Excel VBA Copying data from another workbook using cell reference - vba

Question

I have the filename stated in cell B1 and I'm trying to import data from another sheet. Currently this is throwing subscription-out-of-range error. Any simple way to fix this? Or another preferred way to do this? The only requirement is to have cells containing data (text) from another workbook, not formula referring to it.
Sub UpdateFileInfo()
If (Range("B1") = "") Then
Range("A2:R200").Value = ""
Else
Filename = Range("B1").Value
Range("A2:R200") = Workbooks(Filename).GetActiveSheet.Range("A2:R200").Value
End If
End Sub

Answer 1

if you already know the source sheet name (e.g.: "Sheet1") you could use this
Option Explicit
Sub UpdateFileInfo2()
With Range("A2:R200") ' reference target range
If Range("B1") = "" Then ' if currently active sheet B1 cell is empty
.ClearContents ' clear referenced range content
Else
.FormulaR1C1 = "='C:\Users\...\[" & Range("B1").Value & "]Sheet1'!RC" ' fill referenced range with formulas pointing at the corresponding cell in the wanted sheet of the wanted workbook
.Value = .Value ' get rid of formulas and leave values only
End If
End With
End Sub
otherwise, you could use this pattern:
Sub UpdateFileInfo2()
With Range("A2:R200") ' reference target range
If Range("B1") = "" Then ' if currently active sheet B1 cell is empty
.ClearContents ' clear referenced range content
Else
.Value = Workbooks.Open(Range("B1").Value).ActiveSheet.Range(.Address).Value ' have refereneced range values as the newly opened workbook activesheet corresponding one
ActiveWorkbook.Close false ' close newly opened workbook
End If
End With
End Sub
while, should your Range("B1").Value not contain the full path of your file, then add it:
Sub UpdateFileInfo2()
With Range("A2:R200") ' reference target range
If Range("B1") = "" Then if currently active sheet B1 cell is empty
.ClearContents ' clear referenced range content
Else
.Value = Workbooks.Open("C:\Users\...\" & Range("B1").Value).ActiveSheet.Range(.Address).Value ' have refereneced range values as the newly opened workbook activesheet corresponding one
ActiveWorkbook.Close false ' close newly opened workbook
End If
End With
End Sub

Answer 2

You are getting this error because the Workbook is not open.
To do that, you'll have to include a line before the command that writes to range("A2:R200") that opens the workbook. But then, you'll have more than one workbook open, so you might want to use variables to make this cleaner like this:
Sub UpdateFileInfo()
Dim LocalWorkbook As Workbook
Dim RemoteWorkbook As Workbook
Set LocalWorkbook = ActiveWorkbook
If (Range("B1") = "") Then
Range("A2:R200").Value = ""
Else
FullFilename = Range("B1").Value
Set RemoteWorkbook = Workbooks.Open(Filename:=FullFilename, ReadOnly:=True)
LocalWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Range("A2:R200") = RemoteWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Range("A2:R200").Value
RemoteWorkbook.Close SaveChanges:=False
End If
End Sub
In general, when you get a subscription-out-of-range error, it's because you are referring to an element of a collection (in this case the workbooks collection) or an element of an array using a key or an index that does not exist.