Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

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Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

Tip Contributed by Martin Green.Martin Green, Office Tips is a freelance Access and Excel trainer and developer based in
London.
CATEGORY - User Forms, Input boxes in VBA

VERSION - All Microsoft Excel Versions

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The Course Booking Form

The Course Booking Form is a simple form illustrating the www.raqsoft.com

principles of UserForm design and the associated VBA coding.
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Version
High
End
.NET
Charting
Component w/ Support
It uses a selection of controls including text boxes, combo boxes,
option buttons grouped in a frame, check boxes and command For All Chart Types Now!
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When the user clicks the OK button their input is entered into the
next available row on the worksheet.

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Description of the Form:

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There are two simple text boxes (Name: and Phone:) into which
the user can type free text, and two combo boxes (Department
and Course) that let the user to pick an item from the list.

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There are three option buttons (Introduction, Intermediate and

Advanced) grouped in a frame (Level) so that the user can
choose only one of the options.

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There are two check boxes (Lunch Required and Vegetarian) that, because they are not grouped in a frame, can both be
if required. However, if the person making the booking does not want lunch we do not need to know whether or not they are
vegetarian. So, the Vegetarian check box is greyed-out until required.
There are three command buttons (OK, Cancel and Clear Form) each of which performs a pre-defined function when clicked.
The Control Properties Settings:
Control

Type

Property

Setting

UserForm

UserForm

Name

frmCourseBooking

Caption

Course Booking Form

Name

Text Box

Name

txtName

Phone

Text Box

Name

txtPhone

Department

Combo Box

Name

cboDepartment

Course

Combo Box

Name

cboCourse

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Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

Level

Frame

Page 2 of 13

Name

fraLevel

Caption

Level

Introduction

Option Button

Name

optIntroduction

Intermediate

Option Button

Name

optIntermediate

Advanced

Option Button

Name

optAdvanced

Lunch Required

Check Box

Name

chkLunch

Vegetarian

Check Box

Name

chkVegetarian

Enabled

False

Name

cmdOk

Caption

OK

Default

True

Name

cmdCancel

Caption

Cancel

Cancel

True

Name

cmdClearForm

OK

Command Button

Cancel

Clear Form

Command Button

Command Button

Building the Form

If you want to build the form yourself, simply copy the layout shown in the illustration above. Follow the steps below:
1. Open the workbook that you want the form to belong in (UserForms like macros have to be attached to a workbook) and
switch to the Visual Basic Editor.
2.

In the Visual Basic Editor click the Insert UserForm button (or go to Insert > UserForm).

3. If the toolbox does not appear by itself (first click the form to make sure it isnt hiding) click the Toolbox button (or
View > Toolbox).
4. To place a control on the form click the appropriate button on the toolbox then click the form. Controls can be moved by
dragging them by their edges, or resized by dragging the buttons around their perimeter.
5.
To edit the properties of a control, make sure the chosen control is selected then make the appropriate changes in the
Properties window. If you cant see the properties window go to View > Properties Window.
6.

To remove a control from the form, select it and click the Delete key on your keyboard.

A UserForm will not actually do anything until the code that drives the form and its various controls is created. The next step is to
write the code that drives the form itself.

Adding the Code: 1 Initialising the Form

Initialising the Form:

Most forms need some kind of setting up when they open. This may be setting default values,
making sure field are empty, or building the lists of combo boxes. This process is called
Initialising the Form and it is taken care of by a macro called UserForm_Initialize (in case you
are confused by my varying spelling of the word "initialis(z)e", it's because I speak English and
VBA speaks American - but don't worry, VBA will spell it for you!). Here's how to build the code
to initialise the Course Booking Form:
1.

To view the forms code window go to View > Code or click F7.

2. When the code window first opens it contains an empty UserForm_Click() procedure. Use the drop-down lists at the top of
the code window to choose UserForm and Initialize. This will create the procedure you need. You can now delete the

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UserForm_Click() procedure.
3.

