Drop Down List & Auto Fill

[Guest]

I have a workbook with two sheets pertaining to this issue. I have one sheet
(A) with a keycode, description, unit of sale , and cost. This sheet has
multiple listings of products

EX.
item code Description Unit of Sale Cost

1/4ply 1/4" BC Plywood Sheet $12.50


Sheet (B)
A blank version of sheet A with multiple blank fields for filling in various
items and quantities from Sheet A.

Item Code Material Sale Unit Estim. Unit Cost Quantity of Units

(cont'd) Estimated Cost

I want it to where the all the item codes on sheet (A) appear on a drop down
menu in a column on Sheet (B). Also, once the appropriate code is chosen I
want it to auto fill the appropriate information associated with that item
code (description, unit of sale, and cost) in that row.

I've been playing with validation fields, lists, and have not found a
combination that works between sheets and autofills.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[T. Valko]

To use a data validation drop down list in one sheet with the source for
that list being on a different sheet you have to use a defined name as the
source.

For example, Sheet2 cell A1 has a drop down list. The source for this list
is on Sheet1 in the range A1:A10. Give the range Sheet1 A1:A10 a defined
name (something like List) then use this name as the source for the drop
down.

Navigate to Sheet1.
Select the range A1:A10
In the name box (that little box immediately above the column A header)
type: List
Hit ENTER

Navigate to Sheet2
Select cell A1
Goto Data>Validation
Allow: List
Source: =List
OK

Then, to populate cells with info based on the selections from the drop down
lists you can use a lookup formula.

See these links:

http://contextures.com/xlDataVal01.html
http://contextures.com/xlFunctions02.html

 

[Guest]

Apart from discrepancies between columns on the 2 sheets, there is no reason
why validation lists would not work for the lookup part. The big secret
about working with two sheets, is that your list containing the codes will
have to be named - Insert, Name, Define) Call it Codes if you wish.
Where you want to insert the lookup field, click on Data, Validation, select
List, and insert "=Codes" without the "". If you now click opn the down
arrow, you will see a list of your codes. Say you do this in A4
In adjacent cells, insert vlookup formulae to look up the values you
selected. Always start with =IF(A4="","", and then add the lookup
specifications, eg
=IF(A4="","",VLOOKUP(A4,Sheet1!$A$2:$D$125,2,FALSE)) will get you the
description. Number of units you would fill in. Estimated cost will again
be a formula, something like =IF(OR(A4="",E4=""),"",E4*D4) In this example,
A4 would contain the code, and E4 the quantity to be sold.