Create a Task Pane for an Excel worksheet?

[General Ledger]

Dear All,

Can I create a Task Pane for an Excel 2003 worksheet? This would look similar to the Help pane that opens when you access Help.

I have a Form where the user selects or enters a Vendor Name. I don't want to use a drop down list because the list of names is long and not all inclusive. I would like a Task Pane on the right side that is visible as long as the Form sheet is active. The Task Pane would have its own scroll bars and would not scroll out of view when the Form is scrolled up and down. This Task Pane would show all the Vendor Names in the list. The source of the Vendor Names will be a named range on another sheet in the same workbook and the list will grow over time. If the user clicks on a name in the Task Pane, it is populated to the Vendor Name field on the Form. If the user selects a different sheet, the Task Pane should close, but reappear when the user makes the Form sheet active.

If I have not reached the outer limits of Excel, let's keep going. I have more lists. Can the Task Pane have tabs across the top where each tab contains a list for different fields. For example, one tab would be Vendor Names and another would be City Names. The user could select a tab to reveal the list, click on an element in the list, and have it populate the corresponding field on the Form.

Am I asking for too much?

Thanks,

GL

 

[RoryA]

You can create task panes, but you need Visual Studio to do it.

 

[General Ledger]

rorya,

Since I don't have and don't know Visual Studio, are there any other options?

Will a User Form get me most of this functionality? I have very little experience with User Forms.

Thanks,

GL

 

[RoryA]

A userform would do pretty much everything you describe. In fact, I'd use it for all of the data entry and not let the user touch the actual worksheet itself.

 

[SamTYler]

On forms like you're descibing, I typically use a ListBox or ComboBox as the inputs areas. I'll put Vendor Name, Part Desription and qty all on the same form, then set the ComboBox to allow the User to input a name that is not in the list.

l write code so that if the User "writes in" a name, the New Vendor Form will load and show, forcing the User to input at least the minimum information required for any new vendor before thay can continue. In most of my cases, that would be Vendor Name, Vendor Phone, and Vendor Address.

While the New Vendor form will accept all the Vendor info I use, Store numbers, Corporate info, Billing info, several contact names, etc, the form will record and close with just the minimum.

I also set up the Workbook so that Workheets only record Lists of information and never allow the User to see any worksheets. I will create a "Front End" UserForm that lets the User select which UserForm will perform the activity the User wants. All actions done to the Workbook are via "Action" UserForms.