How can I search for an entry in a table?

[aldi]

Could anybody please tell me what is the best approach to find a piece of data in a specific field of a table.

The case is that I need to check the OrderNum field to make sure that the order num is not going to be duplicate.

I tried opening a recordset with a select statement to find any duplicate number but when there is no duplicate i get an automation error.

Thanks a lot

 

[TomKane]

Could you use something like Select Count(ORDERNUM) From <Table> Group By ORDERNUM Order By ORDERNUM Desc