Vote sheet

Hi,

I have an easy one (not for me). I basically want to make a vote sheet, columns Name (optional), For, Against. (columns A,B,C which can have ..oh? say 1000+ rows) Column D will be empty.
(Frist row, will be header/column names)
Column E will be one cell E2, total FOR's - counts the total number of "X" in Column B rows ,
Column F will be one cell F2, total Against's - counts the total number of "X" in Column C rows ,
and Column G - one row - total votes...is total of E2 + F2
Columns, E,F, and G are protected (I think I got that part)

how can I?
1) Force rows in column B contain "X" or null, (and if the same row has data in column C has an "X", that B row has to be null)
2) Force rows in column C contain "X" or null, (and if the same row has data in column B has an "X", that C row has to be null)
3) Cell E2 counts all the "X's" in Column B
4) Cell F2 counts all the "X's" in Column C
5) Cell G2 is simply E2+F2 (I have this one working)

Below is what I've thrown together so far...the 1's should be X's

http://www.aanning.com/ajissues/VoteSheet/vote1.jpg

Thanks James

What you're looking for is called 'dependent validation'.

Each cell in FOR and AGAINST has a dropdown list to select and 'X' from, however, if an 'X' is already in the opposing column it will not be available to select.

This is achieved by setting up two validation lists, one list named 'Vote' containing an 'X', and the other list named 'VoteX' containing a blank value.
The formula in the validation settings is =INDIRECT("Vote"&C2), this creates a link to a one of these named lists by joining the text 'Vote' to the value that is in the opposing cell in that row.
So, using cell B2 as an example, if no 'X' has been selected in cell C2 then the indirect named list used will just be 'Vote', but if an 'X' has been selected in cell C2 then the indirect named list will be 'VoteX'
The named list 'Vote' contains and 'X', whereas the named list 'VoteX' contains a blank.
This way you can never select an 'X' if there is already one in same row in the opposing column.

Of course, you could just have a single column and have a dropdown list to select either 'FOR' or 'AGAINST'?

Yes! this works great!..however, I've changed my criteria a bit. Instead of "X", in for/against....using "Yes" in the B column, and "No" in the Column.
For the life of me, I can't figure out how to change this ! (embarrassing, as I've been an Oracle developer for 20 yrs)
Where is the LOV for this?
I for sure want to keep the cross validation between columns B and C.
Also, want to hide the validations sheet, only first sheet visible...pretty sure I can do that. (Hide sheet)
Also, want the only editable Cells to be Name, For and Against (A2 to A-all, B2 to B-all, and C2 to C-all, - A1, B1, and C1 NOT editable, along with all others ie col's E,F,G)

So, to summarize, what's left I need to do, and am having issue:

1) to keep it clean, and follow suit with the instructions I've given, I need column B to only be "Yes" or blank, column C "No" or blank.
I thought I had the cross validation, it works in B2.(try to enter data in B2), If col B has data, no entry in col C for that row. If col C has data,
no entry in col B for that row.

see the below shared sheet, feel free to do anything with this sheet, it is a test sheet, I have original saved off.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing