Data Entry Search Popup Guide

How to use the Data Entry Search Popup (DESP) kit from Contextures.

DESP Intro

With the DESP kit, you can set up popup lists in an Excel workbook, to quickly and easily select items from a drop down listt. Before you can use the popup list, you must have named ranges set up in your workbook, and drop down lists that are based on those ranges.

Follow the steps in the DESP Get Started guide, and in the DESP Setup workbook, to set up the DESP popup list in your workbook.

This online DESP Guide has additional details, such as making adjustments to the appearance of the DESP forms.

Modify the Popup List

The popup list is a Listbox on a UserForm, which also has 5 buttons – New, Clear, ALL, OK and Cancel. This section explains how to make minor changes to the UserForm’s appearance.

To see the UserForm

• Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE)
• At the left, in the Project Explorer, click the + at the left of the Forms folder
• Double-click on the UserForm that you want to change, frmDESPList or frmDESPNew

Adjust the UserForm Size

You can adjust the size of the UserForm, or the controls. For example:

• Make the form and listbox wider, if your data validation items are long.
• Adjust the height of the listbox and UserForm, if you want it taller or shorter.

To adjust the size of the UserForm:

• Click on the form's border, or click somewhere on the grey background.
• Drag one of the handles on the sides or corners, to make the form wider or narrower.

To adjust the size of a control:

• Click on the listbox, or a button, to select it.
• Drag one of the handles on the sides or corners, to make the control wider or narrower.

To adjust the font type or size of a control:

• Click on the listbox, or a button, to select it.
• In the Properties list click in the Font box, and click the … button
• Select the font type and size that you want, and click OK

To change the text on a button:

• Click on the button to select it
• In the Properties list, click in the Caption box, and change the text
• If necessary, adjust the size of the button, to fit the new text

More Questions

If you run into any problems, please check the Frequently Asked Questions page. If you can't find an answer there, please contact me (Debra Dalgleish) by email. I'm in the Toronto time zone (Canada), and will reply as soon as possible:

ddalgleish @ contextures.com

Related Pages

Data Entry Search Popup FAQs

Data Validation Basics

Create Dependent Lists

Data Validation Tips