Is there a way to make this less hacky / work properly? - vba

Question

I have a function that checks the rows underneath the current one depending on the unique ID. There can be up to 6 unique ideas under the current record (loop variable = i) that match the current record being checked in the loop. After this is done, the records underneath are checked for specific conditions (loop variable x). However, for some reason, I'm running into several issues. The first is that I had to set the range references inside of both loops, otherwise I got an error. The second is that, all of the stuff after the x loop seems to be outputting in the i loop that came before it. What am I doing wrong, and how can i make this function properly?
Please find my code below:
Function First_check()
dim i as long, x as long
Dim numComponents As Variant
Dim in1 As Range, in2 As Range, in3 As Range, in4 As Range, in5 As Range, _
in6 As Range, in7 As Range, in8 As Range, in9 As Range, in10 As Range, _
in11 As Range, in12 As Range, in13 As Range, in14 As Range, in15 As Range, _
in16 As Range, in17 As Range, in18 As Range, in19 As Range, in20 As Range
Dim out1 As Range, out2 As Range, out3 As Range, out4 As Range, out5 As Range, _
out6 As Range, out7 As Range, out8 As Range, out9 As Range, out10 As Range, _
out11 As Range, out12 As Range, out13 As Range, out14 As Range, out15 As Range, _
out16 As Range, out17 As Range, out18 As Range, out19 As Range, out20 As Range
Dim str, msg, oft, BTG, LOB, pdf, mht, emails, zip_rar, xls, doc, xls_doc, mrTT, lobVal, cmt1, giveURL, giveURLm As String
lastRow = Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
lastCol = Cells(1, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column
For i = 2 To lastRow
If Cells(i, 5).Value2 = Cells(i + 6, 5).Value2 Then
numComponents = 6
ElseIf Cells(i, 5).Value2 = Cells(i + 5, 5).Value2 Then
numComponents = 5
ElseIf Cells(i, 5).Value2 = Cells(i + 4, 5).Value2 Then
numComponents = 4
ElseIf Cells(i, 5).Value2 = Cells(i + 3, 5).Value2 Then
numComponents = 3
ElseIf Cells(i, 5).Value2 = Cells(i + 2, 5).Value2 Then
numComponents = 2
ElseIf Cells(i, 5).Value2 = Cells(i + 1, 5).Value2 Then
numComponents = 1
Else
numComponents = 0
End If
For x = i + 1 To i + numComponents
Set in1 = Cells(i, 11) 'test
Set in2 = Cells(i, 12)
Set in3 = Cells(i, 13)
Set in4 = Cells(i, 16) 'e
Set in5 = Cells(i, 37) 'target date
Set in6 = Cells(i, 38) 'target date end
Set in7 = Cells(i, 35) 'target date actual
Set in8 = Cells(i, 37) 'target date start
Set in9 = Cells(i, 38) 'target date end
Set in10 = Cells(x, 50) ' date start
Set in11 = Cells(x, 51) ' date end
Set in12 = Cells(i, 42) 'pro
Set in13 = Cells(i, 43) 'reco
Set in14 = Cells(x, 62) 'cert
Set in15 = Cells(x, 63) 'com
Set in16 = Cells(x, 64) 'comp
Set in17 = Cells(x, 49) 'uniqueID
'outs
Set out1 = Cells(i, 72) 'test
Set out2 = Cells(i, 73) '
Set out3 = Cells(i, 74) '
Set out4 = Cells(i, 75) 'e
Set out5 = Cells(i, 76) 'tar
Set out6 = Cells(i, 77) 'comp
Set out7 = Cells(i, 78) 'pro
Set out8 = Cells(i, 75) 'empty
Set out9 = Cells(i, 80) 'cer
Set out10 = Cells(i, 81) 'comp
Set out11 = Cells(i, 85) 'pre
Set out12 = Cells(i, 88) 'missing
Set out13 = Cells(i, 89) 'missing2
Set out14 = Cells(i, 71) 'uniqueID
'------ATTACHMENT SET
str = Cells(i, 46).Value2
msg = UBound(Split(str, ".msg"))
oft = UBound(Split(str, ".oft"))
BTG = UBound(Split(str, "BTG"))
LOB = UBound(Split(str, "LOB"))
pdf = UBound(Split(str, ".pdf"))
mht = UBound(Split(str, ".mht"))
emails = msg + oft + pdf + mht
zip_rar = UBound(Split(str, ".zip"))
xls = UBound(Split(str, ".xls"))
doc = UBound(Split(str, ".doc"))
xls_doc = xls Or doc
If (in8.Value2 <> in10.Value2) Or (in9.Value <> in11.Value2) Then 'date
out6.Value2 = Cells(x, 49).Value2 & ", " & out6.Value2
End If
If IsBlank(in14.Value2) Then 'Check cer
out9.Value2 = Cells(x, 49).Value2 & ", " & out9.Value2
End If
If IsBlank(in15.Value2) Or IsBlank(in16.Value2) Then 'check loc
out10.Value2 = Cells(x, 49).Value2 & ", " & out10.Value2
End If
If Not IsBlank(in17.Value2) Then
out14.Value2 = in17.Value2 & ", " & out14.Value2
End If
Next x
If Not IsBlank(out6.Value2) Then 'date
out6.Value2 = "Wrong dates"
out6.Value2 = fixtrail(out6.Value2)
End If
If Not IsBlank(out9.Value2) Then 'cert
out9.Value2 = "Cert Issue"
out9.Value2 = fixtrail(out9.Value2)
End If
If Not IsBlank(out10.Value2) Then 'comp
out10.Value2 = "Comp not found"
out10.Value2 = fixtrail(out10.Value2)
End If
If IsBlank(in1.Value2) Then
out1.Value2 = "Missing type"
End If
'
'many more checks happening that i omittied for brevity
'
If numComponents = 0 Then
Cells(i, 70).Value2 = "0"
Else
Cells(i, 70).Value2 = numComponents
End If
i = i + numComponents
Next i
End Function

