We keep our orders & production in Excel. An order workbook looks something like this:
Main Order XXXX
Cabinet
Solid Surface
Diewall
Custom
Metal
Finishing
Moulding
Adaptable
On our Main Order tab, we have a table with all the items on the order. What I need, is a way to automate copying certain rows to certain sheets. We have column on the Main Order that can be used to state which sheet that row needs to go to. Also worth noting, we sometimes have to ADD new sheets if we need more items that need to go on 2 separate Custom tabs for example (but this could apply to any of the sheet names other than Main Order). We do that by copying the applicable sheet and renaming it 'Custom1', 'Custom2'. It's the same format for each sheet - a number after the name of the sheet, no space. Right now, we are doing this all manually and it's very time consuming. Would it be possible to make the script create the new sheet based on what is in the Main Order? Meaning, if we put 'Custom1' in the Main Order table, can the script create the sheet called 'Custom1', copying the 'Custom' sheet and then adding the rows from the Main Order?
I'm not sure if it matters, but the Main Order sheet table starts at Row 18 and is variable in length depending on the order. There's another table below that, but that doesn't need to be copied anywhere. The tables where that rows need to be copied on the other sheets all start at Row 13 (that's the header row) and we can add however many columns we need.
I will admit I'm very new to scripts and VBA, but I have a very basic understanding (I think anyway). I feel like what I'm looking for should be possible, I just don't know enough to figure it out on my own at this point.
I found a script that copies rows to a table, but I need it to be more dynamic. I don't want to have to create a script for each sheet, especially since new sheets can be created as stated above. Below is the script I already have, and I confirmed it worked for the 1 sheet ('Adaptable'). I'm hoping someone can help me make this more 'generic' if that makes sense? So in our Main Order, I want to be able to put in a column the sheet name that the row needs to be copied to and then have it automatically copied, or if the user needs to click 'Run Script' or whatever, that would still be much easier and faster than what we're currently doing.
Related
I'm trying to run a duplicate check In which varying data is pulled from a website and compared to a master list, the master list being stored in Excel. The information from the website is read from a table in which has line breaks. These breaks are translated over to the data collection they are initially stored in. Some of the data from the website us eventually written to the master list in Excel. So when I read the master list back into Blue Prism to run a duplicate check, the rows that have line breaks are written into a collection as multiple rows (ex. I should have on 7 rows in my collections but am getting 42). Since the rows are not EXACTLY the same between the 2 collections, when it runs the automation does not recognize the duplicates.
The easiest way to solve this would be if I could make the collection rows have no line breaks as soon as the data is read. I've attempted to use the calculation stage to do so with no luck. I'm not sure if it is actually possible to do this, but would appreciate any direction.
Record an Excel macro to do the data sorting/cleaning in Excel (possibly Text To Columns, etc..) and then include the running of the macro as part of your Blue Prism process by using an action stage and the MS Excel VBO - Run Macro. Get the process to create an Excel instance (and create a handle data item from that stage), then use Open Workbook (whatever workbook you store your Macro in) and then use the MS Excel VBO - Run Macro (use the same handle created earlier and type in the name of the "macro").
It sounds like what is happening is that the MS Excel VBO is grabbing the data from the Excel Worksheet wholesale.
This is to say that it's accessing your Worksheet table, copying the cell values BUT not the cell formatting data, and then dumping the values into a BP collection.
Since it did not bring along any of the original cell formatting data to reference when it went to populate the collection it's just breaking up the values based on crturn/line breaks. Thus, your collection is organized based on that, and not on the original Worksheet cell.
So, with that said, on to a solution!
Solution 1
Brute force the organization of the incoming Excel cell data to the collection by looping over the Excel Worksheet cell-by-cell.
Run a loop, and in that loop have BP go into the Excel Worksheet and grab the first populated cell it comes across. Run a formatting/cleanup Calculation stage over the data. Dump the cell value into a single collection field.
Repeat.
This is...inelegant, expensive at best, and not at all recommended for any medium to large dataset. But it's definitely the best way to do string manipulation and value comparisons before it hits your collection. Since it sounds like your using a Master template then you as-well know what the expected format of your data should be.
This method will enable you implement Trim(), Concat(), or Split() in a Calculation stage to better organize your incoming data before you dump it into a collection.
This is also basically what I think you're already trying to do, but cell-by-cell instead of Worksheet row-by-row or table-by-table.
Solution 2
Clean up the table data you grab from the website before you dump it into the Excel Worksheet.
