New user with focused direction! Will Excel and VBA do it?

[Bruce]

First, the background - I am certain a code geek designed Newsgroup format
and sign-up. Take a lesson from Yahoo. (This should seal my fate with the
group.) OK, Debra, I'm here and on my feet, so far. I built my first userform
with Debra's concise tutorial a couple weeks ago. Excel is intimidating; I
lose my information input. Enough background.

The design-
A form to enter data, specifically related to wood properties - it's a hobby.
Form settings which are saved between sessions. The settings process the
data based on how it is obtained, three methods with one being customary.
Units of measurement are a saved setting depending on the country the form is
used in, US customary, SI, and a combo of both. This isn't just for me. Data
is computed in the form, and "committed" to the spreadsheet, or disposed of.

The spreadsheet displays all the entered data and the computed results,
buttoned in and safe from my electrical eraser - a mistake. This protected
information can then be further processed outside the safe area. (OK, I'm a
caveman; and the backup print will be available long after Excel 2003 fades
into history.)

The "Will it..." questions-
Resources: 1000 pages of j-walk "Power Programming with VBA"; The little
beginner's VBA book with monkeys on the cover. My VBA is in Office, however,
and attacks me with a splattering of multiple windows when I open it.

1. Can radio-button settings be saved between work sessions?

2. I'm sure the form and spreadsheet can be protected from "erasures", I
just have to wade through the security-type (policeman) terms in the
glossaries to find the term I need to know. (There is a question in this,
somewhere...)

3. Can either the form, or Excel, be locked at a certain point from
tampering? I have seen the big "CAUTION" boxes about passwords. The major
motivation for getting into Excel and VBA is that a more primitive form I
used was corrupted for personal gain.

4. Should I use something else?

I don't want to burn up a lot of time just to learn at some point in the
effort that a key element in the objective is not available. I haven't found
answers to the above questions; or don't understand enough to see the answers.

Sorry, this just could not be formatted to fit the 12 tips for posting to a
newsgroup.

Thanks. Your advice is appreciated.

--
Bruce McC

[paul]

Bruce,as you may have gathered form this forum,Excel is a hobby in itself.I
dont know much about user forms which a like a dialog bocx which will enable
data to be inputinto your spreadsheet.Radio buttons settings can be saved
between sessions or reset via a macro/userform.If you have someone who knows
a little about excel and is determined to "break" your form you wont stop
him,if you want to prevent accidental erasures and hide certain sheets etc
then protection will do that.
I cant say that at some point excel and vba wont be able to do what you
want,but i doubt that.....esp with the resources you have here.
It may be quite easy actually
--
paul
remove nospam for email addy!



"Bruce" wrote:

> First, the background - I am certain a code geek designed Newsgroup format
> and sign-up. Take a lesson from Yahoo. (This should seal my fate with the
> group.) OK, Debra, I'm here and on my feet, so far. I built my first userform
> with Debra's concise tutorial a couple weeks ago. Excel is intimidating; I
> lose my information input. Enough background.
>
> The design-
> A form to enter data, specifically related to wood properties - it's a hobby.
> Form settings which are saved between sessions. The settings process the
> data based on how it is obtained, three methods with one being customary.
> Units of measurement are a saved setting depending on the country the form is
> used in, US customary, SI, and a combo of both. This isn't just for me. Data
> is computed in the form, and "committed" to the spreadsheet, or disposed of.
>
> The spreadsheet displays all the entered data and the computed results,
> buttoned in and safe from my electrical eraser - a mistake. This protected
> information can then be further processed outside the safe area. (OK, I'm a
> caveman; and the backup print will be available long after Excel 2003 fades
> into history.)
>
> The "Will it..." questions-
> Resources: 1000 pages of j-walk "Power Programming with VBA"; The little
> beginner's VBA book with monkeys on the cover. My VBA is in Office, however,
> and attacks me with a splattering of multiple windows when I open it.
>
> 1. Can radio-button settings be saved between work sessions?
>
> 2. I'm sure the form and spreadsheet can be protected from "erasures", I
> just have to wade through the security-type (policeman) terms in the
> glossaries to find the term I need to know. (There is a question in this,
> somewhere...)
>
> 3. Can either the form, or Excel, be locked at a certain point from
> tampering? I have seen the big "CAUTION" boxes about passwords. The major
> motivation for getting into Excel and VBA is that a more primitive form I
> used was corrupted for personal gain.
>
> 4. Should I use something else?
>
> I don't want to burn up a lot of time just to learn at some point in the
> effort that a key element in the objective is not available. I haven't found
> answers to the above questions; or don't understand enough to see the answers.
>
> Sorry, this just could not be formatted to fit the 12 tips for posting to a
> newsgroup.
>
> Thanks. Your advice is appreciated.
>
> --
> Bruce McC