Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Data Validation and Filtering
I have a problem that I hope someone can resolve for me. I suspect that
the solution may require VBA however my skills are quite limited. Here is what I am trying to do: I have created a spreadsheet with a list that a user will populate. Within the list are a number of fields, most with drop down lists created using data validation. As the user completes the fields running from left to right the data validation fillters the choices the user has to selct from. e.g the first selection is Gender: The user selects Female, the next selection is Category, data validation only allows the user to select categories that apply to females e.g. Skirts. I am using a combination of ranges and indirect formulars to acheive this. This approach works fine for most fields however: As the user selects more and more fields they finally arrive at "style level". They select the style from a list of around 1000 styles. The next selection they need to make is colour. What I am trying to do is get the data validation list to only show the colour options that are relevant for that style; this may range from 1 to 10 different colours. I obviously can't addopt the same approach of named ranges as I would have to create a named range for each style that contained the colour options in it. Any help would be welcome. Sorry if my explanation is a bit wordy. John |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Data Validation and Filtering
Just some thoughts--who knows if they could be implemented...
I think I'd approach this by using a Userform with a bunch of comboboxes/listboxes. I think it would be easier to make it work. And a worksheet that has all the products that can be chosen--one row per product. Column A would hold a Gender indicator (male/female) Column B would hold a Category indicator Column C would hold the next level indicator .... Column X-1 would hold the Style indicator Column X would hold the color indicator. Then each change to a combobox/listbox would cycle through this GIGANTIC table of options and look for the things that apply. Making sure that duplicates are ignored. Essentially the code would apply Data|Filter|autofilter to that range, then filter by each column and get the list of unique values from that next column (for the next combobox). The bad news is that the number of lines in the flat file database can get pretty large, pretty fast. (Gender) * (category) * (style) * (color) 2 * 10 * 5 * 10 (for example) ends up with 1000 rows. ============== This sounds like a job for a real relational database. I've never used Access, but if you have (or one of your co-workers does), then I'd consult with them before doing anything more in excel. In fact, you may want to post in an Access newsgroup for help. If your company uses a different database program, find a person/newsgroup to help. I bet it could be done easier in a real database program. John wrote: I have a problem that I hope someone can resolve for me. I suspect that the solution may require VBA however my skills are quite limited. Here is what I am trying to do: I have created a spreadsheet with a list that a user will populate. Within the list are a number of fields, most with drop down lists created using data validation. As the user completes the fields running from left to right the data validation fillters the choices the user has to selct from. e.g the first selection is Gender: The user selects Female, the next selection is Category, data validation only allows the user to select categories that apply to females e.g. Skirts. I am using a combination of ranges and indirect formulars to acheive this. This approach works fine for most fields however: As the user selects more and more fields they finally arrive at "style level". They select the style from a list of around 1000 styles. The next selection they need to make is colour. What I am trying to do is get the data validation list to only show the colour options that are relevant for that style; this may range from 1 to 10 different colours. I obviously can't addopt the same approach of named ranges as I would have to create a named range for each style that contained the colour options in it. Any help would be welcome. Sorry if my explanation is a bit wordy. John -- Dave Peterson |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Filtering and Data Validation | Excel Discussion (Misc queries) | |||
Data Validation | Excel Discussion (Misc queries) |