VB Excel 97/2000:

Custom dialog boxes

Practical workbook

Aims and Learning Objectives

By the end of these notes, you will be able to use the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) in Excel to
create a custom dialog box (referred to throughout as a form) for use within your Visual Basic
modules.
You will be able to:
• Create a user form

• Add controls to the form and set control properties

• Specify an initial state for each control

• Write the associated event procedures

• Update worksheets based on values taken from the form

University of Bristol Information Services document exlvba-t2

Document information

Format conventions
The following format conventions are used in this document:
Computer input that you type is shown in a bold http://www.bristol.ac.uk/
Courier font
Computer output, menu names and options, Save, Go to, Refresh
buttons, URLs are shown in a Courier font
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Computer keys that you must press are in a bold <Enter>, <n>, <N>, </>
Courier font and enclosed in angle brackets
Instructions for users of other software versions Example text like this
are displayed in a shaded area.

Shortcut keys
The following shortcut keys are used throughout the document:
<Alt><F11> To open the Visual Basic Editor or to switch between the editor and the
worksheet.
<F4> To display the properties window for the selected object (for example, a
form or control).
<F7> From the user form window, press <F7> to select or open the user form
code window.
<Shift><F7> From the user form code window, press <Shift><F7> to select the
user form window.

Related documentation
Other related documents are available from the web at:
www.bristol.ac.uk/is/learning/documentation/docs-by-category.html#ss

Other books are available:

Writing Excel macros, Steve Roman, (Excel 97 and 2000) O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/
Excel 97 Programming for Windows for Dummies, John Walkenbach
Excel 2000 Programming for Dummies, John Walkenbach

VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes (Jan 04)

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If you have any comments or queries about this document mail [email protected].
© 2007 University of Bristol. All rights reserved.
Contents
Format Conventions
Shortcut keys
Related documentation

Task 1 Creating a user form .........................................................................1

Task 2 Adding controls..................................................................................2
Task 3 Setting control properties .................................................................3
Task 4 Initialising controls ............................................................................4
Task 5 Event procedures ...............................................................................5
Task 6 Displaying your custom box..............................................................6
Task 7 ListBoxes ............................................................................................7
Task 8 Using variables in label controls.......................................................8
Task 9 Dealing with numerical input .........................................................10
Task 10 Performing calculations ..................................................................11
Task 11 Unloading forms ..............................................................................12
Appendix A Combo boxes ................................................................................. A-1
Appendix B Spin buttons ...................................................................................B-1
Appendix C Initialising controls ....................................................................... C-1
Appendix D Keyboard shortcuts ...................................................................... D-1
Appendix E Inserting formulae .........................................................................E-1
Introduction
When only a few pieces of information are required from the user (for example, a text string or a
Yes/No/Cancel answer), then the use of InputBox and MsgBox commands (described in the
document Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000, see the Related Documentation section for the location of
this document on the web) is adequate. If you need to gather more information for your Visual Basic
application, then Custom dialog boxes (known as User Forms) are required.
These tasks lead you through the steps involved in creating a custom dialog box using the facilities
available in Microsoft Excel's Visual Basic Editor.

Prerequisites
It is essential that you are a competent Excel user and have successfully completed the macro tasks
in Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000 (document exlvba-t1, see the Related Documentation section for
the location of this document on the web). You will also require access to the Microsoft Excel 97 or
2000 software.
 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 1 Creating a user form

Objectives To create a custom Dialog Box for use within an Excel workbook.
Method You will use the Insert UserForm menu command.
Comments A user form is the basis of a dialog box and will contain most of the programming
required to display and run a dialog box.

