Live validation of keystrokes

[mscantle]

I have a cell in which users can type comments. I wish to restrict the number of characters they can enter. However, I can't use the normal data validation method because this only tells users they have entered too many characters once they have pressed the Enter key. It then allows them to retry, in which case they need to delete loads of stuff to comply with the character limit and may have wasted lots of time.

What I want to do is to keep a live count of the number of keystrokes they have made as they type. Once they reach the limit, I want to display a message telling them that they've reached the character limit and then allow them to make changes as necessary.

I'm using Excel 2007 VBA on Windows 7.

Any ideas gratefully received,

Matt

 

[shg]

You can't do that in a cell using VBA; when Excel is in Edit mode, nothing else is happening.

You'd need to use a textbox and its Change event.

See http://www.contextures.com/xluserform01.html

 

[mscantle]

Thanks - I'll give it a try.