Using controls on worksheets

Detailed description of the controls (3)

ListBox

If you want to enable your user to select an option from a list you can use a list box. Of course you could also use a set of option buttons for this goal, but making a set of option buttons dynamic (for example if you want to be able to expand the number of choices) is cumbersome. If you have a limited set of available choices (rule of thumb: no more than 5), use option buttons. If there are more, use a list box or a combo box control.

You can either have the control pick up the list from a range of cells, or add the choices to the list box control using VBA. This is done by entering the corresponding information into the ListFillRange or Input range property. If your list of choices resides on a different worksheet from the one your list box is placed on, you must define a range name for the list. Do so by selecting the list and hitting control+F3. In Excel 2007 and 2010 you then need to click the "Add" button. Enter a name for the list and click OK until you're back in Excel. After that, you can enter this new range name in the appropriate property of the control.

The second most important property is the LinkedCell (cell link), this cell will receive the result of selecting an item in the list box:

Opties van de keuzelijst

Fig 10, Two important propeties of the ActiveX list box control.

Opties keuzelijst formulier

Fig 11: Two important properties of the forms list box.

Note that the list box from the forms toolbar will show the index of the chosen item in the cell, whereas the control from the control toolbox returns the actual value to the cell. For the list box from the forms toolbar, use a formula like this one to get the actual value:

=INDEX(ListForComboAndList,C1)

You can set the list box to "Multi" or "Extended" to enable multiple selections. In that case, the linked cell will show either a zero for the list box from the forms toolbar or #N/A for the control toolbox list box control. You will have to use VBA to read what items have been selected and act accordingly.

ComboBox

A combobox is very useful when there are many values to choose from and when you only want to show the chosen item. With the combobox from the Control toolbox you can dynamically add items to the list -using VBA- when the user types a new item in the box instead of selecting an existing item. The combo box form the forms toolbar does not have this possibility: the user is limited to the choices available in the list.

The two important properties LinkedCell and ListFillRange operate in the exact same way as for the list box control.

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