Cell comments showing image found elsewhere in workbook

[dbig]

I want to distribute an Excel 07+ workbook that contains a list of things on Sheet1 and a small bitmap image of each thing on Sheet2. I would like to link a Comment in each thing's cell on Sheet1 to the appropriate image on Sheet2. I know how to do it with external image files, but that won't work for my purpose. Any ideas? thanks.

 

[Derek Brown]

Hello and welcome to The Board.
Have you considered using a picture link instead of a comment?
http://learnmrexcel.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/learn-excel-2010-picture-lookup-podcast-1485/

 

[dbig]

Thanks Derick. That was very helpful, and dynamically linking a PIC in to a cell is sufficient for my purpose, today. However, I'd still like to know if there is a way to link an image from elsewhere in the workbook to another cell's Comment. That way, it would perform like hover text and only be displayed when the user wants it. I know it can be done using an external image file, but that complicates any planned distribution scheme. Any thoughts? Thanks, again

 

[Jaafar Tribak]

You will need to copy the image to the clipboard , create a Picture object from the Bitmap in the clipboard and finally save the Picture to disk.

Take a look @post #10 in this thread for an example

 

[dbig]

Thank you Jaafar, but what I think you are telling me is that in order to display an image in a cell's comment, it must be an external image file. I know how to do that, but that approach is prohibitive if the goal is to build something (e.g.) for email distribution to others. You'd have to send all image files as well, and file paths become an issue. In my scenario, the displayed image must be contained elsewhere in the workbook and not be required in a separate file. Does this help? Thanks, again.

 

[Jaafar Tribak]

No. The images will be contained in the workbook. The code will dynamically create the image file from the image in the workbook on the fly. So it should work for other users as well.

 

[dbig]

Thanks, again. I guess I read #10 carefully enough to see that it was sourced all from the single workbook, however, the fundamental process is still the same ... creating an image file (automatically) to then be referenced in the Comment. For me, sending out workbooks with moving parts (VBA, macros, etc.) is right up there with sending out externally linked books. They are both (in my environment) big support magnets. I appreciate the help, but I think I'm going to move on. Have a Happy New Year.
Dave