Question

Excel 2007 - Creating a Start/Stop button macro within Each Cell

Asked by: itsmevic

Hi Experts,

     I have a sreadsheet that has 31 rows in it. I'd like to place a Start/Stop macro button in each row, this button would reside in column A.  The purpose of this macro would be to keep track of total time spent working on that row (issue). If there is a work-around for this that would be GREAT.  If you could explain the process to me in easiest terms it would be greatly appreciated.

Much Thanks!

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Asked On
2009-10-29 at 12:58:04ID24856045
Topics

Microsoft Access Database

,

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

,

VB Controls

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: harfangPosted on 2009-10-29 at 13:15:13ID: 25697783

Hello

Your statement

> The purpose of this macro would be to keep track of total time spent working on that row (issue).

is too vague. I understand your intent, but I would never attempt to program this sort of application in Excel. So, please be more specific:

* What should the [Start] button achieve? Do you want to record a date/time in column C? Do you want to automatically press [Stop] on all other rows? Do you want to add a new row in another sheet to track the new "time slice"?

* What should the [Stop] button do? Will it compute the time spent using the value in column C, and then add that time to column D? Do you want to store the "end time" elsewhere for later consolidation?

You are the programmer. Reduce your idea to the most basic steps, each of which you can easily express in terms of cells and cell values.

Cheers!
(°v°)

 

by: itsmevicPosted on 2009-10-29 at 14:02:31ID: 25698236

   Each row represents "An Issue".  I would like to keep track of the TOTAL time worked for each issue in this spreadsheet.  This spreadsheet consist's of three worksheets, i.e. The main page, where all the data is entered in ect.  Also on worksheet 1, each row contains a "comment" hyperlink column that links to worksheet number 2, this is where the actual comments go.  I did this so not to take away space from the main worksheet.  Both the comment link and comment text field on worksheet 2 are tied together, so once the document becomes a beast, it will be easy to tie comments with issues from the Main worksheet.

    So back to the Main worksheet, worksheet 1.  In column A of each row there would be a start and stop button, this would allow me to keep track of total times on that issue.  it would then report that time to column J in each row.  

    So to re-cap, click the START button to begin working issue, when finished with issue, click STOP button, the total time spent is then populated to Column J cell in each row of each issue.  The Start/Stop button is independant of each row, meaning it only belongs to that row.  

    Ultimately, where I'd like to go with this is once you hit row 31, i'd like it to then report an Average time spent working on an issue to worksheet 3 where I will have my statistical data, pie chart ect...

     Hopefully I was able to break this down enough but happy to answer more questions if you have them.  Thanks for your time and help with this.

     

 

by: harfangPosted on 2009-10-29 at 15:02:02ID: 25698697

OK. I will use column A to store the start date/time, since it's hidden by the button. To create a working demo, please follow these steps:

* In a new workbook, display the toolbar "Forms"
* Choose the button, and place it over cell A1
   (use Alt while moving and resizing the button to cover the cell exactly)
* Type "Start" as caption, and choose a smaller font
* Paste the code below into a module (Alt+F11, and (Insert | Module))
* Assign the macro StartStop to the button
* Test
* Duplicate the button for A2
* Repeat until you have enough buttons

That's it. It basically does what you required.

Tell me how it goes
(°v°)

Option Explicit
 
Sub StartStop()
    
    Dim btnCaller As Button
    
    ' identify the calling button
    Set btnCaller = Sheet1.Shapes(Application.Caller).OLEFormat.Object
    
    If btnCaller.Caption = "Start" Then
        ' store current date/time and change caption
        With btnCaller.TopLeftCell
            .Select
            .Value = Now()
        End With
        btnCaller.Caption = "Stop"
    
    Else
        ' cumulate elapsed time in column J, change caption back
        With btnCaller.TopLeftCell
            .Select
            .Range("J1") = .Range("J1") + Now() - .Value
            .Value = Empty
        End With
        btnCaller.Caption = "Start"
    
    End If
    
End Sub

                                              
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by: itsmevicPosted on 2009-10-30 at 07:46:01ID: 25703441

Thanks, that seem to work great.  

 

by: itsmevicPosted on 2009-10-30 at 07:46:23ID: 31647711

Great input, thank you.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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