Building a simple timer using Excel VBA to track my Rubik’s cube solving speed [case study]

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Today, lets learn how to make a simple timer app using Excel. First some background…,

Rubik's CubeRecently, I learned how to solve Rubik’s cube from my nephew. As a budding cuber, I wanted to track my progress. Initially I used the stopwatch in my iPhone. But it wont let me track previous times. So I thought, “Well, I can use Excel for this”.

So I made a small timer app using Excel. Its quite minimalistic. It has a single button. I press it and it tracks the start time (date & time stamp). If I press the button again, it records the duration.

This way, I can see my progress over next few weeks and may be plot the trend.

Demo of the Excel VBA timer

Here is a short demo. This is what we will be building.

Building a simple timer using Excel VBA to track time - demo

Tutorial to make a timer in Excel

To make a timer app in Excel, first we need to understand the logic for this. If VBA apps can be defined on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being easiest to develop and 10 being most complex), our timer app can be classified as 1.5. It is really simple. But nevertheless, it is a good idea to list down various ingredients and basic logic to follow.

So we need,

  • A table to store the time stamps & durations
  • A button (simple text box will do) to start & stop the timer

Set up the timer worksheet

In a blank worksheet, make space for a 2 column table. Type Time stamp & Duration as column headings and make a table from these (CTRL+T to insert the table)

Note: For the macro to work, you do not need a table. Any 2 column range will do. A table makes our timer app look sexy.

Also, insert a rounded rectangle and format it to look like a button (from Format Ribbon > Shape Styles, select something slick and pretty)

In a blank cell, type the word “Start”. Name this cell as timer.button.label

Now, click on the rounded rectangle button, go to formula bar and type =timer.button.label

💡 Tip: Yes, you can assign names or cell references to shapes. This way, whatever text is in the cell will be shown inside the shape.

Other names to make:

Although we can write VBA code without creating these names, our code will be readable with these names. So here we go:

  • Select the header “Timestamp” of the table and name it as time.stamp.start
  • Name the table as Durations from Table Design ribbon
  • In a blank cell, write the formula =COUNTA(Durations[Timestamp])
  • This counts how many timestamps are already inserted.
  • Now name this cell as count.of.timestamps

We are done. Lets roll in to VBA.

Writing the VBA code for timer

Open VBE (Visual Basic Editor) and insert a new module in your timer workbook. There write this code.


Sub startStopTimer()
    If Range("timer.button.label") = "Start" Then
        Range("time.stamp.start").Offset(Range("count.of.timestamps") + 1).Value = Now
        Range("timer.button.label") = "Stop"
    Else
        Range("time.stamp.start").Offset(Range("count.of.timestamps"), 1).Value = Now - Range("time.stamp.start").Offset(Range("count.of.timestamps"))
        Range("timer.button.label") = "Start"
    End If
End Sub

Assign this macro to the timer button

Right click on timer button and choose “Assign macro”. Select the startStopTimer sub from the list and click ok.

Now go ahead and test it. Assuming you have used same names as per this post, your timer should work.

How this macro works?

When you click on the timer button, you want one of the 2 things to happen.

  1. You want to start the timer
  2. You want to stop the timer

What you want to do can be checked with this logical check.

Range("timer.button.label") = "Start"

If this is true, then you want to start the timer.
Else, you want to stop the timer.

If you want to start the timer

Then, we need to go to the last row of the table + 1 and insert current time (now) in that cell.

This is done by,

Range("time.stamp.start").Offset(Range("count.of.timestamps") + 1).Value = Now

Once we do that, we need to change timer button’s text to “Stop”.

This is done by,

Range("timer.button.label") = "Stop"

If you want to stop the timer

Then, we need to go to the last row’s 2nd column of the table and print the difference between latest time (now) and starting time (last row, first column value)

This is done by,

Range("time.stamp.start").Offset(Range("count.of.timestamps"), 1).Value = Now - Range("time.stamp.start").Offset(Range("count.of.timestamps"))

Once we do that, we need to change the button text to “Start” by using this code:

Range("timer.button.label") = "Start"

That’s all. Our VBA code is rather simple.

One last step, formatting the duration

If you look at the duration, it could read something like 0.0042354. This is because duration is displayed as a fraction of day. So 0.0042354 means the duration is 0.42% of a day.

Now, wouldn’t it be better if we can show this in minutes and seconds?