Enter the following code into the procedure:

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()

txtName.Value = ""
txtPhone.Value = ""
With cboDepartment
.AddItem "Sales"
.AddItem "Marketing"
.AddItem "Administration"
.AddItem "Design"
.AddItem "Advertising"
.AddItem "Dispatch"
.AddItem "Transportation"
End With
cboDepartment.Value = ""
With cboCourse
.AddItem "Access"
.AddItem "Excel"
.AddItem "PowerPoint"
.AddItem "Word"
.AddItem "FrontPage"
End With
cboCourse.Value = ""
optIntroduction = True
chkLunch = False
chkVegetarian = False
txtName.SetFocus
End Sub
How the Initialise Code Works:
The purpose of the UserForm_Initialize() procedure is to prepare the form for use, setting the default values for the various
controls and creating the lists that the combo boxes will show.
These lines set the contents of the two text boxes to empty:
txtName.Value = ""
txtPhone.Value = ""
Next come the instructions for the combo boxes. First of all the contents of the list are specified, then the initial value of the
combo box is set to empty.
With cboDepartment
.AddItem "Sales"

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.AddItem "Marketing"
(as many as necessary)
End With
cboDepartment.Value = ""
If required an initial choice can be made from the option group, in this case:
optIntroduction = True
Both check boxes are set to False (i.e. no tick). Set to True if you want the check box to appear already ticked:
chkLunch = False
chkVegetarian = False
Finally, The focus is taken to the first text box. This places the users cursor in the text box so that they do not need to click the
box before they start to type:
txtName.SetFocus

Adding the Code: 2 Making the Buttons Work

There are three command buttons on the form and each must be powered by its own procedure. Starting with the simple ones
Coding the Cancel Button:
Earlier, we used the Properties Window to set the Cancel property of the Cancel button to True. When you set the
property of a command button to True, this has the effect of "clicking" that button when the user presses the Esc key on their
keyboard. But this alone will not cause anything to happen to the form. You need to create the code for the click event of the
button that will, in this case, close the form. Here's how:
1.
With the UserForm open for editing in the Visual Basic Editor, double-click the Cancel button. The form's code window
opens with the cmdCancel_Click() procedure ready for editing.
2.

The code for closing a form is very simple. Add a line of code to the procedure so it looks like this:

Private Sub cmdCancel_Click()

Unload Me
End Sub
Coding the Clear Form Button:
I added a button to clear the form in case the user wanted to change their mind and reset everything, and to make it easier if they
had several bookings to make at one time. All it has to do is run the Initialise procedure again. A macro can be told to run another
macro (or series of macros if necessary) by using the Call keyword:
1. Double-click the Clear Form button. The form's code window opens with the cmdClearForm_Click() procedure ready for
editing.
2.

Add a line of code to the procedure so it looks like this:

Private Sub cmdClearForm_Click()

Call UserForm_Initialize
End Sub
Coding the OK Button:
This is the piece of code that has to do the job of transferring the user's choices and text input on to the worksheet. When we set
the Cancel button's Cancel property to True we also set the OK button's Default property to True. This has of clicking the OK
button when the user presses the Enter (or Return) key on their keyboard (providing they have not used their Tab key to tab to
another button). Here's the code to make the button work:
1.

Double-click the OK button. The form's code window opens with the cmdOK_Click() procedure ready for editing.

2.

Edit the procedure to add the following code:

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Private Sub cmdOK_Click()

ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Course Bookings").Activate
Range("A1").Select
Do
If IsEmpty(ActiveCell) = FalseThen
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
End If
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell) = True
ActiveCell.Value = txtName.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1) = txtPhone.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2) = cboDepartment.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3) = cboCourse.Value
If optIntroduction = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4).Value = "Intro"
ElseIf optIntermediate = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4).Value = "Intermed"
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4).Value = "Adv"
End If
If chkLunch = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 5).Value = "Yes"
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 5).Value = "No"
End If
If chkVegetarian = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 6).Value = "Yes"
Else
If chkLunch = False Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 6).Value = ""
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 6).Value = "No"
End If
End If
Range("A1").Select
End Sub
How the CmdOK_Click code works:
The first two lines make sure that the correct workbook is active and moves the selection to cell A1:

