Loop An Input Box Until It Receives Correct or Valid Entry
What This VBA Code Does
This VBA code will show how to keep cycling through an input box prompt until the user gives you a valid response. My example below asks the user for his/her age and will continue to make the input box reappear in the event the user tries to be cute and enter an outrage age (such as “-20” or “200”). You will also need to make sure you capture if your user hits the Cancel button or else they may be looping forever!
Let me know in the comments section below how you plan to use this snippet to make sure your VBA code gets the proper inputs every time!
Sub LoopInputBox()
'PURPOSE: An example of how to keep looping an input box until a valid answer is entered
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com/the-code-vault
Dim InputQuestion As String
Dim myAnswer As Variant
'Question to pose to the user
InputQuestion = "Please enter your age." & vbNewLine _
& "(Don't even think about lying!)"
'Keeping looping until you get a valid answer to your question
Do
'Retrieve an answer from the user
myAnswer = Application.InputBox(InputQuestion, "Your Age?", Type:=1)
'Check if user selected cancel button
If TypeName(myAnswer) = "Boolean" Then Exit Sub
Loop While myAnswer <= 0 Or myAnswer > 120
'We've got a valid answer from the user, let's continue on...
End SubUsing VBA Code Found On The Internet
Now that you’ve found some VBA code that could potentially solve your Excel automation problem, what do you do with it? If you don’t necessarily want to learn how to code VBA and are just looking for the fastest way to implement this code into your spreadsheet, I wrote an article (with video) that explains how to get the VBA code you’ve found running on your spreadsheet.
Getting Started Automating Excel
Are you new to VBA and not sure where to begin? Check out my quickstart guide to learning VBA. This article won’t overwhelm you with fancy coding jargon, as it provides you with a simplistic and straightforward approach to the basic things I wish I knew when trying to teach myself how to automate tasks in Excel with VBA Macros.
Also, if you haven’t checked out Excel’s latest automation feature called Power Query, I have put together a beginner’s guide for automating with Excel’s Power Query feature as well! This little-known built-in Excel feature allows you to merge and clean data automatically with little to no coding!
How Do I Modify This To Fit My Specific Needs?
Chances are this post did not give you the exact answer you were looking for. We all have different situations and it’s impossible to account for every particular need one might have. That’s why I want to share with you: My Guide to Getting the Solution to your Problems FAST! In this article, I explain the best strategies I have come up with over the years to get quick answers to complex problems in Excel, PowerPoint, VBA, you name it!
I highly recommend that you check this guide out before asking me or anyone else in the comments section to solve your specific problem. I can guarantee that 9 times out of 10, one of my strategies will get you the answer(s) you are needing faster than it will take me to get back to you with a possible solution. I try my best to help everyone out, but sometimes I don’t have time to fit everyone’s questions in (there never seem to be quite enough hours in the day!).
I wish you the best of luck and I hope this tutorial gets you heading in the right direction!
After 10+ years of creating macros and developing add-ins, I've compiled all the hacks I wish I had known years ago!
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Chris Newman
Chris is a finance professional and Excel MVP recognized by Microsoft since 2016. With his expertise, he founded TheSpreadsheetGuru blog to help fellow Excel users, where he shares his vast creative solutions & expertise. In addition, he has developed over 7 widely-used Excel Add-ins that have been embraced by individuals and companies worldwide.