1.1 Open the workbook vbdialog.xls. If you are working in the Computer Centre
training rooms, this file is in the folder C:\User\Excel.
The first sheet, Orders, contains a list of fictitious office supply orders. The other
sheet, Items, contains a list of items and a simple account code lookup table. Take a
few moments to look at the structure of the workbook and the defined ranges.
1.2 The user form you are
going to create will ask
the user to type in an
order number, choose
an item from a list box
and enter the quantity
of items required. The
unit cost for the
selected item will be
displayed on the form.
The finished form will
resemble figure 1.
We will start with a
simplified version with
an Order number
text box and an OK
command button.
Figure 1 - completed user form

1.3 Open the Visual Basic editor (VBE) by pressing <Alt><F11>.

1.4 From the
Insert
menu, select
UserForm.
A new form,
UserForm1,
is added to
your VBA
project as in
figure 2.

Figure 2 – Visual Basic user form window

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 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 2 Adding controls

Objectives To add Command buttons and other controls to your user form.
Method You will use the control toolbox.
Comments Unlike most Windows commands, Excel’s VBE does not have alternative menu
commands to allow you to add controls to a user form. To add controls, you must use
the toolbox.

2.1 The controls toolbox should be displayed when you select the user form (figure 2). If
not, from the View menu, select Toolbox.

2.2 Drag a Label from the toolbox to the top left hand corner of the user form.
Don’t worry about the text or the precise positioning at this stage. For now the label
will contain the text, Label1.

2.3 Drag a TextBox just to the right of Label1.

2.4 Add a CommandButton to

the bottom right of the user form.
Your form should now resemble
Figure 3.

Figure 3 - user form containing label,

text box and command button controls

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 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 3 Setting control properties

Objectives To name and label the controls created in the previous task and explore form layout
options.
Method You will use the Properties window and the Format menu commands.
Comments If the Properties window is not displayed; from the View menu, select
Properties window (or press <F4>).

3.1 Select Label1 (click once on the relevant control in your user form).
The properties window (figure 4) displays a table of
properties relevant to that control. The left hand side
gives the property name and the right hand side
contains its value.
3.2 Click in the box to the right of (Name), overwrite
Label1 with OrderLabel and press <Enter>.

Note The name is used throughout your programming

modules to refer to this part of the user form. It should
contain no spaces. Remember to press <Enter> after
typing the label name.

3.3 Select the Caption value, type Order number: Figure 4 - properties
and press <Enter>. window (Label1)
The caption is the text that is displayed in the control on the form.
3.4 From the user form, select the text box added in task 2.3 and set its (Name) property
to OrderNo
3.5 With the text box OrderNo still selected, press <Ctrl> and select the
OrderLabel control.
Both the textbox and label controls should now be selected.
From the Format menu, select Align / Tops.
Take a few moments to examine the other commands available from the Format
menu.
Note Controls can also be aligned and sized using the mouse or by adjusting the values
Left, Top and Width in a control’s properties window. For precise positioning and
sizing of these controls, see the list of property values in appendix 3.

3.6 Click once on the command button to select it and set its (Name) property to
OKButton
Set Caption to OK and Default to True.
3.7 Finally, select the user form, UserForm1 and set its properties:
(Name) NewOrderForm
Caption Add new order
The title bar of the user form is amended as you type.
Note There are many properties associated with different control types. The help screens
will explain the purpose of each one. Controls can also be set or altered by
programmed subroutines as we will see later.
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Task 4 Initialising controls

Objectives To set the initial state of controls created so far.
Method You will use the user form code window.

4.1 Double-click on your user form.

The user form code window opens displaying a subroutine structure to contain the
commands to be run when your user form is clicked:
Private Sub UserForm_Click()

End Sub
4.2 To write the code required to
set the initial state of the user
form, click on the
Procedure window
(currently displaying Click)
and select Initialize
(figure 5). Figure 5 - procedure window

A new procedure, UserForm_Initialize() is inserted.

4.3 At the current cursor position enter the following code to set the focus to the textbox
control when the form is initialised:
OrderNo.SetFocus
You will add more code to this window after you add the other controls (displayed in
Figure 1) to this form.

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 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 5 Event procedures

Objectives To create the event procedures required when the OK control is selected.
Method You will use the user form code window.
Comments Event procedures are those subroutines that are executed when a user selects or
changes the value of any of the controls on a form.

