define a print area and name it based on info in first cell in a row...

[Chris Salcedo]

Here where I work I get a report from an mrp system that is formated in
the folowing way:

Project Task Cost Backlog Wip (This is a header)
Proj-0001 100 50 50
100 Engineering
info1 1252
info2 2258
200 Manufact.
info1 2252
info2 2252
(Blank Row)
Proj-0002 199 49 50
100 Engineering
info1 1252
info2 5258
200 Manufact.
info1 2452
info2 2220

ETC....(about 300 diferent projects)


The only constants in the report are the number of columns (always A to
P)
and the blank line at the end of each project as a separator.

What I need to do is the following create a named area that starts at
the project name and ends at the blank row. The name is derived from
the project name. The idea is to be able to print and sort these areas
based on the project name from a selection form. I think I should be
able to create the form portion but I dont know how to create the named
areas. Maybe there is a better way ???

 

[Dave Peterson]

You may be able to print your ranges using those names, but I don't think you'll
have much luck sorting that stuff.

If I had to do this, I'd get rid of the blank lines and make sure that each row
had all the data for that project on it.

If you want to try that, Debra Dalgleish has some techniques at:
http://contextures.com/xlDataEntry02.html

By having all the data on each row, life will become much easier--sorts,
pivottables, charts, subtotals, autofilters... lots of stuff.

 

[Chris Salcedo]

I was just thinking that what I could do is fill down the first column
with the project name so I can group by the first cell and I could sort
and define print areas that way, something like if next cell is empty
fill with previous cell data... Any easy way to do this ????

 

[Dave Peterson]

Look at Debra's site. She has a couple of ways of doing just that.