Locking the field in Excel depending on input from another field - vba

I am taking drop-down input in excel field. Depending on this drop-down input, other field need to be locked and change in color.
I have tried writing below VBA but it is not working. Please let me know simple solution.
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
If (Sheet1.Range("D2").Value = "New") Then
Sheet1.Range("G2").Locked = True
Sheet1.Range("G2").Interior.ColorIndex = 15
Else
Sheet1.Range("G2").Locked = False
Sheet1.Range("G2").Interior.ColorIndex = 36
End If
End Sub

Setting Locked to True or False will have no effect unless the Worksheet is protected. To achieve this your code would also have to temporarily UnProtect and then Protect the Worksheet.
Sheet1.Unprotect
'Lock or unlock cells..
Sheet1.Protect
Note that attempting to do this in the SelectionChange event is not ideal, as this code runs constantly and disables Undo. It is better to use either a Button or, if the drop-down is an ActiveX ComboBox, use its Change event.

You could probably do it with just Conditional Formatting for the colors, but as others have said, Locking a cell means nothing until you Protect the sheet.

Related

Turning off a worksheet change-based event macro in Excel

I've been stuck on this for awhile. I have a macro that runs every time a change is made and creates a data table that updates after each change with information like : Old Value, New Value, Data Changes, etc.
I am trying to kind of pause the worksheet change macro when I don't want it to be run anymore. Ex: If I am plugging in blank information, I don't need to document the fact that it used to be blank, and now it has data, etc.
I made some specifications for if I deleted an entire row as shown here:
If Target.Address = Target.EntireRow.Address Then Exit Sub
but that only dealt with one case. I just now thought of a very simple solution that I will post as the answer, so I hope this will help other people as much as it helped me
It's actually a very simple solution.
To begin pick a cell that has no information in but can be clearly located. For the purpose of this lets say A1.
Now pick key words that you will use to turn the macro on and off. Ex: I just chose True and False (capitals need to be consistent so pick what you want)
At this point, go to the beginning of your worksheet change macro and type in this right after the sub starts:
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
If Range("A1").Value = "False" Then
Exit Sub
End If
Now, before your macro starts, it will always verify that the cell doesn't contain False, so if you want it on, put anything else but False, and if you want it off, keep the cell as False. Hope this helps someone.
You want to disable events while ensuring that you enable them later. To do this, use an error handler to catch all errors and set the state back at the end.
Public Sub example()
On Error GoTo errHandler
Application.EnableEvents = False ' => disable events
'The code ...
errHandler:
Application.EnableEvents = True ' => enable events
End Sub

Check if cell was empty Excel VBA

I am writing an Excel Macro to display a warning if the user edits a cell that was previously empty. Basically if a cell is edited, is in column 1, and already contains text I want to display a warning But if it does not have text already, I do not want to.
So what I have tried is the following
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
If Target.Column = 1 And Not IsEmpty(Cells(Target.Row,Target.Column)) Then
Application.EnableEvents = False
MsgBox "Some Message"
Application.EnableEvents = True
End If
End Sub
The issue I am having is when I am getting the cell to see if it was empty or not, it will never return that it was because, well the user just added stuff to it.
So I want to know if there is a simple way to check the previous state of that cell. I want to find out if the cell WAS empty. Is this possible?
You could use the Worksheet_SelectionChange event to capture the value of the cell that the user has selected in a variable, which happens before they make any changes.
Then when Worksheet_Change is fired, you can refer to that variable.

Call a function when only a specific Excel cell changes on Formula Recalculation

As far as i know, Worksheet_Calculate is called when the value of any cell in a worksheet changes on Formula recalculation.
Is there a way so that i need a function to be called only when a specific cell changes on Formula Recalculation
To make something happen when a specific cell is changed, you need to embed the relevant selection change event within the file Worksheet_Change(byval target as Range). We can re-calculate a worksheet when your cell changes as follows:
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(byval target as range)
If target.address = Range("YourCell").Address Then Application.Calculate
End Sub
Now what you want to do is switch off calculations the rest of the time. If you only want to switch off calculations on the single sheet (and not your whole file), you will need to turn calculations off when it is activated, and on when deactivated e.g.
Private Sub Worksheet_Activate
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
End Sub
Private Sub Worksheet_Deactivate
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
End Sub
Of course, your requirements to re-calculate may be considerably more complex than the example above. Firstly, you may open the file whilst on the sheet in question in which case you should use the Workbook_Open event to detect your sheet, and set calculations accordingly
Then you may have several cells that may require some sort of calculation. Presumably the reason you want to switch off calculations is that the file is running too slowly. If so, and you are identifying all the input cells, you could enter the outputs using code. One method would be to enter the formulas using this guide to entering formulas in Excel Visual Basic. You could then replace the formula with the calculated value e.g. Range("YourCell") = Range("YourCell").Value...so stopping the number of formulas in the sheet constantly growing
Let me see if I interpret your question correctly. You want to know if it is possible to only kickoff a macro if a particular cell (or group of cells) is changed.
The answer is Yes. To tweak Ed's code a little.
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(byval target as range)
If Not Intersect(target.address, Range("YourCells")) is Nothing Then
MyMacro()
End If
End Sub
I think your use of "function" is throwing people off. That's why Ed's answer is so elaborate.
Ok. It is possible that you stated your question correctly and you just want to gain efficiency. In that case, Ed's answer solves your immediate problem, but will cause the spreadsheet NOT to calculate automatically when you change other cells.