5.1 From the Window menu, select the user form window,
NewOrderForm (UserForm) (or press <Shift><F7>).
5.2 Double-click on the OK command button to create a procedure to contain the
commands to be run when the OK button is selected.
Complete the code in bold:
Private Sub OKButton_Click()
Sheets("Orders").Activate
If IsEmpty(Range("A2")) then
Rw = 2
Else
Range("A1").End(xlDown).Select
Rw = ActiveCell.Row + 1
End If
Cells(Rw, 1).Select
Cells(Rw, 1) = OrderNo.Text
End Sub

When the OK button is selected, the orders sheet is activated and the cell A2 is
checked to make sure it contains an entry. If not, the orders entered by the user will
start at this point.

If A2 is not empty, then the end of the current column is located and selected. A
variable Rw is then assigned to the row beneath the current selected cell and in turn
selected.

The value for OrderNo is then placed in the first column (column 1).

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Task 6 Displaying your custom box

Objectives To display the dialog box.
Method You will use the Insert Module command and the Show property.
Comments The procedure used to display the dialog box is stored in a new module.

6.1 From the Insert menu, select Module.

A new module, Module1 is inserted in your VBA project.
6.2 Add the following code:
Sub AddOrder()
NewOrderForm.Show
End Sub
6.3 From the File menu, select Save vbdialog.xls.
6.4 Return to your Excel worksheet (click on the workbook icon in the Windows
taskbar).
6.5 From the Tools menu, select Macro/Macros.
Select the AddOrder macro and assign a shortcut key (<Ctrl>+<m>) (under
Options).
Click on Cancel.
6.6 Test your macro by pressing <Ctrl>+<m>.
6.7 Enter an order number (for example, BA1001) and click on OK.
The order number should be entered in the next available row (in this case A2).
6.8 Check that your Visual Basic works as expected.
Click the close button (x) in the top right-hand corner of the form to exit your macro.
6.9 Highlight and delete any rows you have added whilst testing your code
6.10 Switch back to the VBE (press <Alt><F11> or click on the icon in the Windows
taskbar).

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VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 7 ListBoxes
Objectives To display a list of office items.
Method You will use the control toolbox.

7.1 Using the toolbox, add a ListBox

control beneath the order

number controls.
Position and resize it as in figure 6.
7.2 Set its name property to ItemBox
7.3 Locate the property RwSource and
set this to Items – the listbox will
display the first column of the

defined range Items.

Figure 6 - user form with ListBox control

Note If you wanted to display additional columns from that range, you could increase the
value of the ColumnCount property.

7.4 When the user of the form selects an option from the list of items, the value of this
option is assigned to the Text property of that control. This property then needs to
be added to column 2 (B) of the Orders worksheet. To do this, double-click on the
OK button and add the following code, immediately above the End Sub statement:
Cells(Rw, 2) = ItemBox.Text
7.5 Switch to the workbook, save and test the form.
7.6 Close the form (x) and return to theVBE.
Note A ComboBox control could also be used to contain a list of items. For guidance on
populating a combo box, see appendix 1.

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 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 8 Using variables in label

controls
Objectives To obtain a value from the current workbook and display the result in the form.
Method You will use the Properties window to insert more controls and you will write code to
update a label control with the unit price of the selected item.
Comments The unit price is contained in the range Items, stored in the Items worksheet.

8.1 Using the user form window, add two

label controls and a textbox
control as in figure 7.
8.2 Using the Properties window (as in
task 3) assign names to labels Label1
and Label2 (QuantityLabel and
UnitCost respectively) and a name
to the textbox (Quantity). Figure 7 - quantity and unit cost controls
8.3 Select QuantityLabel and set its
caption to Quantity:
Select UnitCost and set its caption property to Cost per item: £0.00
This caption is initially set to display a zero amount. The steps below explain how to
update this figure in line with the current list box selection.
8.4 Double-click on ItemBox (the list box).
The code window is displayed showing a new procedure, ItemBox_Click().
8.5 Select the Procedure dropdown box (currently displaying Click) and change the
selection to Change.
8.6 Enter the following code (in bold):
Private Sub ItemBox_Change()
Set ir = Range("Items")
mCost = WorksheetFunction.VLookup(ItemBox.Text, ir, 5)
tCost = Format(mCost, "£#,##0.00")
UnitCost.Caption = "Cost per item: " & tCost
End Sub
These lines of code are run whenever the value in ItemBox is changed. The variable
tCost is used to contain the text format of the variable mCost.

