hi jason,
i just clicked on server validation, then on the menu hit the plus button to add the validation, i then set the redirest page to the same page but clicked on parameters as i normally have done with data assist etc and put in ClientID click the lightning bolt for valua and set it to the recordset clientid.
this works with data assist but it never worked on the server validation.
sorted now though so thanks and i will watch out for that.