Question

This follows on from a previous question here where I asked how to develop an input box that required a data to be entered in a specific format by the user (eg: Q4 2010)

I now need to take the first 2 character of the user input (always to be Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4) and change the text in another cell depending on the outcome. Specifically, if the user enters a string starting with Q1 or Q3, I need it to copy <insert text1> into a cell in Sheet3, and if they enter Q2 or Q4 it copies <insert text2> in the same cell instead.

I have no idea how to consider only part of an input, so any help most welcome 🙂

Answer 1

You could try this to populate A1 of a sheet called Sheet3 with the two strings

[Updated as per msgbox asking for user input in specific format to be bullet proof using Regular Expressions]

Option Explicit
Sub Rattle_and_hmmmm2()
    Dim strReply As String
    Dim strTitle As String
    Dim objRegex As Object
    Dim objRegMC As Object
    Set objRegex = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
    With objRegex
        .ignorecase = True
        .Pattern = "^Q([1-4])\s20[10-20]{2}$"
        Do
            If strReply <> vbNullString Then strTitle = "Please retry"
            strReply = Application.InputBox("Enter period (format: Q4 2010) to update, or hit enter to escape", strTitle, "Q" & Int((Month(Now()) - 1) / 3) + 1 & " " & Year(Now()), , , , , 2)
            If strReply = "False" Then
                MsgBox "User hit cancel, exiting code", vbCritical
                Exit Sub
            End If
        Loop Until .test(strReply)
    Set objRegMC = .Execute(strReply)
    End With
    Select Case objRegMC(0).submatches(0)
    Case 2, 4
    Sheets("Sheet3").[a1] = "insert text2"
    Case 1, 3
    Sheets("Sheet3").[a1] = "insert text1"
    End Select
    Sheets("Sheet1").[b14].Value = UCase$(strReply)
End Sub