Note Excel 2000 users may prefer to use the FormatCurrency() function as follows:

tCost = FormatCurrency(mCost)

8.7 Switch to your workbook, save and test the form. Check that the unit cost figure
displayed in the form changes when you change the item selection in the item box.
8.8 Close the form (x) and switch back to the VBE.
Note This example assumes that we will be using a text box to input the quantity value.
Assuming that the minimum and maximum quantity values are known, it might be

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VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

preferable to use a spin button to increment/decrement the numbers input. Appendix

2 explains how to use a spin button control.

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VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 9 Dealing with numerical input

Objectives To limit the Quantity control to numerical values only.
Method You will use the VB editor.

9.1 Using the forms window, double-click on the Quantity text box control.
The procedure Quantity_Change() is inserted in order to contain the code to be
run whenever the value Quantity is altered.
9.2 To ensure that the form accepts only numerical input, enter the following code to
blank the value of Quantity if any non-numerical value is entered.
9.3 If Not IsNumeric(Quantity.Text) Then
Quantity.Text = ""
End If
9.4 To enter the quantity into column 4 (D) of the worksheet, locate the
OKButton_Click() procedure and add the following code, immediately above
the End Sub statement:
Cells(Rw, 4) = Quantity.Text
9.5 To enter the unit cost into column 5 (E) of the worksheet, you can use the value
calculated in the ItemBox.Change() procedure (added in task 8.6):
Press <Enter> and type the following:
Cells(Rw, 5) = mCost
Cells(Rw, 5).NumberFormat = "$#,##0.00"
As the mCost variable is now being used outside a single procedure or function, you
will need to declare it at the top of the module:
Press <Ctrl><Home> to go to the top of the user form code window and insert a
new line.
9.6 Enter the following declaration:
Dim mCost As Double
9.7 Switch to the worksheet, save and test your form. Try entering a non-numerical value
and then enter a numerical value to check that your quantity and unit cost are entered
into columns D and E correctly.

Note You may wish to add additional coding to the Quantity_Change() procedure so
that only whole numbers are accepted.
9.8 Close (x) the form and switch back to the VBE.

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 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 10 Performing calculations

Objectives To apply functions to values collected from a form and update the worksheet.
Method You will use the user form code window.
Comments An alternative method would be to insert the formulae for Acc. Code and Total
into the worksheet (see Appendix 5).

10.1 From the user form window, double-click on the OK button to return to the
OKButton_Click() procedure.
10.2 Insert a new line above the End Sub statement.
10.3 To calculate the total in column 6 (F), enter the following code:
Cells(Rw, 6) = mCost * Quantity.Text
10.4 The account code in column 3 (C) is calculated from the table named Items using
the lookup function. To do this, enter the following code:
acc_code = Application.WorksheetFunction. _
VLookup(ItemBox.Text,Range("Items"),4,False)
Cells(Rw, 3) = acc_code

Note The variable acc_code is used to calculate the string containing the result of the
sum. In more complex examples, this could be used to break the string construction
into simpler chunks.
10.5 Finally, tidy up the worksheet, ensuring that all the columns are “best-fit” by adding
the line:
Columns("A:H").AutoFit
10.6 Switch to your workbook, save and test the form.
10.7 Switch back to the VBE.
Note To improve this application further you should introduce additional error checking to
deal with the scenario where an entry is not found in the lookup table, on the lines of
the following:

On Error Goto NotFound

acc_code = Application (etc)
Exit Sub

NotFound:
Cells(Rw,3) = "Not found"

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 VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Task 11 Unloading forms

Objectives To create a Cancel or Close button for the user form and perform additional error
checking.
Method You will use the control toolbox and the VBE user form code window.
Comments The user form was initially displayed using the Show property. To close down or stop
displaying the form the command Unload is used.

