Car make/model list

What are the requirements?

• Define the database format?
• Design a form for data entry and query?
• Implement the form and its modes?

What parts of this do you know how to do?

What material has been provided for you to learn how to do it?

The format is simply a spreadsheet. I can handle the output of data from the userform to the spreadsheet. I simply need help with the dynamic list of makes and models.

I can't say I know how to do much at all. I'm not even in a programming-oriented major. I'm studying to be a naval architect. Its simply a class that we take as an intro to strategic problem solving.

The only source I have to learn with is a text: Power Programming with VBA. I haven't managed to find much relevant information in it, though.

I've found code in other programming languages for the very make/model list I need. Is there any source where I might find similar code for VBA?

I'm sorry if I'm difficult to communicate with. I'm trying, I just don't know programming very well at all. Please let me know if I'm headed down the wrong path entirely.
Thanks very much,
Casey

Casey, in Excel, a database is just a list of records -- data in rows, with a column header at the top that describes each column. So for a car database, it might be Make, Model, Year, VIN, color, upholstery, ... whatever you want to store.

What data is in the database will determine how to lay out the form -- does that make sense?

Do you have to implement the search functions from the form, or just design a form for data entry?

As a future naval architect, you will base ship designs on requirements -- cargo ships, 12m yachts, and attack submarines diverge early, even to the point of always remaining buoyant. What are yours? Even if you were given none (as an exercise in strategic problem solving), you have to define some on your own before you can start coding.

My database layout will include title-holder name, license plate #, color, year, make, model, insurance, and VIN.

At this point, I need only to design a userform for input. I have most of it done, and have come across no problems save for the make and model inputs. For the sake of error-checking, I thought it best to use a listbox or drop-down menu for each, with the model list dependent upon the input for make. (An input of Ford in the make field results in only Ford vehicles listed in the model list, similar to most auto-parts websites.)

For this specific situation, I don't know whether there is an easy, pre-made code for a data validation list that I could adapt, or whether I need to use a listbox and a bunch of case statements.

I must apologize. I don't know that I was communicating my question very well. The requirements for the project are known, and I hope that I have conveyed them adequately now. The layout, and most of the coding, is very easy. My problems are isolated surrounding the design of the list.

Thanks much,
Casey

The attachment shows a way you could do it.

There's a list of makes with models below them. G1 is named ptrMake, and right now, just for convevience, it has data validation to select any of the listed makes (a dynamic named range, rgnMake).

To demonstrate how it works, select any make in G1. Then in the Names box (the box left of the formula bar), type rgnModel. You will see the list of models for the selected make highlighted. This is a dynamic named range that was recomputed according to the make in G1.

The range is computed by the defined names that you can see via Insert > Name > Define.

So in practice, you would initialize the Make listbox by applying rgnMake as the list. When a make is selected, store it in ptrMake. Then change the list for the Model listbox to rgnModel.

This sheet would be for this specific purpose, and not the same sheet used for the database.

There are many other ways you could do this -- this is the one I would choose only because it speaks to me and I could implement it readily.