Hidden values for total-sum formula?

[visper]

Hello all.
I'm a bit new to Excel (only been working with it for like 3 months) and I'm currently working on a very big project where I'm mapping down around 400 servers. I'm using Excel for parts of this project and I'm having an idea about a solution for calculating the total-weight of a rack, allthough I don't know if its possible (hence I'm asking here.)
Before I start explaining; Apologize for my english, It's not my native tounge. Some things are a little hard to explain

The idea is:
I have a list of about 70 different types of servers, which I would like to assign a hidden value (kilos). I made this list into a drop-down table by using Data Validation.
So, imagine a rack that is 40 units tall, thats about 20 servers if stacked. A table is made to represent this rack in an Excel sheet, and for each unit-slot I can select a server from the drop-down server list mentioned above. Now, when I have done this and the server is selected, the hidden values of the selected servers should add up to the total value of the rack (displayed at the top or bottom perhaps).

Is this possible? I can't figure out how to add a hidden value to a cell, and the next problem would be to make a formula that adds up the hidden-values for the selected cells into a grand total?

Hope I managed to express what I mean in an understandable way, appreciate any help I can get on this

[EdMac]

Hi visper,

Normally to match two items, you would use VLOOKUP - so when you select your server, the weight in Kilo's would be be matched. This value has to be saved somewhere - you could use a column that is hidden or you could keep it on another sheet. Then all you need to do is to SUM them all.

Does this help

Ed