Question

I would like for the user to only be allowed to input values into the cells listed below in the following order:

D3,C3,B9,B3,E2,D4,G4,I4,D5,G5,I5,D6,G6,I6,D7,G7,I7,D8,G8 and I8.

Answer 1

Open excel and select the cells mentioned by you. You can do this by keeping Ctrl key pressed while selecting the cells. Now right click and select format cells and go to the protection tab. In the protection tab, uncheck the Locked check box. Now protect the sheet and make sure that you check the option ‘Select Unlocked Cells’ (second checkbox in the list)

Here is the code to control the order using vba

1. Right-click on the sheet1 tab and “View Code”.

2. Paste the following code into that sheet module.

   Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Excel.Range)
   On Error GoTo enditall
   Application.EnableEvents = False
   i = Array("D3", "C3", "B9", "B3", "E2", "D4", "G4", "I4", "D5", "G5", "I5", "D6", "G6", "I6", "D7", "G7", "I7", "D8", "G8", "I8")
   k = Replace(Target.Cells.Address, "$", "")
   If k = i(j) Then
   Sheet1.Unprotect
   Sheet1.Range(i(j)).Locked = True
   Sheet1.Range(i(j + 1)).Locked = False
   Sheet1.Range(i(j + 1)).Select
   j = j + 1
   Sheet1.Protect
   End If
   enditall:
   Sheet1.Protect
   Application.EnableEvents = True
   End Sub
   

3. Now right click on sheet1 in the same window and select insert. From the insert menu click on Module. Now select the create module and paste the following code.

   Public j
   
   Sub Settings()
   j = 0
   Sheet1.Unprotect
   Sheet1.Cells.Locked = True
   Sheet1.Range("D3").Locked = False
   Sheet1.Range("D3").Select
   Sheet1.Protect
   End Sub
   

4. Now run the macro settings every time you want to enter data to your sheet.

Here is the commented version of the code

'The code below should come in a module and should be run every time a change is required in the sheet
Public j 'declaring j as a public variable so that it can be accessed from any procedure in the excel project

Sub Settings()
j = 0 'sets j as zero
Sheet1.Unprotect 'unprotect the sheet
Sheet1.Cells.Locked = True 'locks all the cells in the sheet
Sheet1.Range("D3").Locked = False 'unlocks the first cell D3 and makes it editable
Sheet1.Range("D3").Select 'selects the cell D3
Sheet1.Protect 'reprotects the sheet
End Sub



'Following code should be entered in the code of sheet where the values need to be entered
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Excel.Range) 'the code runs when a cell in the excel sheet is changed
On Error GoTo enditall 'this handles error
Application.EnableEvents = False 'excel events are disabled
i = Array("D3", "C3", "B9", "B3", "E2", "D4", "G4", "I4", "D5", "G5", "I5", "D6", "G6", "I6", "D7", "G7", "I7", "D8", "G8", "I8") 'array with cells in order
k = Replace(Target.Cells.Address, "$", "") 'finds the cell address where the change was made
If k = i(j) Then 'checks whether the change was made in a cell in the array, we set the value of j to zero by running the macro settings shown below
Sheet1.Unprotect 'unprotects the sheet to make the changes
Sheet1.Range(i(j)).Locked = True 'makes the correspondig cell in the array locked after editing
Sheet1.Range(i(j + 1)).Locked = False 'unlocks the next cell in the array
Sheet1.Range(i(j + 1)).Select 'selects the next cell in the array
j = j + 1 'increments the value of j by 1
Sheet1.Protect 'reprotects the sheet
End If
enditall: 'the code below will run on an error, this code will run when value of j becomes more than the number of elements in array k
Sheet1.Protect 'protect the sheet
Application.EnableEvents = True 'enables excel events
End Sub

See the sample file at https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3mN8H2AV4UCN2E5ZWMxNjEtMGZiZS00NzYzLWI2NDUtOTdmZjg3YzcyNGUw