Managing Categories and Sub-Categories
(Version 2.86 and later)
The Categories user form is used to create, modify, and remove categories and sub-categories from the inventory.  With this form you no longer need to manipulate the cells in the "CatTables" worksheet.  The form performs those functions
The Categories form has two sections.  On the left are the controls used to manage the Categories.  On the right are the controls for the Sub-Categories.
Since Sub-Categories belong to one of the Categories, the first step on any process is work with the Categories.  The drop-down list in the left section of the form is populated with all existing categories.
Notice that the only control button this active is the Close Form button at the bottom of the form.  The other functional buttons become active as a modification is initiated in the.
I want to add a new Category.  To do this I just start typing the name of the new category into the blank space in the drop-down list.  As soon as I have typed 3 characters (minimum length for a Category or Sub-Category name), the Add Category button becomes.
When I have type the full name I want to use for the new Category I clicked on the Add Category button and now the drop-down list contains my new category, "NewCategory".
I made a typo on the name, I really wanted a space between "New" and "Category".  So I select my new entry in the list.
When an item is selected the category name is transferred to a text box that appears below the drop down list.
Immediately two button become active, Delete Category and Discard Changes.  I don't want to delete this category, I just want to edit it.  Notice that the drop down list has been grayed and is no longer accessible.  Right now we're working with this category name.  If I really wanted to work on a different name I would click on the Discard Changes button and the Edit text box would disappear and the drop down list would be active allowing another selection or a new addition.
I want to correct my typo, which I have done by inserting space in the name.  Now the Save Changes button is active and I will click on it to update the name of the category.
When I click on the Save Changes button a Windows Message Box appears asking me if I want to change all occurrences of "NewCategory" to "New Category" in the inventory.  If I click yes, the form will search the Inventory worksheet and make the change to all records that use the "NewCategory" category.  I just created this category so now records in the inventory use it as yet, but if I had edited an existing category clicking Yes would update all records to the new name.
Now I have the category name as I want, but there are no Sub-Categories as shown in the drop-down list in the Sub-Category section of the form.
So I start entering Sub-Categories for the "New Category" using a similar process to creating categories.
I have added three sub-categories to this category.
Next I have added several items to the inventory using the new categories and sub-categories.
These new inventory items are shown in the Inventory worksheet.
Now I've decided I really want to call this category "Newer Category" so I open the Categories form, select "New Category", edit it to "Newer Category" and click Save Changes.
Once more I get the Message Box asking me if I want to make this change to all inventory records using the old name.  Now I have some inventory records with the old name, so I click Yes.
Now the modified category name appears in the drop-down list, but also the the three inventory records that I created with the old name now have the updated category name.
Similarly I can edit any of the Sub-Category names and update the inventory records to use the new name.