11.1 From the NewOrderForm (UserForm) window and using the control toolbox,
add a CommandButton control to the left of the OK button (as task 2.4).
11.2 Modify its properties as follows:
Give the button a name (for example, CancelButton), set the Cancel property
to True and the Caption property to Close (or Cancel).
The Default property should now be set to False.
11.3 Double-click on your Close button to create and insert the code to unload the user
form when this button is selected:
Unload NewOrderForm
11.4 At the beginning of the OKButton.Click procedure insert the following code:
If ItemBox.Text="" or Quantity.Text="" Then
MsgBox "You must specify a valid item and" & _
" a Valid number of items.", VBOkOnly, "AddItems"
Exit Sub
End If
11.5 Click on the Save button in the toolbar.
11.6 From the File menu, select Close and Return to Microsoft Excel.
11.7 Run your macro and test that the cancel command button works.
11.8 The solution file, vbdialog_complete.xls, contains a working version of this
macro.

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VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes

Appendix A Combo boxes

Comments This appendix supplies some code to allow you to populate a combo box with a
named range in a workbook.

These notes assume that you have a form containing a combo box named ItemBox.
You should also have a range named Items containing the values you wish to
populate the combo box with.
To populate ItemBox with the values in the first column of the range Items, you
need to write some code that is run when the form is initialised.
Double-click on the user form to go to the UserForm_Initialize() procedure.
Immediately above the End Sub command of this procedure, add the following
code:
Set ItemRange = Range("Items")
nItems = ItemRange.Rows.Count
For r = 1 To nItems
ItemBox.AddItem ItemRange.Cells(r, 1)
Next r
ItemBox.ListIndex = 0

Note The variable ItemRange is used to refer to the range named Items in the
workbook.

The number of rows in this range is calculated and stored in the variable r.

A for…next loop is then used to add the value of the cell in the first column of each
row, r to the control named ItemBox.

The ListIndex property is used to display the first item in the list (0, not 1).

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Appendix B Spin buttons

Comments To use a spin button control effectively you need to link it to another control, such as
a textbox, so that when the value of the spin button is altered, the value displayed in
the text box is likewise altered. The text box value must also not be allowed to exceed
the Minimum/Maximum range set by the spin button control properties.

These instructions assume you have a form containing a text box control (named
Quantity) and a spin button control (named SpinButton). In the example
worked through above, this should be placed on the form immediately to the right of
Quantity.

When the text box value changes

Set the spin button’s Min property to 1 (the Max property is set to 100 by default).
Select Quantity and set its Value property to 1.
Double-click on the Quantity control and amend the code as follows:
Sub Quantity_Change()
Dim n As Integer
If Not IsNumeric(Quantity.Text) Then
Quantity.Text = 1
Else
n = Quantity.Value
If n < SpinButton.Min Then n = SpinButton.Min
If n > SpinButton.Max Then n = SpinButton.Max
Quantity.Value = n
End If
SpinButton.Value = Quantity.Value
End Sub
In the above code, Quantity.Value = n is used to set the value of Quantity
in case the original value was outside the chosen bounds. SpinButton.Value =
Quantity.Value ensures that the spin button is coordinated with the Quantity
box’s value.

When the spin button value changes

From the NewOrderForm window, double-click on the SpinButton and add the
code (in bold):
Private Sub SpinButton_Change()
Quantity.Text = SpinButton.Value
End Sub
In other words, when the value of the spin button is changed, the current value of the
textbox (text property) is changed to match it.

