ) "
SQL = SQL & "    AND ( ISNULL(tblCustomer.Phone1 + '. ', ' ')+'
'+(ISNULL(tblCustomer.Phone2 + '. ', ' ')) LIKE '%" &
Form("txt1ABPhoneNo") & "%' ) "
SQL = SQL & "    AND ( tblCustomer.Status = '1' ) "
SQL = SQL & "    AND ( tblArea.AreaCode = '1' ) " & _ " "
SQL = SQL & "ORDER BY tblCustomer.FirstName;"

' Search by Customer's Details
       If IsNull(Me.txt1ABFirstName) And IsNull(Me.txt1ABLastName) And
IsNull(Me.txt1ABPhoneNo) Then
          Me.lblMessage.Caption = "Please enter a search criteria
before proceeding."
          Me.txt1ABFirstName.SetFocus
       Else
          With rs
             .Source = SQL
             .ActiveConnection = cn
             .Open
          End With

          If rs.RecordCount >= 1 Then
             If rs.RecordCount > 100 Then
                Me.lblMessage = "Your search has returned too many
possible matches, please narrow down you search."
             Else
                Me.lstSearchCustomers.RowSource = rs.Source
                Me.lstSearchCustomers.Requery
                Me.lstSearchCustomers.SetFocus
                rs.Close
                Set rs = Nothing
                DoCmd.GoToPage 2
             End If
          Else
             msgbox "No Records have been found."
          End If
       End If

GAVO

1. I have a Form called "Cheques".

2. In the Form is a TextBox named "Payee".

3. I open the Form.

4. I right click on the Form

5. From the PopUp menu I click on "Filter By Form"

6. A new Form appears; its caption is "Cheques: Filter by Form".

7. In the Payee TextBox I enter "Like Sh*" without the quotation marks.

8. I right click on the new Form.

9. From the PopUp menu I click "Apply Filter/Sort".

10. The old Form appears but now it shows only records beginning with "Sh".

I say to myself, "Now I know why I paid $130 CAD for Access. It does so
many things so much better than I could ever do myself, even though I have
been programming databases for more then twenty years."

Check this:
http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/flashfiles/searchform.html

Sebastian

Jim Bob:

Here's one way, but I'm sure there are others out there :)

Create an unbound text box on your form and name it txtSearchString.
Create a list box on your form and call it lstSearchResults.
In the AfterUpdate event of your text box, create a procedure something
like this:

Private Sub txtSearchString_AfterUpdate()
Dim MySQL As String
MySQL = "SELECT DISTINCTROW ATT_ID, FIRM, ATT_NAME," _
               " CITY, STATE FROM ATT "
If Nz(Trim(Me!txtSearchString), "") <> "" Then
    MySQL = MySQL & "WHERE Instr(1, [FIRM], '" & _
                   Me!txtSearchString & "')>0 "
End If
MySQL = MySQL & " ORDER BY FIRM"
Me.lstSearchResults.RowSource = MySQL
Me!lstSearchResults.Requery
End Sub

What we're doing is building the SQL on the fly for the row source of
your list box, then forcing a requery.  You'll have to customize your
SQL string to match what you're wanting returned to the list box.  If
you want your search to be case sensitive, change "')>0 " to "',0)>0 ".
Otherwise, it will be case insensitive.  Check out the documentation
on the Instr function in Help for more details on the function.

If you need more detailed instructions, let me know.

HTH,
Jana

All right, here's what I would do to build a crude search form for
searching a name field:

Assuming:
-Form name is frmName
-Table name is TableName
-Field to search on is LastName
-Code is placed in Button1_KeyDown event
-Search string is typed into txtSearch
-Listbox is lstBox
-Rowsource for lstBox is the following SQL string:
SELECT TableName.LastName FROM TableName WHERE TableName.LastName LIKE
'" & Forms!frmName!txtSearch & "*'"

Code:
lstBox.Requery

When you type something into the txtSearch textbox, LastName fields
matching or close to that text will appear in the lstBox ListBox.

Code is untested.