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ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Course Bookings").Activate
Range("A1").Select
The next few lines moves the selection down the worksheet until it finds an empty cell:
Do
If IsEmpty(ActiveCell) = False Then
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
End If
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell) = True
The next four lines start to write the contents of the form on to the worksheet, using the active cell (which is in column A) as a
reference and moving along the row a cell at a time:
ActiveCell.Value = txtName.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1) = txtPhone.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2) = cboDepartment.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3) = cboCourse.Value
Now we come to the option buttons. These have been placed in a frame on the form so the user can choose only one. An IF
statement is used to instruct Excel what to for each option:
If optIntroduction = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4).Value = "Intro"
ElseIf optIntermediate = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4).Value = "Intermed"
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 4).Value = "Adv"
End If
VBA IF statements are much easier to manage than Excel's IF function. You can have as many options as you want, just insert
an additional ElseIf for each one. If there were only two options, you wouldn't need the ElseIf, just the If and Else would suffice
(don't forget - they all need an End If).
There is another IF statement for each check box. For the Lunch Required check box, a tick in the box means "Yes" the person
requires lunch, and no tick means "No" they don't.
If chkLunch = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 5).Value = "Yes"
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 5).Value = "No"
End If
We could use a similar IF statement for the Vegetarian check box, but if the person does not require lunch it is irrelevant whether
or not they are vegetarian. I any case, it would be wrong to assume that they were not vegetarian simply because they did not
require lunch. The IF statement therefore contains a second, nested if statement:
If chkVegetarian = True Then
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 6).Value = "Yes"
Else
If chkLunch = False Then

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ActiveCell.Offset(0, 6).Value = ""

Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 6).Value = "No"
End If
End If
A tick in the box means "Yes" the person is vegetarian. If there is no tick in the box, the nested IF statement looks at the Lunch
Required check box. If the Lunch Required check box has a tick in it then no tick in the Vegetarian check box means that the
person is not vegetarian so it inserts "No" into the cell. However, if the Lunch Required check box does not have a tick in it, then
we do not know whether or not the person is vegetarian (it doesn't matter anyway) so the cell is left blank ("").
Finally the selection is taken back to the beginning of the worksheet, ready for the next entry:
Range("A1").Select

Adding the Code 3: Manipulating the Form

Finally, an example of how the controls on a form can be manipulated whilst it is in use. When the control properties were set, the
Enabled property of the Vegetarian check box was set to False. When a control is not enabled the user cannot enter a value into
it, although it can hold a value that was there already, and VBA can add, remove or change the value.
We don't need to know whether or not the person is vegetarian (even if they are!) if they aren't ordering lunch. So, the Vegetarian
check box remains disabled unless a tick is placed in the Lunch Required check box. Then the user is free to tick the Vegetarian
check box if they want to. If they tick it we will know that they have answered "Yes" and if they don't we know they have
answered "No".
We can toggle the Enabled property from False to True by having a procedure that runs automatically whenever the value
Lunch Required check box changes. Fortunately, more controls have a Change procedure and the one we use here is
chkLunch_Change(). We'll use this to enable the Vegetarian check box when the Lunch Required check box is ticked, and
disable it when the Lunch Required check box is not ticked.
There's just one more thing we need to do. Supposing someone ticked the Lunch Required check box, and also ticked the
Vegetarian check box. Then they changed their mind and removed the tick from the Lunch Required check box. The Vegetarian
check box would be disabled but the tick that was put in earlier would remain.
An extra line of code can make sure the tick is removed when the box is disabled. Here's the whole thing:
Private Sub chkLunch_Change()
If chkLunch = True Then
chkVegetarian.Enabled = True
Else
chkVegetarian.Enabled = False
chkVegetarian = False
End If
End Sub

Opening the Form

The form is now ready for use so it needs to be opened with a simple macro. That can be attached to a custom toolbar button, a
command button drawn on the worksheet, or any graphic (right click the graphic and choose Assign Macro). If necessary, create
a new module for the workbook and add this procedure:
Sub OpenCourseBookingForm()
frmCourseBooking.Show
End Sub
Screenshot // Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

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Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

