Techniques for binding object properties to Sheet Cells - excel

Question

Edit:
The three main things I'm looking to accomplish here are:
To be able to encapsulate properties/methods into a class (easy enough)
Use excel ranges as a user input for users to manipulate class property values.
(bonus) Send user changes back up to a database.
I've been playing with the idea of building something in vba that would allow me to bind an object's property(ies) to a Range. Basically turning a cell into a bound control.
Some basic requirements I might be after include:
A change to the object property would update the cell value
A change to the cell would update the object property
The object property may be bound/unbound without losing the value of the property.
My initial thought is to build a BindRange class that simply gets its value from a range and sets its value to that range.
BindRange.cls:
Option Explicit
Private p_BoundCell As Range
Public Property Get Value() As String
If Me.IsBound Then Value = p_BoundCell.Value
End Property
Public Property Let Value(Val As String)
If Me.IsBound Then p_BoundCell.Value = Val
End Property
Public Property Get IsBound() As Boolean
If BoundToDeletedCell Then
Set p_BoundCell = Nothing
End If
IsBound = Not (p_BoundCell Is Nothing)
End Property
Public Sub Bind(Cell As Range)
Set p_BoundCell = Cell(1, 1)
End Sub
Private Function BoundToDeletedCell() As Boolean
Dim sTestAddress As String
On Error Resume Next
TRY:
If p_BoundCell Is Nothing Then
Exit Function
'// returns false
End If
sTestAddress = p_BoundCell.Address
If Err.Number = 424 Then 'object required
BoundToDeletedCell = True
End If
End Function
Then, I can set up my custom object with a pair of fields to manage the updates. I would also need a method to expose setting the range to be bound.
TestObject.cls:
Option Explicit
Private p_BindId As BindRange
Private p_Id As String
Public Property Get Id() As String
If p_BindId.IsBound Then
p_Id = p_BindId.Value
End If
Id = p_Id
End Property
Public Property Let Id(Val As String)
p_Id = Val
If p_BindId.IsBound Then
p_BindId.Value = p_Id
End If
End Property
Public Sub Id_Bind(Cell As Range)
p_BindId.Bind Cell
End Sub
Private Sub Class_Initialize()
Set p_BindId = New BindRange
End Sub
Private Sub Class_Terminate()
Set p_BindId = Nothing
End Sub
This could be annoying because any property I want to make "Bindable" I'll have to manage Get/Set and Bind for each. I'm also not too sure if this will cause any memory issues: making class-properties with variant typed values....
Also considering building a service-like class that keeps track of objects and their bound ranges in a dictionary-like structure?
Anyways, just curious if anyone has done something like this before or if you have any thoughts on how you might design this.

Answer 1

Binding individual cells to properties would be very cumbersome. I think a better technique would be to create a table to act as a property sheet and a PropertySheetWatcher that raise a PropertyChange event.
Let's say for instance that we wanted to create a simple game on a userform call Stack OverKill. Our game will have its Hero Class and multiple Enemies classes (e.g. Turtle, Rhino, Wolf). Although each class has its own business logic they all share common properties (Name, HP, ClassName, Left, Right ...etc). Naturally, since they all sure the same basic set of properties they should all Implement a common Interface (e.g. CharacterInterface). The beauty of this is they can all share the same Property Sheet Table.
Mock Property Sheet Table
PropertySheetWatcher:Class
Private WithEvents ws As Worksheet
Public Table As ListObject
Public Event PropertyChange(ByVal PropertyName As String, Value As Variant)
Public Sub Init(ByRef PropertySheetTable As ListObject)
Set ws = PropertySheetTable.Parent
Set Table = PropertySheetTable
End Sub
Private Sub ws_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim PropertyName As String
If Not Intersect(Target, Table.DataBodyRange) Then
PropertyName = Intersect(Target.EntireColumn, Table.HeaderRowRange).Value
RaiseEvent PropertyChange(PropertyName, Target.Value)
End If
End Sub
Public Sub UpdateProperty(ByVal PropertyName As String, Name As String, Value As Variant)
Application.EnableEvents = False
Dim RowIndex As Long
RowIndex = Table.ListColumns("Name").DataBodyRange.Find(Name).Row
Table.ListColumns(PropertyName).DataBodyRange.Cells(RowIndex).Value = Value
Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub
Hero:Class
Implements CharacterInterface
Private Type Members
Name As String
HP As Single
ClassName As String
Left As Single
Right As Single
Top As Single
Bottom As Single
Direction As Long
Speed As Single
End Type
Private m As Members
Public WithEvents Watcher As PropertySheetWatcher
Private Sub Watcher_PropertyChange(ByVal PropertyName As String, Value As Variant)
Select Case PropertyName
Case "Speed"
Speed = Value
Case "HP"
'....More Code
End Select
End Sub
Public Property Get Speed() As Single
Speed = m.Speed
End Property
Public Property Let Speed(ByVal Value As Single)
m.Speed = Speed
Watcher.UpdateProperty "Speed", m.Name, Value
End Property
Private Property Get CharacterInterface_Speed() As Single
CharacterInterface_Speed = Speed
End Property
Private Property Let CharacterInterface_Speed(ByVal Value As Single)
Speed = Value
End Property
The classes above give are a quick muck-up of how the notification system can be implemented. But wait there is more!!!
Look how easy it is to setup a Factory to reproduce all of out Characters based off the saved setting.
CharacterFactory:Class
Function AddCharacters(Watcher As PropertySheetWatcher) As CharacterInterface
Dim Table As ListObject
Dim data As Variant
Dim RowIndex As Long
With Table
data = .DataBodyRange.Value
For RowIndex = 1 To UBound(data)
Select Case data(RowIndex, .ListColumns("Class").Index)
Case "Hero"
Set AddCharacters = AddCharacter(New Hero, Table, RowIndex)
Case "Turtle"
Set AddCharacters = AddCharacter(New Turtle, Table, RowIndex)
Case "Rhino"
Set AddCharacters = AddCharacter(New Rhino, Table, RowIndex)
Case "Wolf"
Set AddCharacters = AddCharacter(New Wolf, Table, RowIndex)
End Select
Next
End With
End Function
Private Function AddCharacter(Character As CharacterInterface, Table As ListObject, RowIndex As Long) As Object
With Character
.Speed = Table.ListColumns("Speed").DataBodyRange.Cells(RowIndex).Value
'....More Coe
End With
Set AddCharacter = Character
End Function
It may seem like I wrote a lot of original content but I didn't. The whole setup is an adaptation of concepts taken from different popular design patterns.