Note An alternative to the code used above (when the text box value changes) is to not
enter any size checking at this stage. Instead, add the code to the
OKButton_Change procedure and produce a message explaining why the entered
value is not acceptable. This is particularly useful in cases where the code is not
appropriate for text box changes (try setting the minimum value to 2, the maximum
to 10 or greater in the spin button control panel and then using this macro to enter a
quantity of 10).

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Appendix C Initialising controls

Comments This appendix is provided for those who wish to align and size all the controls in this
exercise precisely.

Left (distance from the left hand side of the user form)
Top (distance from the top of the user form)
Width (width of the control)

(Name) Caption Left Top Width

OrderLabel Order number: 6 6 72
OrderNo 96 6 72
ItemBox 6 30 180
QuantityLabel Quantity : 6 72 42
Quantity 54 72 36
UnitCost Unit cost: £0.00 102 72 72
CancelButton Close 24 102 72
OKButton OK 108 102 72
NewOrderForm Add new order 0 0 192

These control properties can be set by selecting each control in order and working
through the properties window to set the desired properties. As already mentioned the
mouse and the Format menu commands can be used to set the size and position of
controls.
It is also possible to set properties in the UserForm_Initialize procedure as in
the example below.
With ItemBox
.Left = 6
.Top = 30
.Width = 180
End With
NewOrderForm.Height = 144

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Appendix D Keyboard shortcuts

Comments Not all computer users use the mouse to select fields when filling in a form or dialog
box. When producing a form for others to use, it is courteous to provide an alternative
method of selecting the controls.

Tabs
The tab order is the order in which the user tabs through controls on the form when
using the keyboard.
To demonstrate the use of tabs within a user form, examine the form created above.
Using the user form window, click once to select the first label control (Order
number:).
Press <Tab> several times and watch the order in which the controls are selected.
This order is defined by the TabIndex property on each control in the order in which
they were added to the form. To rearrange the order, you could select the Tabindex
property for each control in turn and assign the new order.
An easier method is to use the Tab Order window.
From the View menu, select Tab Order and move the window so that you can see
both the user form and this window.
Rearrange the tab order of the controls by selecting a control and using the Move Up
and Move Down buttons as required.

Accelerators
An accelerator assigns a shortcut key to a control on the form.
Cancel and OK buttons do not require accelerators as the <Esc> and <Enter>
keys respectively are generally used as keyboard alternatives to selecting these keys
by mouse.
To assign accelerators to other controls, select the control and use the
Accelerator property. In many cases, you will choose the first letter of the
control’s caption. However, where two or more controls share the same initial letter
you may need to use a different letter.
You can also use Visual Basic to set the accelerator property in the
UserForm_Initialize procedure. For example,
OrderLabel.

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Appendix E Inserting formulae

Comments Task 10 used the figures collected in the user form and performed various
calculations before inputting the result in the worksheet. It would also be possible to
insert the formulae directly into the worksheet so that the formula was recalculated
each time a figure in a dependant cell was altered.

Simple calculations
The Totals column (column F in the worksheet) would contain the simplest
formula (namely =D3*E3 where 3 is the current row). Build this formula up, using
the variable Rw, by using the following code:
Cells(Rw, 6) = "=D" & Rw & "*E" & Rw
In the example above (task 10) this line would replace the line entered in task 10.3,
namely:
Cells(Rw, 6) = mCost * Quantity.Text

Functions
To build up a more complex formula for inserting into a worksheet, it may be easier
to break the task into smaller chunks, using one or more variables as in the example
below using the current value of the Row variable:
mFormula = "=VLOOKUP(" & "B" & Rw & _
",Items,4,False)"
Cells(Rw, 3) = mFormula
In the example above (task 10) this line would replace the line entered in task 10.4,
namely:
acc_code = Application.WorksheetFunction. _
VLookup(ItemBox.Text,Range("Items"),4,False)

Using quotation marks in formulae

If you need to pass quotation marks within the function you are constructing, you
must use the character string instead. For example,
ans = "=Vlookup(" & Chr(34) & _
ItemBox.Text & Chr(34) & _
",Items,4,False) "

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