Question

I have an excel file with a drop-down list and I would like to access its current value from python.

In vba the code is really simple :

Sheets("name_of_my_sheet").name_of_my_list.value

I looked for an equivalent in xlrd but couldn’t find one.

Answer 1

I got my answer. The list the drop-down box is created at run time in vba so you can’t “read” its value from the xls.

The solution is to write in VBA an on change method that will actually write the value to the cell under the box.

Sub My_List_Change()
   Sheets("Containing your box").Cells(x,y) = My_List.value // x,y being the coordinates of the cell hidden by the box

Then each time you save your sheet and want to read it from python you can access the current value.