To do that, select the entire table column of durations, press CTRL+1

Then, set formatting as custom and type code as [mm]:ss

And you are done!

Download Simple Timer Excel VBA workbook

Click here to download Simple Timer Excel VBA workbook. Play with it. Use it to track your Sudoku, crossword or knitting times. Or even Rubik’s cube times. See what trends and patterns you can uncover.

Do you use Excel for tracking time?

I know many companies use Excel based trackers to keep track of employee time. I personally use time tracking features of Excel for needs like this all the time.

What about you? Do you use Excel time functions like NOW, TODAY and VBA to track progress? What techniques you apply? Please share using comments.

Like tracking? You will love these

If you track things with Excel, you are going to find below tutorials very useful.

Note: Rubik’s cube image by Booyabazooka thru Wikimedia

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23 Responses to “Learn Top 10 Excel Features”

  1. Dwi Budi H says:

    What it looks like if excel without formula?? 🙂

    • philip says:

      It would be not excel it would just be fancy tables in which you could just use power point. (Chandoo) would Access be an alternative?

  2. Roy says:

    Awesome piece of work!!!

  3. Rich says:

    Great article.

    Chandoo - my biggest interest in the article was the awesome word-graphic at the top - where did you go to get it done into a shape?

  4. koushik says:

    Awesome Chandoo.. You need always needs coffee to start up with. BTW , how did u created the Heart Shaped picture filled with High Repetitive text in it .. Please put it on your Next blog ...

  5. Bob Watson says:

    Chandoo, good article. I’ve added a link to it from Connexion – our collection of the most useful and interesting spreadsheet-related articles from the web. See http://www.i-nth.com/resources/connexion

  6. ca.nkv says:

    Hi,

    Just one small question. Where the hell have been I in the past for not discovering this website sooner?

    I've lost a job interview recently where even though I had the subject knowledge, I was not upto their mark in Excel.

    Thank you for all the free tips, guidance and for creating this forum environment.

    [PS: I've just been through the site for the 1st time, and have signed up for the newsletter. You can expect pretty stupid questions from me soon]

  7. William Luke says:

    Hy Chandoo, you always inspire me with to explore something new in excel. This data structure table is only for excel 2007 or compatible to 2010. I recently installed latest excel version 2013 in my System and experience problems regarding operating according to previous one. I'm waiting your article relates to that excel version.

    Thanks

  8. Ankit Bansal says:

    Awesome article Mr. Chandoo and that is a awesome heart shaped pic you created. Great tips as well.

  9. [...] Learn Top 10 Excel Features | Chandoo.org – Learn Microsoft Excel Online. [...]

  10. Arvi says:

    Chandoo is awesome..

  11. Kevin Ko (student major in computer and tech.) says:

    Thanks, i got better, And i always get 90.50 in my grade card but now i get 96.50 i improved because of the tutorials you gave, Thank You Very Much Chandoo Guy.

  12. kiran says:

    Hi chandoo, i am intersted in seeing the video or step by step done procedure of analysing the comments and presenting in the data percentage steps. I think this one would be first step in finding out how generally happens data calculation. Thank you.

    As well i would like to know how to get that black shape art of your face which i see in chandoo. I am interested in making it for me.

  13. l3g4to says:

    Nice to see the features considered by Excel users to be most useful. It might be a good idea to also analyze StackOverflow Excel questions to see what keywords appear most often.

    Here are my top 10 Excel Features (for advanced users):
    http://www.analystcave.com/excel-10-top-excel-features/

  14. Nami says:

    Thanks a ton for this it totally helped with my homework ????

  15. pradip says:

    Very good effort

  16. Barb says:

    Thank you for this. Lots of learning in the links you've provided for this septuagenarian.

  17. Arun says:

    Pls send me new post

  18. Abhay says:

    Dude, your humor ? ?
    Loved your work.

  19. Sanjeev Khakre says:

    Hello Sir,

    I am Sanjeev Khakre and i from Indore City, India , I am your big follower and i have watch your videos and learnt a lots of excel trick or function and many more . thanks so much for all of your excellent support.

    Your excel knowledge is real awesome.

    Thanks
    Sanjeev

  20. Your work is excellent but pls willing to know more details about the features of microsoft excel

  21. philip says:

    Chandoo Would Access be a better alternative than VB?

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