hi! I have seen the post about this before and tried following the solutions given by one of our friends re: searching a database. my problem now is when i click the search button, I get an error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

here is my code:

Dim AppPath As String = Replace(Application.ExecutablePath, Application.ProductName + ".exe", "")
Dim ds As New DataSet()
'Dim dbAdaptr As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter("Select * from CustomerName", cn)
Dim conStr As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:/Quotation.mdb"
Dim cn As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection = New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(conStr)


Private Sub Customer_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Dim daCust As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter("Select * from CustomerName", cn)
Dim dtcust As DataTable
cn.Open()
Try
ds.Clear()
daCust.Fill(ds)
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OKOnly, "Error")
End Try
dtcust = ds.Tables(0)
DataGrid1.DataSource = dtcust
'datagrid1.DataMember=
End Sub

Private Sub btnSearch_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSearch.Click
Dim ds1 As New DataSet()
Try
'this assumes textbox1 is where the name is to search for
Dim filter As String = String.Format("CustomerName Like '{0}*'", txtsearch.Text)
ds1.Tables("CustomerName").DefaultView.RowFilter = filter
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.OKOnly, "Error")
End Try
End Sub

That's it...i'm wondering where did I go wrong...please enlighten me on this soon! my boss is killing me with pressure and I'm just a beginner!

thanks a bunch!