Excel Database Question

Hi,

At work we use Excel as a way to order meals. However, it's basically a
glorified Word Document. How it works now is that we open the
"Menu.xls" file and the stock codes are in the first cell and the
description of those stock codes are in the adjacent cells.

For example:

7218415 - Bacon & Scambled eggs (3) - White toast (2) - c/w home fries
7218423 - Bacon & Scambled eggs (3) - Whole Wheat (2) - c/w home fries
<etc.>

So, what we do is scroll down the spreedsheet and write down the stock
codes to the parts of the meal we want (dessert, drink, soup salad,
etc.). And then we give these 5 or 6 handwritten stock codes to our
boss who uses them to order the completed meal. Aside from being really
inneficient, you often end up with the wrong meal because you've
mispelled a stock code or two (or your boss mis-types the stock codes
when he orders the meal).

What I would like to do is be able to select the stock codes from a
drop-down box and then be able to print the final selection, but I'm
not sure if that is possible with Excel.

Is this possible? If not, is there a way that the user could easily
select or deselect several stock codes and then switch to an alternate
view where only those items that were selected are viewed? For example
could they be presented with a series of radio buttons or checkmarks
that they could click and then click something else to see only the
items they had selected? Then, they could print (or email) this
"selected" view.

I would really appreciate any advice you could give me about this
problem.

Thanks.

~ Jamie West

Why not a menu that uses dropdowns for:
meat-ham,bacon,steak,etc
eggs-scrambled,fried, etc
bread- white,rye,wholewheat

then,with/without numbers, excel could put the order together

--
Don Guillett
SalesAid Software
dguillett1@austin.rr.com
"kinetic" <jimborella@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1150631762.098507.270280@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> At work we use Excel as a way to order meals. However, it's basically a
> glorified Word Document. How it works now is that we open the
> "Menu.xls" file and the stock codes are in the first cell and the
> description of those stock codes are in the adjacent cells.
>
> For example:
>
> 7218415 - Bacon & Scambled eggs (3) - White toast (2) - c/w home fries
> 7218423 - Bacon & Scambled eggs (3) - Whole Wheat (2) - c/w home fries
> <etc.>
>
> So, what we do is scroll down the spreedsheet and write down the stock
> codes to the parts of the meal we want (dessert, drink, soup salad,
> etc.). And then we give these 5 or 6 handwritten stock codes to our
> boss who uses them to order the completed meal. Aside from being really
> inneficient, you often end up with the wrong meal because you've
> mispelled a stock code or two (or your boss mis-types the stock codes
> when he orders the meal).
>
> What I would like to do is be able to select the stock codes from a
> drop-down box and then be able to print the final selection, but I'm
> not sure if that is possible with Excel.
>
> Is this possible? If not, is there a way that the user could easily
> select or deselect several stock codes and then switch to an alternate
> view where only those items that were selected are viewed? For example
> could they be presented with a series of radio buttons or checkmarks
> that they could click and then click something else to see only the
> items they had selected? Then, they could print (or email) this
> "selected" view.
>
> I would really appreciate any advice you could give me about this
> problem.
>
> Thanks.
>
> ~ Jamie West
>

Don Guillett wrote:
> Why not a menu that uses dropdowns for:
> meat-ham,bacon,steak,etc
> eggs-scrambled,fried, etc
> bread- white,rye,wholewheat
>
> then,with/without numbers, excel could put the order together

Well, I'm certainly open to any suggestions. However, I'm not sure how
to do what you described. The fact is, I rarely use Ecel and as a
result, I've never had to do anything more advanced than add a column
of numbers.

Although I haven't used Excel very often in the past, I'm probably
tech-saavy enough to be able to follow instructions. Could you give me
some instructions on how to set this up or is there a website that
shows a simple version of what you are talking about that I could use
as an example?

Or, do you think that I'm over my head?

Thanks.

~ Jamie West

I have sent you a small notebook illustrating creating drop down lists.

--
Don Guillett
SalesAid Software
dguillett1@austin.rr.com
"kinetic" <jimborella@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1150640235.643535.300800@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Don Guillett wrote:
>> Why not a menu that uses dropdowns for:
>> meat-ham,bacon,steak,etc
>> eggs-scrambled,fried, etc
>> bread- white,rye,wholewheat
>>
>> then,with/without numbers, excel could put the order together
>
> Well, I'm certainly open to any suggestions. However, I'm not sure how
> to do what you described. The fact is, I rarely use Ecel and as a
> result, I've never had to do anything more advanced than add a column
> of numbers.
>
> Although I haven't used Excel very often in the past, I'm probably
> tech-saavy enough to be able to follow instructions. Could you give me
> some instructions on how to set this up or is there a website that
> shows a simple version of what you are talking about that I could use
> as an example?
>
> Or, do you think that I'm over my head?
>
> Thanks.
>
> ~ Jamie West
>