I am working on a change management. I have good, robust code for single cell changes with old and new target values. for pasting a range, however, it is more complicated. for instance, if i copy range A1:A5 and paste to B1, how do i save the previous values in B1:B5, saving B1 is easy, the rest is beyond me.
I did something similar, the method was fairly simple, when something is pasted it is selected, save the selection.address into a range variable.
Then save each cell's contents to string variables.
then undo the paste.
then copy out the now restored contents of the range variable to wherever you want for backup purposes.
then write back the variables with the originally pasted values over the top.
Set the code to run on a worksheet change event and you are all good. Obviously you need to put in some code to detect that only certain areas are in the target so the event doesn't go bananas and don't forget to turn the events off whilst you do you stuff then back on after.
Related
This is the code I have in a [very involved] spreadsheet someone made at work:
Sub ClearSheet()
'
' Macro5 Macro
'
'
Range("E9,E2:F7,C14:I39,Q41:Q55,N14:N39,N41:N55").Select
Range("Q14").Activate
Range("E9,E2:F7,C14:I39,C41:I55,Q41:Q55,N14:N39,N41:N55,L41:L55").Select
Range("Q41").Activate
Selection.ClearContents
I have never so much as glanced at an excel macro before, so I had to look some things up. I get that the first range is selected and then Q14 becomes the active cell. Then that is done again, with some overlapping sections, and Q41 is made into the active cell. All to have the selections just be cleared out. I'm sure this is a simple question but I don't understand what the point is of the .Activates, or why someone would separate the sections that need to be cleared into two separate segments? From my very limited understanding, I thought Activate was something like focus, where that is now that cell that has focus for ease of use on the users side. But what good is that if the focus changes from the first cell to the second cell in a millisecond?
All I know is that I need these cells:
E9,E2:F7,C14:I39,N14:N39,C41:I55,L41:L55,N41:N55,Q41:Q55
to clear out when this code is run, and if this code is doing something in addition to that, what is it?
Is this just poorly written or am I too ignorant to understand? ~the novel~
Use
Range("E9,E2:F7,C14:I39,N14:N39,C41:I55,L41:L55,N41:N55,Q41:Q55").ClearContents
Better still specify the workbook and worksheet to do this in e.g.
ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("E9,E2:F7,C14:I39,N14:N39,C41:I55,L41:L55,N41:N55,Q41:Q55").ClearContents
Using sheet 1 as an example. You want to be sure to be in the right sheet before clearing stuff out. If you don't specify, and leave as just range, then the currently Active sheet is used.
In the code you talked about the each selection was shifting focus from the prior making the prior selections redundant.
Using Select, in particular, is not generally a good thing, it means 'touching' the sheet which incurs potentially unnecessary performance overhead.
As mentioned in comments, and indicated by ' Macro5 Macro, this is, at least in part, likely all, macro generated code. Macro meaning "many". Many instructions in this case. The macro recorder is verbose to say the least. It records everything your are doing including scrolling, mistakes in range selections etc. It is a good learning tool, and can often give useful insights into some objects and methods. The valuable skill is learning which elements to keep and how to turn this verbose code into structured programming.
The way you interpret Select and Activate is correct, one is for the actual selection and the other is somewhat to focus.
Select as the method name suggest selects the object. This method is not limited to Range Objects alone but is shared by most of the objects in Excel. Some of the examples:
Range("A1").Select '/* selecting a Range Object */
Worksheets("Sheet1").Select '/* selecting a Sheet Object */
Activate on the other hand works when you already selected an object.
Activates a single cell, which must be inside the current selection. To select a range of cells, use the Select method.
So what happens when you activate a cell not in the current selection?
It becomes the selected cell and as you've said, Excel executes the Select first and then the Activate in mili or nano or pico seconds (God knows how fast) interval.
In Range Objects the use of Select and Activate is almost interchangeable. But you have to take note that there will be difference always with Selection and ActiveCell. For example:
Range("A1:B10").Select
Range("B5").Activate
Debug.Print Selection.Address
Debug.Print ActiveCell.Address
This means that you can actually do stuff (e.g. format, clear, add formula, add text etc.) on all cells you activate within the current selection but still preserves what Selection object points to.
There are cases that activating the object is vital. For example you want to select multiple worksheets like below and then select Range("A1") of Sheet3.
Worksheets(Array("Sheet1", "Sheet3", "Sheet5")).Select
Worksheets("Sheet3").Activate '/* vital */
Worksheets("Sheet3").Range("A1").Select
Above is the correct select command for multiple worksheet selection and selecting a range within 1 of the worksheets selected. But without the Activate part, there is a chance that it will return:
Run-time error '1004': Select method of Range class failed
because the first sheet in the array will always be the activated sheet object after the select. Now, how to avoid this troubles? Simple, avoid using select and activate. ~the novel sequel~
I have a workbook which displays a little coloured box based on some input metrics from another worksheet within the workbook. I want to display these little coloured boxes in an additional worksheet in the workbook. Is there a way to copy a shape across worksheets so that the colour will still update with the metrics rather than using the code again for a separate worksheet?