Provide a range selection tool/utility to the user in Excel VBA

I am trying to develop a user form in Excel 2007 VBA and want to provide a user with a range selection icon, something like this:
However, I have not been able to find any built-in form design tool or any online tool which provides this or at least gives me an idea. If anyone has any idea about this, I will greatly appreciate their help.
This control is called RefEdit control.
To use it, you have to first add it to the toolbox window by right-clicking in the toolbox window and selecting Additional Controls.... Then you select RefEdit.Ctrl and close the dialog.
Now you can select it in the toolbox and place it on your form.
Another alternative to using the RefEdit.Ctrl is to hook into some undocumented features of the TextBox control and use the Application.InputBox function.
There are two properties of the TextBox control that do not appear in the Properties dialog, that allow you to add a button on the right. They are DropButtonStyle and ShowDropButtonWhen. When the button is clicked it will fire the DropButtonClick event for the control where you can show the input box.
Start by placing a TextBox control on the form. Then add the following to the UserForm_Initialize procedure:
Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
txtRefersTo.DropButtonStyle = frmDropButtonStyleReduce
txtRefersTo.ShowDropButtonWhen = frmShowDropButtonWhenAlways
End Sub
Then add an event handler to the DropButtonClick event as follows to capture the range using the Application.InputBox dialog:
Private Sub txtRefersTo_DropButtonClick()
Me.Hide
txtRefersTo.Text = Application.InputBox("Select the range", "Range Picker", txtRefersTo.Text, Type:=8)
Me.Show vbModal
End Sub
The main advantage to this approach is that it allows you to place a control within a frame or on a separate tab without experiencing the issues associated with the RefEdit.Ctrl. The disadvantage is that it requires a separate dialog to interact with Excel.
Although this question is already almost a decade old, it still came up as my first Google search result so I'm going to post an answer as another approach to consider. The InputBox with type set to cell reference might be sufficient for many people's needs. The InputBox type does the drudge work of validating the user's response. See this article for how to use the InputBox types: https://www.thespreadsheetguru.com/blog/vba-to-select-range-with-inputbox
I liked #krey answer which was basically a very simplified version of the link shared in #stifin answer --> https://www.thespreadsheetguru.com/blog/vba-to-select-range-with-inputbox
But both used "odd" names for the buttons and I think guides should use default names/values for easy understand and manipulation by end user. Additionally, I added a CommandButton to "run" the userform and a "select" statement for initial testing. I also wanted to provide an initial value as I try to pre-populate my userforms, but allow end user to override if needed.
Here is the final code snipppets utilizing a UserForm w/ one TextBox named TextBox1 (default) and one CommandButton named CommandButton1 (also default).
Option Explicit
Public rng As Range
Public Sub UserForm_Initialize()
Me.TextBox1.DropButtonStyle = fmDropButtonStyleReduce
Me.TextBox1.ShowDropButtonWhen = fmShowDropButtonWhenAlways
Set rng = Range("A1:B4")
TextBox1.Value = rng.Address(False, False)
End Sub
Public Sub CommandButton1_Click()
rng.Select
Unload Me
End Sub
Public Sub TextBox1_DropButtonClick()
Me.Hide
Set rng = Application.InputBox("Select the range", "Range Picker", TextBox1.Text, Type:=8)
TextBox1.Value = rng.Address(False, False)
Me.Show
End Sub

