Excel Flowchart Functions?

[TheRobsterUK]

Hi,

Does anyone know if it's possible to make the flowchart diagrams i
Excel perform calculations, or are they purely for show?

By this I mean that suppose you wanted to take a number, put it in
box, link that box to another one which then performs an operation o
the number, then link that to another box which outputs the result o
the operation.

You could draw a representation of this process by using boxes etc an
then drawing connectors between the boxes to show the direction o
information flow but is it possible to program excel to actually carr
out operations?

Or is there an add-in for excel that can do this kind of thing?

Thanks
-Ro

 

[Earl Kiosterud]

Rob,

A couple of possibilities. You can link any of the autoshapes (including
the flowchart ones) to a cell: Add text to the shape (Right-click - Add
text), then with a cursor in the autoshape, click in the formula bar, press
=, then click the cell to which it's to be linked. Then put the formula in
the cell for the calculation. Then hide the cells.

The autoshapes don't have cell links (as do text boxes and such from either
the Forms toolbar or the Control toolbox). This means you won't be able to
input data into an autoshape and use it directly for the calcs. But you
could instead use one of the aforementioned text boxes for the user to put
data into, which would be linked to a cell, giving your formulas access to
the values.

Another possibility is to format the autoshapes for no fill. Then you can
see the underlying cells which could contain the formulas for your
calculations. You'll want to remove the gridlines (or color the cells
white, which has the same effect for the cells so formatted).

Just in case you're not familiar, in the connectors (Autoshapes -
Connectors) you can put connecting lines between autoshapes. They'll move
with the autoshapes. Handy.