Make one cell's value dependent on another's in Google Sheets

Question

I am trying to setup a doc to keep track of my AWS instances. How would I go about setting up a script so that my "Cost" cell would be dependent on the Instance Type. For example, if I am adding a new instance, and I add "t2.micro" in the "Instance type" column the "Cost" cell would automatically populate with a set value. Any help or direction to relevant documentation would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

One path is to use the LOOKUP function.

With instance and cost being columns A and B, you'd make a list elsewhere of your options (t2.micro/$200). In the linked example I did it on the same page in columns G/H (but you could put it on another page or elsewhere).

I then set Data>Validation>List from a Range for Column A to be the values in column G. That give me a nice drop down of the instance types.

In Column B, I set the function =LOOKUP(A1,$G$1:$H$4) and drag it down. It references the value in cell A1 (instance) and then compares it to your list to pull the cost.