OnClick in Excel VBA

Is there a way to catch a click on a cell in VBA with Excel? I am not referring to the Worksheet_SelectionChange event, as that will not trigger multiple times if the cell is clicked multiple times. BeforeDoubleClick does not solve my problem either, as I do not want to require the user to double click that frequently.
My current solution does work with the SelectionChange event, but it appears to require the use of global variables and other suboptimal coding practices. It also seems prone to error.
Clearly, there is no perfect answer. However, if you want to allow the user to
select certain cells
allow them to change those cells,
and
trap each click,even repeated clicks
on the same cell,
then the easiest way seems to be to move the focus off the selected cell, so that clicking it will trigger a Select event.
One option is to move the focus as I suggested above, but this prevents cell editing. Another option is to extend the selection by one cell (left/right/up/down),because this permits editing of the original cell, but will trigger a Select event if that cell is clicked again on its own.
If you only wanted to trap selection of a single column of cells, you could insert a hidden column to the right, extend the selection to include the hidden cell to the right when the user clicked,and this gives you an editable cell which can be trapped every time it is clicked. The code is as follows
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
'prevent Select event triggering again when we extend the selection below
Application.EnableEvents = False
Target.Resize(1, 2).Select
Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub
In order to trap repeated clicks on the same cell, you need to move the focus to a different cell, so that each time you click, you are in fact moving the selection.
The code below will select the top left cell visible on the screen, when you click on any cell. Obviously, it has the flaw that it won't trap a click on the top left cell, but that can be managed (eg by selecting the top right cell if the activecell is the top left).
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
'put your code here to process the selection, then..
ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Cells(1, 1).Select
End Sub
SelectionChange is the event built into the Excel Object model for this. It should do exactly as you want, firing any time the user clicks anywhere...
I'm not sure that I understand your objections to global variables here, you would only need 1 if you use the Application.SelectionChange event. However, you wouldn't need any if you utilize the Workbook class code behind (to trap the Workbook.SelectionChange event) or the Worksheet class code behind (to trap the Worksheet.SelectionChange) event. (Unless your issue is the "global variable reset" problem in VBA, for which there is only one solution: error handling everywhere. Do not allow any unhandled errors, instead log them and/or "soft-report" an error as a message box to the user.)
You might also need to trap the Worksheet.Activate() and Worksheet.Deactivate() events (or the equivalent in the Workbook class) and/or the Workbook.Activate and Workbook.Deactivate() events so that you know when the user has switched worksheets and/or workbooks. The Window activate and deactivate events should make this approach complete. They could all call the same exact procedure, however, they all denote the same thing: the user changed the "focus", if you will.
If you don't like VBA, btw, you can do the same using VB.NET or C#.
[Edit: Dbb makes a very good point about the SelectionChange event not picking up a click when the user clicks within the currently selected cell. If you need to pick that up, then you would need to use subclassing.]
I don't think so. But you can create a shape object ( or wordart or something similiar ) hook Click event and place the object to position of the specified cell.
This has worked for me.....
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
If Mid(Target.Address, 3, 1) = "$" And Mid(Target.Address, 2, 1) < "E" Then
' The logic in the if condition will filter for a specific cell or block of cells
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'MsgBox "You just changed " & Target.Address
'all conditions are true .... DO THE FUNCTION NEEDED
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End If
' if clicked cell is not in the range then do nothing (if condttion is not run)
End Sub
NOTE: this function in actual use recalculated a pivot table if a user added a item in a data range of A4 to D500. The there were protected and unprotected sections in the sheet so the actual check for the click is if the column is less that "E" The logic can get as complex as you want to include or exclude any number of areas
block1 = row > 3 and row < 5 and column column >"b" and < "d"
block2 = row > 7 and row < 12 and column column >"b" and < "d"
block3 = row > 10 and row < 15 and column column >"e" and < "g"
If block1 or block2 or block 3 then
do function .....
end if
I had a similar issue, and I fixed by running the macro "onTime", and by using some global variables to only run once the user has stopped clicking.
Public macroIsOnQueue As Boolean
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
macroIsOnQueue = False
Application.OnTime (Now() + TimeValue("00:00:02")), "addBordersOnRow"
macroIsOnQueue = True
End sub
Sub addBordersOnRow()
If macroIsOnQueue Then
macroIsOnQueue = False
' add code here
End if
End sub
This way, whenever the user changes selection within 2 seconds, the macroIsOnQueue variable is set to false, but the last time selection is changed, macroIsOnQueue is set to true, and the macro will run.
Hope this helps,
Have fun with VBA !!
Just a follow-up to dbb's accepted answer: Rather than adding the immediate cell on the right to the selection, why not select a cell way off the working range (i.e. a dummy cell that you know the user will never need). In the following code cell ZZ1 is the dummy cell
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
Application.EnableEvents = False
Union(Target, Me.Range("ZZ1")).Select
Application.EnableEvents = True
' Respond to click/selection-change here
End Sub