MS Access: Ignoring query criteria if blank

Question

I have a form in Access where I run a query based on several text boxes. I apply criteria on several of the query fields that is pulled from the text boxes but would like the query to ignore the criteria when the text box is blank.

For example, if the Machine_TextBox is blank, do not apply criteria to the Events.Machine field.

SQL code is:

SELECT Events.Machine, Events.[Event Date], Events.[Event Description],
Events.[Action Taken], Events.[Machine Clinical], Events.[Modalities Not Clinical],
Events.[Manufacturer Ticket #], Events.[TLC Ticket #], Events.FSR, Events.ID, 
Events.[Event Recorded By], Events.[Action Recorded By], Events.[Downtime Validation],
Events.[Event Time]  

FROM Events

WHERE (((Events.Machine)=IIf([Forms]![SearchEvent]![Machine_TextBox] Is Null,"",
[Forms]![SearchEvent]![Machine_TextBox]))  AND ((Events.[Event Date]) Between 
Nz([Forms]![SearchEvent]![StartDate_TextBox],#1/1/1900#) And Nz([Forms]![SearchEvent]![EndDate_TextBox],#1/1/2100#))  
AND ((Events.[Event Description]) Like "*" & [Forms]![SearchEvent]![EventDetails_TextBox])  
AND ((Events.[Manufacturer Ticket #])=[Forms]![SearchEvent]![Manufacturer_TextBox])  
AND ((Events.[TLC Ticket #])=[Forms]![SearchEvent]![TLC_TextBox]) 
AND ((Events.FSR)=[Forms]![SearchEvent]![FSR_TextBox]))  
OR (((Events.Machine)=IIf([Forms]![SearchEvent]![Machine_TextBox] Is Null,"",[Forms]![SearchEvent]![Machine_TextBox]))  
AND ((Events.[Event Date]) Between Nz([Forms]![SearchEvent]![StartDate_TextBox],#1/1/1900#) 
AND Nz([Forms]![SearchEvent]![EndDate_TextBox],#1/1/2100#))  
AND ((Events.[Action Taken]) Like "*" & [Forms]![SearchEvent]![EventDetails_TextBox])  
AND ((Events.[Manufacturer Ticket #])=[Forms]![SearchEvent]![Manufacturer_TextBox]) 
AND ((Events.[TLC Ticket #])=[Forms]![SearchEvent]![TLC_TextBox])  
AND ((Events.FSR)=[Forms]![SearchEvent]![FSR_TextBox]))

ORDER BY Events.[Date and Time Stamp] DESC;

Yours sincerely,

Mark

Answer 1

You can try the technique described here.

For each search box, use boolean logic to either filter for its value, or ignore this AND clause if it's empty, by making the AND clause TRUE.

I'll just use two search boxes as example:

SELECT stuff
FROM Events

WHERE ((Events.Machine = [Forms]![SearchEvent]![Machine_TextBox]) 
            OR ([Forms]![SearchEvent]![Machine_TextBox] Is Null))
  AND ((Events.[Event Description] Like "*" & [Forms]![SearchEvent]![EventDetails_TextBox] & "*") 
            OR ([Forms]![SearchEvent]![EventDetails_TextBox] Is Null))
  AND ...