Search query using search term from user input into TextBox

Hi everyone, thank you for the help you provide on this forum, I've learned a lot so far.

Right now I'm making a simple Access-Visual Basic 2005 .NET database. I want to make a Search Query that will search the Database for text similar to what the user inputs into TextBox1.Text on the form where the datagrid is displayed.

I've created a query that works if:

SELECT...
FROM...
WHERE mycolumn = 'oxygen'

for example. It will retrieve and display all matches for oxygen, so the query itself works. But it does not work with the variations I have tried on:

SELECT...
FROM...
WHERE mycolumn = ' "TextBox1.Text" '

The query is:

SELECT FirstName, LastName, City, Major, StudentID FROM Students
WHERE FirstName LIKE ...

I want to be able to search the column <FirstName> for the text that the user inputs in TextBox1.Text and then display the parts of the datagrid that match that.

A blank datagrid appears. I don't think the query is able to see what TextBox1.Text contains.

What do you recommend I do to make this work? Or what alternatives exist to making a robust search button with search terms?

Thanks,

Mendoza

 

The code is now:

Code:

Dim connection As New OleDbConnection

("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Source=C:\MSDS\MSDS DATABASE DATA\MSDS.mdb;")

Dim [command] As New OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM Students WHERE FirstName LIKE ?", connection)

[command].Parameters.AddWithValue("@FirstName", Me.TextBox1.Text & "%")

        [U]connection.Open()[/U]

        Dim rdr As OleDbDataReader = command.ExecuteReader()

        Dim tbl As New DataTable()
        tbl.Load(rdr)
        Me.StudentsDataGridView.DataSource = tbl

        rdr.Close()
        connection.Close()

And there is a crash due to connection.Open() stating: Could not find installable ISAM.

I tried to fix the problem through this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/209805

But all registry references were correct and files were found.



EDIT: Probably has something to do with the fact that I don't have Microsoft Access installed. Tho that hasn't stopped me up to this point.

 

:thinking:
How can I get the data into a text box (eg. Text1.Text) which is selected in a Datagrid1.