thanks, i tried a select statement in the combobox and its now working, the problem is that, the department names listed is repeating ex.

here are the items in the CBO

CA
HRM
IT
CA
HRM
IT
CA
HRM
IT

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i only have 3 different departments, but in the combobox at run time it shows multiple items that are the same as the original 3. what should i add or do so that there will be no duplicate items shown in the cbo thanks