Forms :: Trapped By Text Box Before Update Events?

We use the before update events of text boxes for error checking and normally that works exactly the way we want it to. The focus remains on the text box until valid data is entered. However, there are a couple of situations where we would like to be able to release the user from the constraints. One being a button that clears the form and the other being a button that closes the form without saving the date.

In these situations the action of the before update events are just an irritant. Imagine a user who starts to fill out a form and just started entering a date, when he realizes he doesn't need to enter the record. He clicks on the close button and then is forced to complete a date for a record that will never be saved.

If there were just some way of determining what event triggered the before update event, i.e., determine that it was the close button, we could tailor the before update event code to handle these cases. Is there any way to do this?

We realize we could avoid this by postponing the error checking until the record is saved, but we want to provide the user immediate feedback on data errors.