uniqueness validation order

[staypuffinpc]

I have a validation I've created on more than two fields (thanks to an FMI tip) and it works great, but I would like the validation message to appear (or not appear) as soon as those two fields are filled in. Currently, it waits until I finish filling out the record and try to go on to another, which doesn't work too well (if people don't need to create another record, then they don't get the validation message). I put the DupeCheck field immediately after the two fields it's checking in the Tab order but got the same result. Any suggestions?

[djgogi]

Validation occurs when you (unlock)leave the record. Any user action other than entering into some other field by tabbing or clicking into it will trigger the validation.

Dj

[staypuffinpc]

Is there some way to trigger validation by entering/leaving a field? This is a check-out system and the problem is that the only thing the employee does is tab to another field and choose their name from a list. If a person wants to check out only one item, there is no reason for the employee to do anything that would unlock the record. I suppose if all else fails I could create a dummy button that the employee pushes/clicks to "check the item out." That way it would do nothing if the item were not already checked out and return the message if it were. I'd like to avoid that, though, if it's at all possible. Thanks for your input.