This is basically Solution 1, but in reverse. Simply format/cleanup your data before it hits you Excel Worksheet.
I'm not sure this is any better than Solution 1, but, you know, it's something...
Solution 3
Format the cell data IN the MS Excel Worksheet itself.
Basically rearrange the cells and cell data in the Excel Worksheet into a more predictable format by using the Split, Trim, Merge, or other actions included in the MS Excel VBO. You can also do this using the Data - OLEDB utility object, but that requires some pretty solid understanding of SQL syntax.
This would look like this using the MS Excel VBO:
Grab the Excel Worksheet data wholesale and dump into a collection
Count the rows/fields of the collection
Is that number consistent with the desired/expected format of your data?
If not, have the bot go back into the Excel Worksheet and reformat the cells by removing any carriage returns/line breaks/whatever else
Repeat.
However, I'm always reluctant to reformat any original source, as it's then hard to figure out what wrong and where it went wrong when you've changed the original structure of your data. So it's best to always make a copy of the Worksheet before you make any manipulation.
Unfortunately I don't have access to my BP environment at the moment or I'd provide you with the act object actions you'd need to do any of this, my bad. Once I do I'll update this answer.
My problem is as follows, I have a workbook with (to begin with) 2 worksheets, the first (called WIP) acts as a form of data entry, each new occurrence of the BoM requires an insertion of 4 columns which happens to the left of the existing columns. At the same time a new worksheet is created based on a copy of the existing second worksheet (called FitOut) which pulls various bits of a data from the first worksheet based mainly upon the version of the BoM selected and the supplier referenced.
Of course adding new columns to the WIP sheet causes the functions, arrays and formulas in the sheets to automatically update, I had used a quick workaround by using some code to hold and then paste the new occurrences data into the worksheet which is created at the start of the macro, however the formulas have become slightly complex (due to the need to look for the previous 4 occurrences and return values based on specific cell locations) that the 256 character limit has been completely shot ( I think I'm over 800 on some bits).
I've very limited as to the layout of the WIP sheet, and the sheet needs to be fairly idiot proof (hence macros, buttons etc) but it needs to run well...
ANy and all suggestions/help would be much appreciated.
I have put an example of the formula I am trying to use, if it can be condensed further pleas let me know:
=IFERROR(IF($C$1='WIP'!$U$1,(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$X$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$U$1:$U$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$U$1:$U$2500)),ROW(6:6)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C))),(IF($C$1='WIP'!$X$1,(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$AA$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$X$1:$X$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$X$1:$X$2500)),ROW(6:6)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C))),(IF($C$1='WIP'!$AA$1,(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$AD$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$AA$1:$AA$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$AA$1:$AA$2500)),ROW(6:6)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C))),(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$AG$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$AD$1:$AD$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$AD$1:$AD$2500)),ROW(7:7)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C)))))))),"")
I have been asked to create a database of volunteers in Excel. The main worksheet (called Data) holds all the information – names, addresses, numbers, reference checks, placements, supervisors, etc. What I am trying to achieve is for the relevant information to be moved from one worksheet to another when the status of the person changes.
There would be 5 categories which the volunteers would fall under (column A labelled ‘Status’)
PROCESSING
ACTIVE
ON HOLD
BARRED
STOPPED/RETIRED
What I want to get is a live database so the information would appear on a relevant worksheet whenever the status on the main spreadsheet changes , but I only want some information to show depending on the category…
Each Worksheet would contain columns A-F from the ‘Data’ worksheet and in addition:
Processing would contain columns X-AE
Active: AF-AW
On Hold: AZ-BC
Barred: AX-AY
Stopped/Retired:- BD-BH
I have searched and searched again but I know nothing about Macros (and my IT department is unable to help) So my question is – is this doable and if so is anyone able to help me?
I hope I am making sense and if not I can email across the dummy database with some made up names to show what it is I am trying to create
You can do this using array formulae. This link shows a simple example which provides the basic formula (explained in detail in the linked article)
=INDEX(range,SMALL(IF(col=value,ROW(range)),ROW(1:1)),COLUMN(A2))
Where range is the range of all your data from your main worksheet and value is the value you want to screen for (this changes for each of your sheets) and col is the column on your main sheet that you want to check the values of. Note it is an array forumla so you have to press control+shift+enter after typing in the formula as explained at the bottom of the link.