Answer 1

The first idea that came to mind is using an array of Range objects to clean up the variable declarations:
Dim inRange(20) As Range
Dim outRange(20) As Range
'...
For x = i + 1 To i + numComponents
Set inRange(1) = Cells(i, 11)
Set inRange(2) = Cells(i, 12)
'...
Next
This will work especially well if you can get a formula for the cell numbers that map to each array position.
Additionally, we can improve variables around how the two loops are nested. The outer loop uses the i variable, while the inner loop uses the x variable. Since these are both looking at rows, I would re-name them as r0 and r1 (or rBase and rNested, rParent and rChild, rMaster and rDetail, etc) to help you understand what you're looking at with each index. I also see that some of the Range objects depend on the current i value, while other depend on x. You should be able to assign the i ranges above the inner loop, and save some CPU/memory work that way:
For irParent = 2 To LastRow
'...
Set inRange(1) = Cells(irParent, 11) 'test
Set inRange(2) = Cells(irParent, 12)
Set inRange(3) = Cells(irParent, 13)
Set inRange(4) = Cells(irParent, 16) 'e
'...
'If numComponents is 0, there are no child rows and this loop is skipped
For rChild = rParent + 1 To rParent + numComponents
Set inRange(10) = Cells(irChild, 50) ' date start
Set inRange(11) = Cells(irChild, 51) ' date end
'...
str = Cells(irParent, 46).Value2
msg = UBound(Split(str, ".msg"))
oft = UBound(Split(str, ".oft"))
'...
Next
irParent = irParent + numComponents
Next
Another thing is this method runs kind of long. You may want to abstract out some of the checks to a separate method, or a few separate methods that depend on what type of parent record you're looking at. Create methods that just accept the values needed for checking a particular kind of row, and then returns a single result for the check. This adds names to the code that help you understand what you're doing, as well as shorting the parent code to make it easier to read and understand at a high level more quickly.
As you make those other changes, you may want to start thinking in terms of creating Range objects that represent an entire row (or section from a row), so you can pass them to methods. This is especially true, as it appears many Range objects are currently used to hold values from single Cells. You can build strings to define non-contiguous Ranges that have the values needed for each row (including the parent cells when working in a child row). This will make building functions much easier, if you can have them simply accept a single Range object that you know has the correct cells in it.
This is also helpful because it minimizes instances where you copy from Excel Cells to memory. Moving data between VBA and Excel is a costly operation. It's usually better for performance to copy to or from a set of Cells in bulk, rather than one Cell at a time. This often holds even when it means using some extra memory. It also often helps reduce or simplify the total amount of code needed. Unfortunately, I'm too far out of VBA to show you an example.
Finally, notice my indentation. Professionals will do that consistently... even religiously. "Hacky" code does not. It's extremely helpful for spotting mistakes.