How to stop an edit form from saving unwanted changes?

[Bigdaddrock]

I currently have a form to allow changes to a record in a Table. Sometimes, if the user has entered some changes, but then changes their mind, is there a way that I can allow them to close the form WITHOUT making any changes to the record???

[Stewart Ross]

Hi. You can provide a 'Close without saving changes' button on your form which undoes the current entry if changes have been made, on confirmation that abandoning the current record is what the user wants to do. If the button is named cmdAbandon, say, then the sample code below would provide a specific route out for the user:

Private Sub cmdAbandon_Click()
    Dim strMessage As String
    Dim blChangesMade As Boolean
    blChangesMade = Me.Dirty
    strMessage = "Are you sure you want to "
    If blChangesMade Then
        strMessage = strMessage & "abandon the changes you have made?"
    Else
        strMessage = strMessage & "exit from this form?"
    End If
    If MsgBox(strMessage, vbExclamation + vbYesNo, "Abandon this entry") = vbYes Then
        If blChangesMade Then
            Me.Undo
        End If
        DoCmd.Close
    End If
End Sub

This does not prevent the user from closing the form using the form's top-right close button, which would automatically save any changes made. There are ways round this, but these can be a little more complex to handle, and if you have provided a specific 'abandon' route you should really not need to go for the extra complexity of undoing the update in these circumstances.

-Stewart