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Views: 959376

vrey good!!!
Leandro
i liked so much this example, its easy to learn...here in Brazil is difficult to find
good examples about Vba for Excel.
Im so thankfull..
Really Good!!
Masum
A very easy to understand tutorial, well written and comprehensive in what it
does. I would have liked to have read some stuff on TabStrips and multipages
though. Or am I being greedy? :)
Date Formating with User Forms
Don Foley
How do I specify a particular Date format. I have a text box on the userform
where the user is prompted to enter a date in a particular format ie dd/mm/yy.
How do I code and where, to ensure the spreadsheet that the userform
updates displays the same format. I have set the System settings to display
this format. When I enter the date on the Form in the manner I mention it
displays mm/dd/yy on the spread sheet. I would always enter a date in the
format dd/mm.
By the way. I have used your Form instructions above to create a greatly
expanded UserForm and even having bought a couple of books on VBA
since, I find myself refering back to your instructions for their clarity time and
time again.
One thing I meant to mention in previous posts is that in the example above
you must make an entry in the first box on the form otherwise the spreadsheet
data will be over written. In other words you must make an entry in the
TextBox, or whatever, that writes to "A1"/first empty cell in column A on the
spreadsheet. I have gotten around this by using an if statement which
prompts for input and wont allow the form to close and update the
spreadsheet until the user makes an entry in this field.
Date Formating with User Forms
Don Foley

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How do I specify a particular Date format. I have a text box on the userform
where the user is prompted to enter a date in a particular format ie dd/mm/yy.
How do I code and where, to ensure the spreadsheet that the userform
updates displays the same format. I have set the System settings to display
this format. When I enter the date on the Form in the manner I mention it
displays mm/dd/yy on the spread sheet. I would always enter a date in the
format dd/mm.
By the way. I have used your Form instructions above to create a greatly
expanded UserForm and even having bought a couple of books on VBA
since, I find myself refering back to your instructions for their clarity time and
time again.
One thing I meant to mention in previous posts is that in the example above
you must make an entry in the first box on the form otherwise the spreadsheet
data will be over written. In other words you must make an entry in the
TextBox, or whatever, that writes to "A1"/first empty cell in column A on the
spreadsheet. I have gotten around this by using an if statement which
prompts for input and wont allow the form to close and update the
spreadsheet until the user makes an entry in this field.
help please
timbo27
I built a userform, I initialized the userform, I coded the userform...all thanks to
the advice above.
But how do you show the form on the desktop and when I close and re
the file....ALL MY WORK IS GONE !!!
Any ideas ??
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Great Tutorial
Will
I've built forms and such in VB and in Access but never in Excel. This is a
great tutorial!
Great Tutorial
Will
I've built forms and such in VB and in Access but never in Excel. This is a
great tutorial!
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Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

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Cool Stuff!
Manoj
This is really a cool stuff for the beginners in VBA. It is really help. If possible
please provide with some more examples with validation logics that would be
great.
Thanks,
Manoj
one problem
waz
if you leave the first field blank, another entry overwrites the last entry
Gr8
Ash
thankyou very much for this helped alot
Nice
Yen
Now, why can't all tutorials be like this!!!????? simple, to the point, and
USEFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks
Its Wrong
Jerry Francis
If IsEmpty(ActiveCell) = FalseThen
When I copy and paste this it had a error. also up at the top the list the
properties. you should add this captions Clear Form. here is what you
Clear Form
Command Button
Name
cmdClearForm
Thanks it all worked fine
Very Good
Frank
This site is very good. There are many others that just barely scratch the
surface. Many books leave out important stuff or say a lot of nothingness.
Thanks a bundle.
Frank
run-time error '2110'
WillC
Can't move focus to the control because it is invisible, or not enabled, or of a
type that does not accept the focus.
Debug walks through Private Sub UserForm_Initialize() to Private Sub
UserForm_Initialize() before this error.
Great Stuff
Greg Northover
This is really good for us beginners... I learnt a lot from this example(I first
came across it 12 months ago) I
still refer back to this example because it simplifies how to set up a user form.
(would like to see a future version including the option buttons as well)
thanks to people who supplied this.... Great Stuff!!!

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Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

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Great!!
crey
Exactly what I needed.....told me how and showed me how....Perfect....you
should create one for using macromedia programs.
good article
anmol KHANNA
Would be good to add listbox example and datagrid example
Gary
Wonderful example...thanks!!!
Excellent
Sumit
This article is superub for newcomers.It showed me that what I wanted to
learn
Cool Stuff
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I really liked ,if u cud tell us more of those types of examples?can u
Great stuff
patrick
Just what i was looking for, helps me on the way to my first own made sheet!
A great example, simple , but with enough explaination to get me started.
Thanks a lot!
Great stuff, but ...
Kim SJ
I would love you to point to all the sources of information one needs to be able
to extend it. For example, what other special Subs are there (_click, _initialise,
etc.). And where does one find the information about this?
K.
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Create User Forms in Microsoft Excel

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