I essentially want to display this textbox with the coloured boxes/arrows in another worksheet as well.
A pretty dirty way to do something like this would be the Indirect-Picture-Copy-Solution.
Asume the art is at Sheet1 B2:D8 then just input a picture in Sheet2 (the picture doesn't matter, just pick the first you can find)
While the Picture is selected input in the formula bar =Sheet1!B2:D8.
Hope that helps ;)
EDIT
For making it dynamically put in any module:
Public Function testing() As Range
Set testing = Range(Sheet1.Shapes("Dia 1").TopLeftCell, Sheet1.Shapes("Dia 1").BottomRightCell)
End Function
(Make sure to change the names to fit your workbook/sheet/shapes....-names)
Then define a name (I'll pick TETE for this example)
Refers to: =testing()
Then the picture-formula is: =TETE
Whenever the size or position changes, your picture fits to it... still not a good way to solve your problem (to my eye)
Funny fact: making the picture-formula directly to =testing() will just pop an error
I've been using a conditional format formula =OR(B2=B1,B2=B3) to highlight consecutive duplicates. I then use format painter to copy the formula to all columns in my excel table.
I have set up a button that will, amongst other things, copy a workbook into a new workbook. I now want to include the above formula in this macro. My final objective is to replace all of the cells found with this formula with an asterisk (*).
I first tried to just pop the formula into the macro as a starting point -
For Each sh In Destwb.Worksheets
With sh.UsedRange.FormatConditions _
.Add(Type:=xlExpression, Formula1:="=OR(B2=B1,B2=B3)")
.Interior.Color = RGB(198, 239, 206)
End With
Next sh
But this just makes a mess of seemingly randomly highlighted cells. I'm not sure where I've gone wrong. Even column B highlights are all wrong. Could the header in B1 affect this? It doesn't when I use the CF normally. How can I expand the CF into all columns uniquely?
Finally, how do I go about working a replacement of formatted cells into this formula? Or is there a quicker/easier way to meet this end-goal?
I didn't realise I could add custom text in that way. That's moved me a good couple of steps forward.
Taking Balinti's suggestion into consideration I've tried a workaround. I was making a couple of assumptions that turned out to be wrong. I have been able to enter the CF into the Array of data that I have in my original workbook. It's not as simple as putting it into a table, but by manually selecting the range in each column and inputting the CF I have made it work.
I also wasn't sure if the formatting would carry through to the new worksheet as I have used the Paste Special command to convert the array formula to values in the new sheet. It does, however, carry the formatting across which is very handy.
It's not the perfect solution for me but it appears to be working so far. I still need to test what happens when I change the date and get updated data. It would still be interesting to know if I can move this formatting into my macro though. Any tips?
Example:
A B
1 =vlookup(XX)
2
3
in cell A1 there is a Vlookup formula, Is it possible to enable user entry in this cell and override the formula then later restore the formula automatically when sheet is open again?
Even through VBA
Short, boring answer: nope.
A cell only ever has a keyed-in value, or a calculated formula. Can't have both.
Longer answer: maybe.
Shift everything 1 row down, and use row 1 to store your "original" formula - then hide that row (and pray the user isn't going to mess with it).
When the sheet is opened again sounds like you're confusing "workbook" and "worksheet" - you need to handle Workbook_Open if you want to run code when a workbook opens. Workbooks contain worksheets - it's the workbook that opens, not the sheets (sheets activate, but I doubt you would want to put that logic in there).
So, in the handler for Workbook_Open, write code that takes the formula in the hidden row and overwrites whatever is under it.
Another solution can be to hard-code the formula in the VBA code.
One possibility would be to store your Workbook as a template. Normally when a user opens the workbook by double-clicking, it will open whole new workbook based on the template, and they can modify it to their heart's content, save it, mail it to Grandma, etc.
The next person who comes along will double-click the template file and get the formula again, just as you designed it.
Short answer: Kind of, sort of
Long answer:
Save your workbook as a template. Every time someone will use it you'll see the orignal with formula, then if someone write over the formula, when using save your original will be kept intact.
What You need to do is:
press Alt + F11
select ThisWorkbook and paste this code:
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A11").Value = "asdf"
End Sub
Every time the workbook is opened, this script will run.
Instead of "Sheet1" you can write the name of the sheet you want to apply the script.
Inside the Range, You can define the cells you want to modify, You can use even multiple cells. Check this for more information about this.
After Value You can write what You want to be written inside the cell. You can write "=vlookup(XX)" and it will work.
I have a macro to write, quite simple.
It just pulls numeric values from a Database and pops them into certain cells.
Problem is, I want the layout and design of the worksheet to be able to be changed without a care of the underlying macro. So obviously the cell references will change, for the cells that I need to populate with data.
Is there a way to mark a cell - say with "VALUE1" - in the background, and then reference that cell by using "VALUE1" - without needing to know its exact Cell position? So that its value can be updated - wherever it is on the Work Sheet?
Is there a TAG property or something that could be used? Although a function would have to be written to search through all the TAGs of every cell, but that is OK.
Any ideas?
I think this could be a bonus for any Macro developer :)
Office Documentation: Define and use names in formulas.