Data entry and lookup

[Duane]

I would like to create an Excel form in which I can enter a value into a
cell, and that value would be replaced by a different value taken from a
table. For instance, if I type in the value 102 in cell A1, then cell A1
would display the string "Text 3" which would be obtained from column two of
Table 1. Other values for A1 would be substituted similarly with the values
from Column 2, based on the value of Column 1.

Table 1

Column 1 Column 2
100 Text 1
101 Text 2
102 Text 3
103 Text 4
104 Text 5

I have seen the Match and Lookup commands used to do these sorts of things.
However, in the examples that I have seen, the value that is used to look up
the value in column 2 is incorporated into the formula; i.e., it is a fixed
value. Is there a way to use these or other commands to accept the value
entered into the cell as the value to use in the lookup process to return a
different value for the cell?

I am new to this so is this something that is best acheived using VBA, one
of Excel's built in macros, or ?? Finally, is there a good reference article
or book for people that don't do much programming that describes how to do
these sorts of things.

Much thanks!

 

[Gord Dibben]

Duane

You would need event code to return a different value to a cell in which you
type something.

Generally you would use a second cell to return a value based upon what you
typed into the first cell.

That's where the VLOOKUP or MATCH functions come into play.

VLOOKUP formulas will pull the data to appropriate cells.

See Debra Dalgleish's site for more on VLOOKUP and Data
Validation lists for entering the choices.

http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlFunctions02.html

http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlDataVal01.html

Note the section on using DV lists from another worksheet by naming the list.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[excel-ant]

Yep. You would need to add a change event macro to run in the
spreadsheet to update the value of the cell using a Lookup formula.
Alternatively you could click a button to perform this operation.
I have uploaded an example spreadsheet.

http://somethinglikeant.110mb.com//excel-ant/examples/Data entry and
lookup Options.xls

Code is (Press Alt +F11)

Sub ChangeItem()

Set qrange = Range("B:C")
[A1] = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup([A1], qrange, 2, 0)

End Sub

Hope this helps

Anthony
http://www.excel-ant.co.uk

 

[Duane]

Thanks Gord and excel-ant! Your responses are very helpful!

Duane