Making a structured reference absolute?

[Ted M H]

Excel 2007 table is a forecast with product name in col A, unit price in Col
B and forecast units by month in col's C:N. I want to show forecast dollars
in each month's column. This formula outside the table (cell C102) works
fine:

=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,C2:C100)

Since I anchor the Unit price column reference, I can copy the formula
across for the remaining 11 months (=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,D2100 and
=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,E2:E100 and so forth).
But I want to use structured references to the table to solve the problem.
I enter this formula in cell C102:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[Price]*Forecast[January])

The formula works fine, returning the same result as the formula using cell
references above. The problem is that when I copy the structured reference
formula, both Price and January autofill/extend as if I am using relative
cell references. That's what I want for the month (January, February, March,
etc.), but I want to anchor the Price column in the formula.
How do I make the structured reference to Forecast[Price] absolute while
leaving the reference to Forecast[January] relative?

 

[Teethless mama]

Price, January, February...........December are define name ranges
Price in B1
January in C1
February in D1
and so on....

=SUMPRODUCT(Price*INDIRECT(C1))
copy across

 

[Ted M H]

Hi there, Teethless. Thanks for the quick reply. This is an interesting
solution, but not exactly what I'm looking for. If I understand this
correctly I have to convert my table back to a range, define the ranges and
then I can use the solution.

What I'm trying to do is to use Excel 2007's new tables / structured
references in the solution. It's as much an exercise in learning structured
references as it is to produce the number results. My original formula using
mixed cell references also solved the problem--but without structured
references.

I tried some variations on your theme--using the INDIRECT function with the
structured references, but I get the #REF error message. I'll keep trying.

Price, January, February...........December are define name ranges
Price in B1
January in C1
February in D1
and so on....

=SUMPRODUCT(Price*INDIRECT(C1))
copy across

Excel 2007 table is a forecast with product name in col A, unit price in Col
B and forecast units by month in col's C:N. I want to show forecast dollars
in each month's column. This formula outside the table (cell C102) works
fine:

=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,C2:C100)

Since I anchor the Unit price column reference, I can copy the formula
across for the remaining 11 months (=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,D2100 and
=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,E2:E100 and so forth).
But I want to use structured references to the table to solve the problem.
I enter this formula in cell C102:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[Price]*Forecast[January])

The formula works fine, returning the same result as the formula using cell
references above. The problem is that when I copy the structured reference
formula, both Price and January autofill/extend as if I am using relative
cell references. That's what I want for the month (January, February, March,
etc.), but I want to anchor the Price column in the formula.
How do I make the structured reference to Forecast[Price] absolute while
leaving the reference to Forecast[January] relative?

 

[T. Valko]

Seems there should be a better way but this will work:

=SUMPRODUCT(INDIRECT("Forecast[Price]"),Forecast[January])

That makes the formula volatile which is a big negative in my opinion for
something seemingly as simple as wanting to make a reference absolute.

You would think that the standard $ would be used to make the reference
absolute. Something like this:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[$Price],Forecast[January])

But, this is not the case!

 

[Ted M H]

Hi T. Valko,

Volatile or not, this is the solution I was looking for. My question would
be what do you mean by "That makes the formula volatile...."?

I agree that you would think that a $ character would do the trick, but as
you've observed, it doesn't.

Thanks very much for your reply.

Seems there should be a better way but this will work:

=SUMPRODUCT(INDIRECT("Forecast[Price]"),Forecast[January])

That makes the formula volatile which is a big negative in my opinion for
something seemingly as simple as wanting to make a reference absolute.

You would think that the standard $ would be used to make the reference
absolute. Something like this:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[$Price],Forecast[January])

But, this is not the case!


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP

Excel 2007 table is a forecast with product name in col A, unit price in
Col
B and forecast units by month in col's C:N. I want to show forecast
dollars
in each month's column. This formula outside the table (cell C102) works
fine:

=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,C2:C100)

Since I anchor the Unit price column reference, I can copy the formula
across for the remaining 11 months (=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,D2100 and
=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,E2:E100 and so forth).
But I want to use structured references to the table to solve the problem.
I enter this formula in cell C102:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[Price]*Forecast[January])

The formula works fine, returning the same result as the formula using
cell
references above. The problem is that when I copy the structured
reference
formula, both Price and January autofill/extend as if I am using relative
cell references. That's what I want for the month (January, February,
March,
etc.), but I want to anchor the Price column in the formula.
How do I make the structured reference to Forecast[Price] absolute while
leaving the reference to Forecast[January] relative?

 

[T. Valko]

what do you mean by "That makes the formula volatile...."?

INDIRECT is a volatile function.

A volatile function recalculates *every time* a calculation is triggered by
some event. Normally, functions (formulas) only recalculate when their
dependencies change but volatile functions recalculate at every calculation.
This could slow things down if you have large amounts of formulas on large
amounts of data.


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP

Hi T. Valko,

Volatile or not, this is the solution I was looking for. My question
would
be what do you mean by "That makes the formula volatile...."?

I agree that you would think that a $ character would do the trick, but as
you've observed, it doesn't.

Thanks very much for your reply.

Seems there should be a better way but this will work:

=SUMPRODUCT(INDIRECT("Forecast[Price]"),Forecast[January])

That makes the formula volatile which is a big negative in my opinion for
something seemingly as simple as wanting to make a reference absolute.

You would think that the standard $ would be used to make the reference
absolute. Something like this:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[$Price],Forecast[January])

But, this is not the case!


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP

Excel 2007 table is a forecast with product name in col A, unit price
in
Col
B and forecast units by month in col's C:N. I want to show forecast
dollars
in each month's column. This formula outside the table (cell C102)
works
fine:

=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,C2:C100)

Since I anchor the Unit price column reference, I can copy the formula
across for the remaining 11 months (=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,D2100 and
=SUMPRODUCT($B2:$B100,E2:E100 and so forth).
But I want to use structured references to the table to solve the
problem.
I enter this formula in cell C102:

=SUMPRODUCT(Forecast[Price]*Forecast[January])

The formula works fine, returning the same result as the formula using
cell
references above. The problem is that when I copy the structured
reference
formula, both Price and January autofill/extend as if I am using
relative
cell references. That's what I want for the month (January, February,
March,
etc.), but I want to anchor the Price column in the formula.
How do I make the structured reference to Forecast[Price] absolute
while
leaving the reference to Forecast[January] relative?