Question : ApplyFilter based on multiple criteria selected from combo boxes...

Hello experts...

I am trying to create a task manager app using Access 2000.  I have everything working the way I want it to so far except for 1 thing.

The database stores tasks that include the following fields:
Status      (Open, Closed, Waiting, Canceled)
Category  (Personal, Common, Test)
Priority     (High, Medium, Low)

My main form obviously displays all of the fields.  The form (frmTasks) is built off of a query (qryTasks) of the tblTasks.  The form is not filtered.  What I have on my form is a section that is used for filtering the Tasks.
This section contains 3 combo boxes:
cmbFilter_Status
cmbFilter_CAT     'category
cmbFilter_Priority

   What I want to happen with these is, I want to be able to filter the database by selecting any number of combination of values from these combo boxes.  At first I got each combo box to work independently.  Then what I did was add a checkbox for each combo box and made each combo box disabled by default.
   I set up VBA code to have an integer for each checkbox (set the int to 0 on form open and set it to 1 if the chk is True).  Then for each combo box  
AfterUpdate, I set up a case statement that says if this box's int value is 1 then determine which combo box is enabled (also using the int value).  From there it does a  
DoCmd.ApplyFilter using the values from the combo boxes.

NOW.  That was all working fine for a little while....
IF I selected a Status, let's say "Open", it would show me all of the open tasks.  If I then checked Category and chose "Personal", it would show me all of the open personal tasks.  Then, selecting a "High" priority would show me all of the open personal tasks that had a high priority.
   I could do this in all sorts of combinations.  Then I decided to compact and repair.  I  reopened the database and now all of those functions either work sometimes, or not at all,  or in weird combinations.  So, I went back and modified the code a bit....
   It seemed to me that the reason it was working intermittently was that none of the selected values would be "cleared" when boxes were unchecked.  So, I added code that set the values to "".  That worked for a bit while I still had the db open, then I closed the db and went back in an hour later and the code stopped working again.

ok... now I am done with my long confusing story.  I am hoping that someone can help me with my code.  I am convinced that there is a simple solution that I am not seeing.  I am relatively new to VBA, but I do know my way around.  I just don't know all of the correct syntax yet.

Let me know if you need me to post my current code...
...or maybe send the whole darn database :-)

Any help would be much appreciated... thanks EDH

Answer : ApplyFilter based on multiple criteria selected from combo boxes...

Me bad, forgot to concatenate the string :-)

Use:

strFilter = ""
If Len(Nz(Me.cmbFilter_Status)) > 0 Then
    strFilter = strFilter  & " and [Status]='" & Me.cmbFilter_Status & "'"
End If
If Len(Nz(cmbFilter_CAT)) > 0 Then
    strFilter = strFilter  & " and [category]='" & Me.cmbFilter_CAT & "'"
End If
If Len(Nz(cmbFilter_Priority)) > 0 Then
    strFilter = strFilter  & " and [Priority]='" & Me.cmbFilter_Priority & "'"
End If

Now each new IF will add the string when selected.

Nic;o)