Question

VBA Excel form using drop down list to populate list values while displaying descriptions

Asked by: cbads

I have a basic excel form that uses a drop down list of values from a worksheet and it appears to be working okay but I would like to be able to include the descriptions of the values on the list. Example: below is the drop down list values and descriptions of positions. I'd like to be able to have the list show RN, Phs Coordinator, etc for the user to select but it would write the values depending on what is selected. So the user would see RN, Data Analyst, etc...but when they select RN it would write 5004. Currently it displays and writes the numeric values. I have also included an example of my current code. Thanks

5004      RN
5005      PhsCoordinator
5006      Data Analyst
5007      Sr. Director Opp

Sub Button1_Click()
Dim MyUniqueList As Variant, i As Long
    With usr_Form.cbo_pos
            .Clear ' clear the listbox content
        MyUniqueList = PosItemList(Sheet10.Range("A4:A100"), True)
        For i = 1 To UBound(MyUniqueList)
            .AddItem MyUniqueList(i)
        Next i
        .ListIndex = 0 ' select the first item
    End With
 
Private Function PosItemList(InputRange As Range, _
    HorizontalList As Boolean) As Variant
Dim cl As Range, cUnique As New Collection, i As Long, uList() As Variant
    Application.Volatile
    On Error Resume Next
    For Each cl In InputRange
        If cl.Formula <> "" Then
            cUnique.Add cl.Value, CStr(cl.Value)
        End If
    Next cl
    PosItemList = ""
    If cUnique.Count > 0 Then
        ReDim uList(1 To cUnique.Count)
        For i = 1 To cUnique.Count
            uList(i) = cUnique(i)
        Next i
        PosItemList = uList
        If Not HorizontalList Then
            PosItemList = _
                Application.WorksheetFunction.Transpose(PosItemList)
        End If
    End If
    On Error GoTo 0
End Function

                                  
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:
27:
28:
29:
30:
31:
32:
33:
34:
35:

Select allOpen in new window

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-04-07 at 10:38:35ID24302911
Topics

MS SQL Server

,

VB Script

,

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

Participating Experts
1
Points
250
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Closing Cognos Analyst add-in
    I need Excel VBA code to close the application window for the Cognos Analyst add-in after I'm done refreshing an Excel workbook.
  2. Populate UserForm textboxes with values from worksheet
    I have a UserForm and want to populate some textboxes on the UserForm with data from the worksheet. I can read ActiveCell.Value just fine but I need the surrounding cells in the same row. The cells range is column C thru I on the same row.
  3. create separate columns to extract times for MR time and R…
    I am writing a query where i would like MR time to be in one column and RN time to be in the next column and the data to populate each column would be Actual Hours How would it set the criteria and would as part of that column and how would I do it? MR Hours: (formula) RN Ho...
  4. What is the VBA code to populate a combo box in a user fo…
    Hi Experts, What is the VBA code to populate a combo box in a user form in Excel based on dynamic range in a worksheet called LOCATIONS The range will change depending on the number of rows filled in in the LOCATIONS worksheet Thanks

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: CbrinePosted on 2009-04-07 at 12:40:14ID: 24091077

When you say write, I'm assuming that you are taking the value from the user form combobox and storing it in a cell on the excel workbook?  My suggestion would be populate the user form with the english description of the position, store that on the worksheet, then have a vlookup setup that will retrieve the position value from a vlookup table.  If you are interested in this solution, let me know and I should be able to walk you through the vlookup setup.

HTH
Cal

 

by: cbadsPosted on 2009-04-07 at 13:00:54ID: 24091297

Yes, I am writing the value into the worksheet. I currently have a worksheet that has cell A as the value and B as the description of the positions. I would like to try your suggestion regarding the vlookup. Thanks
cb

 

by: CbrinePosted on 2009-04-07 at 13:15:45ID: 24091453

Actually I was just thinking about the userform combo box, and there is a way to store multiple columns of data in it, and select based on the first value, but store the second value?  This might be easier for your to work with?  You will need to set your columnscount property to 2, and set bound column to 2(Which will cause it to return the value of the second column).  This will allow you store the name, and code, but then only return the code?

Will this work better?

I also have concerns with the vlookup, cause you may be populating more than one row of data?  With knowing the structure of the storage sheet, I can't determine which way would be best for you.

Cal

 

by: cbadsPosted on 2009-04-08 at 09:24:38ID: 24099079

I set the column property and bound to 2 on the combo box and changed the range in my code but it's not displaying the descritption and value side by side but instead vertically. Also, when I click save...it only enters the value if value is selected or the description if description is selected. Here's the range I changed vba code. Thanks.
cb

Dim MyUniqueList As Variant, i As Long
    With cbo_pos
        .Clear ' clear the listbox content
        MyUniqueList = PosItemList(Sheet10.Range("A4:A100", "B4:B100"), True)
        For i = 1 To UBound(MyUniqueList)
            .AddItem MyUniqueList(i)
        Next i
        .ListIndex = 0 ' select the first item
    End With
End Sub

 

by: CbrinePosted on 2009-04-08 at 10:42:19ID: 24099882

From looking at your code, it looks like you are defining the combobox values from your spreadsheet.  If that is the case, then this is very easy.

1.  Add your combobox.

2.  Open the properties.

3.  Change BoundColumn to 2.

4.  Change ColumnCount to 2.(Position Title MUST b the first column and position code the 2nd on your spreadsheet)

5.  Change rowsource to A4:B100(Or whatever range your positions are stored in)

6.  Change ControlSource to the cell you want to store the select value data in.  SInce bound column is 2, you should get the second column of the combobox selection.

That should be it.

I've also whipped up some simple code to show how to load multi column data into a multi column combobox.  Looks like the data needs to be stored in an array and then loaded to the combobox.

HTH
Cal

 

by: cbadsPosted on 2009-04-10 at 08:09:00ID: 24116137

Thanks for the code. I'm unsure what you mean about "Change ControlSource to the cell you want to store the select value data in". The combo box is cbo_pos.value...is this where i add the controlSource? Could you give me an axample? Thanks

cb

Private Sub cmdOK_Click()
    ActiveCell.Value = ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Value + 1
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1) = txt_fname.Value
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2) = txt_lname.Value
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3) = cbo_source1.Value
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4) = cbo_pos.Value
           
   Range("A2").Select
   usr_form.txt_fname.SetFocus

 

by: CbrinePosted on 2009-04-14 at 05:47:14ID: 24137529

If you are using an ActiveX combo box(From the Controls Toolbar), you just need to right click on the control and select properties.  One of the properties will be the ControlSOurce.  You can link this to a specfic cell, and store the selected value in this cell.

HTH
Cal

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...