You will notice that I have changed the formula to say COLUMN(A2) instead of 2. This is so that you can drag the formula across the columns as well as down the rows. You might need to make this COLUMN(A2)-x where x is an offset because your data don't start in column A.
Note that the same applies for the ROW(1:1) part, if your range doesn't start in row 1 then you will need to offset this by some value as well (i.e. something like ROW(1:1)-y)
I am working on a spreadsheet which is being used to transfer a product from one location to another. Each day I will have a new list of products that needs sending to another location and I already have a "pre-populated" sheet that has suitable locations listed for where these products can be sent to.
I've already worked out the formula's to use which defines the location these products can be sent to (through index and match formula) but once this has been completed, I'd like to update the "pre-populated" sheet with the quantity I'm sending these locations so that limits can be deducted accordingly.
Essentially, I want to copy the figure from column G in ("Task") into column I in ("interstore transfer") where the two "REF" columns in either sheet match. The "New Limit" column will then automatically populate with the new limit based on the figure input into Column I. Once its finished working its way down the list in the sheet ("Task") then end.
I've had a rough attempt at this, but I'm coming stuck with defining the appropriate variables and how it should update.
Any ideas to better my approach would be appreciated.
A VBA solution with variables may not be your best approach for this. Variables declared within VBA code usually have a limited lifetime based on their scope, so when the code ends the values in the variable will be lost.
Another alternative may be to set aside another cell as a counter. Perhaps a good place for this would be next to the "New Limit" column?
Cell values are retained even when VBA code isn't running. Of course cell values also are saved when the workbook saves, so when you get a new list of products at the beginning of the day you can compare to or edit the previous day's work.
To get started with this, I'd recommend getting familiar with how to reference cells and ranges. And, there is some useful information here on Stack Overflow on how to reference well in Excel VBA.
I have a Worksheet with 10 columns and data range from A1:J55. Col A has the invoice # and rest of the columns have other demographic data. Goal is to type the invoice number on a cell and display all the rows matching the invoice number from col A.
Besides auto filter function, the only thing comes to my mind is VBA. Please advice what is the best way to get the data. Thanks for your help in advance.
Alright, I'm pretty proud of this one. Again avoiding VBA, this one uses the volatile formula OFFSET to keep moving its VLOOKUP search down the table until it's found all matches. Just make sure you paste enough rows of the formula that if there are many matches, there's room for all of them to appear. If you put a border around your match area then it would be clear if you ever ran out of room and needed to copy down the formula some more.
Again, in the main section, it's just a single formula (using index):
=IFERROR(INDEX($A$1:$J$200,$M3,MATCH(N$2,$A$1:$J$1,0)),"")
This gets to be so simple because the hard work of the lookup is done by an initial column which looks up the next row that matches the invoice number. It has the formula:
=IFERROR(MATCH($L$2,OFFSET($A$1:$A$200,M2,0),0)+M2," ")
Here is the working example that goes with those formulas:
Let me know if you need any further description of how it works, but it mostly uses the same rules as above so that it's robust in copying and moving around.
I've uploaded the Excel file so you can play with it, but everything you need to reproduce this feature should be in this solution.
Google Docs - Click link and hit Ctrl+S to download and open in Excel.
A popular solution to this problem is a simple VLookup. Lookup the invoice the user types in on the table A1:J55, and then return an adjascent column's data.
Here's an example of it working:
The formula in the highlighted cell is:
=VLOOKUP($L3,$A:$J,MATCH(N$2,$1:$1,0),FALSE)
What's nice about this formula is you only need to type it once and then you can copy it across and it'll automatically pick out the correct column of the table (that's the match part). The rest is very simple:
The first part says lookup value $L3 (the invoice number typed in),
The second part says look it up in range $A:$J (which is where your table is located). I've shown how you can select the entire columns $A:$J so that you can add and remove data without worrying about adjustin the range in your lookups. (Excel takes care of optimizing the formula so that unused cells aren't checked)
The third part picks the column from which the resulting data will be drawn once a matching row is found.
The FALSE part is an indication that the invoice number must match exactly (no approximate matching allowed)
The $ signs ensure that fixed ranges like the location of your source table ($A:$J) and your lookup value ($L3) don't get automatically changed as you copy the formula across for multiple columns.
The formula is pretty easy to adapt if you want to move around your table and the area where you do your lookup. Here's an example:
Bonus
If you want to add a little spiff, you can add a dropdown to the Invoice # field so that the user gets auto-completion and the option to browse existing values like so: