title: Using a form to display previous entries and add new ones
body: <p>I'm trying to design a simple wildlife tracking DB, so that when myself or my colleagues spot an animal we can enter its ear tag number via a form. That will either bring us up a list of previous dates/locations that animal was observed, or if it's not in the DB, allow us to enter the new animal and location.</p>
  
  <p>I have two main data tables:
  dt_Animal - which stores the ear tag info, species, and other information about that unique animal
  dt_Sightings - stores info on when/where animals been seen (linked to dt_Animal in a one-to-many relationship, of course)</p>
  
  <p>What I want is that when you open up the form, you get a box (text or combo) to enter the animal's ear tag ID.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>If the ID <em>already exists</em> in the DB, it brings up all the info on that animal and its previous sightings - with the option to fill out any missing info and (of course) to add a new sighting - and it WILL NOT add a new record to dt_Animal - just to dt_Sightings</li>
  <li>If the ID <em>doesn't exist</em> in the DB, it creates a new record in dt_Animal and allows you to enter any/all of the other information</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Where I'm running into problems is that I don't want duplicate records in dt_Animal - each animal is unique.  </p>
  
  <p>So far, I've gotten it so that if the eartagID value you've entered is already present in dt_Animal, instead of just popping up a warning, the form will bring up the associated data in the 'Sightings' subform, so you can see where the animal has been previously as well as add your new sighting.</p>
  
  <p>Any help would be appreciated!  I had been getting some help at another forum until the person helping me was banned for a fracas on another thread...!
  <a href="http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=1249087" rel="nofollow">http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=1249087</a></p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>