Offering Options in a Macro

If you are just starting out developing macros, you may be looking for a simple way to offer a set of choices to a user, and then take an action based on the user's response. This is a relatively simple task, if you use the InputBox function along with a Select Case structure.

The first task is to set up your InputBox so it displays the information to the user. For example, let's say you have five options and you want the user to select one option from those five. You can use the following code to put together five options, each on their own line:

Prompt = "1. This is your first choice" & vbCrLf
Prompt = Prompt & "2. This is your second choice" & vbCrLf
Prompt = Prompt & "3. This is your third choice" & vbCrLf
Prompt = Prompt & "4. This is your fourth choice" & vbCrLf
Prompt = Prompt & "5. This is your fifth choice"

You can now use the Prompt string when you invoke the InputBox function in your macro. You then translate what the user responds with into a number that represents their choice from your five options. The code to do this is as follows:

UserResp = InputBox(Prompt, "The Big Question")
UR = Val(UserResp)

In this example, the response from the InputBox function is assigned to the UserResp variable, which should be dimensioned as a string. The UR variable, which should be dimensioned as an integer, is then set based on the value of the string. (The Val function returns the value in a string.)

The only thing left to do is to take an action based on which number was chosen, 1 through 5. You can use the Select Case structure to do this. The full subroutine could appear as follows:

Sub Macro1()
    Dim Prompt As String
    Dim UserResp As String
    Dim UR As Integer

    Prompt = "1. This is your first choice" & vbCrLf
    Prompt = Prompt & "2. This is your second choice" & vbCrLf
    Prompt = Prompt & "3. This is your third choice" & vbCrLf
    Prompt = Prompt & "4. This is your fourth choice" & vbCrLf
    Prompt = Prompt & "5. This is your fifth choice"
    UR = 0
    While UR < 1 Or UR > 5
        UserResp = InputBox(Prompt, "The Big Question")
        UR = Val(UserResp)
    Wend
    Select Case UR
        Case 1
            'Do stuff for choice 1 here
        Case 2
            'Do stuff for choice 2 here
        Case 3
            'Do stuff for choice 3 here
        Case 4
            'Do stuff for choice 4 here
        Case 5
            'Do stuff for choice 5 here
    End Select
End Sub

Notice that this example uses a While ... Wend loop around the InputBox function. This is done to make sure that the user enters a number between 1 and 5. If the value entered is outside that range, then the user is simply asked again.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3098) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Offering Options in a Macro.