Return the text from a dropdown box rather than the index number

Question

I have the following VBA code (from MS Access 2007). The code creates a new workbook and adds a dropdown to a cell. This small snippet adds a drop down to a particular cell and the adds some items to it.

Dim myRng As Range
Dim myDD As Dropdown
Set myRng = wSheet.Cells(row, col)
With myRng
    Set myDD = .Parent.DropDowns.Add(Left:=.Left, Top:=.Top, Width:=.Width, Height:=.Height)
    myDD.AddItem "msg1"
    myDD.AddItem "msg2"
    myDD.LinkedCell = .Parent.Cells(row, col + 2).Address(external:=True)
End With

This all works great and when I open the spreadsheet I get a combo box where I want and the items are displayed. However when I select an item the from the drop down in Excel the linked cell shows 1 or 2 (the index number). I would like it to show either msg1 or msg2.

Is this possible?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 02 '10 at 16:02

A few options.

You could put a data validation drop down in the cell rather than a Dropdown object. This returns the actual results rather than the index. If you still need a separate linked cell, you can put a formula that simply copies the dv cell

Sub MakeDv()

    Dim wSheet As Worksheet
    Dim myRng As Range

    Set wSheet = ActiveSheet

    Set myRng = wSheet.Cells(row, col)
    myRng.Validation.Add xlValidateList, , , "msg1,msg2"
    wSheet.Cells(row, col + 2).Formula = "=" & myRng.Address

End Sub

Another option is not to use the LinkedCell property and use a macro to write the value. Assign this macro the Dropdown

Sub ShowDDResult()

    Dim dd As DropDown

    Set dd = ActiveSheet.DropDowns(Application.Caller)

    ActiveSheet.Cells(row, col + 2).Value = dd.List(dd.Value)

End Sub

That may not be so easy if you're creating the worksheet from scratch from Access because you'd have to add the macro. The final option is to use the ListFillRange property to fill the Dropdown. Put the list in a range and use a formula off of the LinkedCell to pull the date out of the list

Sub testdd()

    Dim wSheet As Worksheet
    Dim myRng As Range
    Dim myDD As DropDown
    Dim rList As Range
    Dim aList(1 To 2, 1 To 1) As String

    Set wSheet = ActiveSheet
    Set rList = wSheet.Range("D1:D2")

    Set myRng = wSheet.Cells(row, col)
    aList(1, 1) = "msg1": aList(2, 1) = "msg2"
    rList.Value = aList

    With myRng
        Set myDD = .Parent.DropDowns.Add(Left:=.Left, Top:=.Top, Width:=.Width, Height:=.Height)
        myDD.ListFillRange = rList.Address
        myDD.LinkedCell = wSheet.Cells(row, col + 2).Address
        wSheet.Cells(row, col + 3).Formula = "=INDEX(" & rList.Address & "," & myDD.LinkedCell & ",1)"
    End With

End Sub

Option1 does it for me! Many thanks for a nice detailed answer — Rippo, Nov 03 '10 at 09:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 30 '15 at 13:56

I was trying to find a neater way of doing this so might as well ressurect this question :) Here's how I have been solving this problem. I create an array of the items I want to fill the drop down with. Then using this array you can return the string associated with the index you get from the drop down.

First create a function to return an array of strings:

' Returns a string array of drop down items
function dditems() as string()

    Dim array(2) As String

    array(1) = "cats"
    array(2) = "dogs"

    dditems = array

end function

Then use this array to populate your drop down:

' To populate your drop down
sub populatedd()

    dim dd As DropDown
    dim i As Integer 
    dim itemsArray() As String

    ' Create the dd object and item array
    set dd = Worksheets("Sheet1").DropDowns("Drop Down 1")
    set itemsArray = dditems()

    ' Loop through the array to populate the drop down
    for i = 1 to UBound(itemsArray)

        dd.AddItem (itemsArray(i))

    next i
end

Then by using this array again you can use the following code to get the string associate with the drop down index selected:

' Get the string associated with the index
sub showDDResult()

    dim dd As DropDown
    dim itemsArray() As String

    ' Create the dd object and item array
    set dd = Worksheets("Sheet1").DropDowns("Drop Down 1")
    set itemsArray = dditems()

    ' dd.ListIndex returns index, call to array returns correct string
    MsgBox("Item selected is " & itemsArray(dd.ListIndex))
end

Return the text from a dropdown box rather than the index number

2 Answers2

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