VBA - Looping through string with delimeters - vba

Question

Hoping someone could help me with this. I have the following string:
RSSRRSSRRR;RSRRSSRSRSRSSRSS;RSRSSS;SRRRSSRR;SSSRS;SRSSRRSRRSSS;SRSSRS;SRSSS;RSSRSRSS;RSRSSRSRRSSS;RSSSS;SRSSS;S/RR/SR/SS/RS/RR.SSSRRS;RSSSS;SRSSS;SSSS;RSSRSRSS;SSRSS;SSRRSRSRSS;SRRSRSSS;RSSSRRSS;SSSS;SSSRS;SRSSS;R/SR/SS/RR/RR/SR/RR/S
This is data from a tennis match. The 'S' represents a point won by the server, 'R' represents a point won by the receiver, ';' represents the end of a game and '.' represents the end of the set. The server in the first game will be Player 1 and the server in the second game will be Player 2. This will swap throughout the match after each game. Given a tie break occurs in the 13th game of a set, the '/' will represent when the serve is switched over to the other player.
I want to get the data into the following format:
Set, Game, Point, PlayerPointID, P1net, P2net,result
1, 1, 1, player2 , -1, +1
1, 1, 2, player1 , 0, 0
1, 1, 3, player1 , +1, -1
...
1, 1, 10, player2, -2,+2, Player2
I've wrote the following code so far:
Sub LoopThroughString()
Dim Counter As Integer
Dim MyString As String
MyString = Cells(2, 9)
For Counter = 1 To Len(MyString)
If Mid(MyString, Counter, 1) = "S" Then
Cells(Counter + 1, 16) = Cells(Counter, 16) + 1
ElseIf Mid(MyString, Counter, 1) = "R" Then
Cells(Counter + 1, 16) = Cells(Counter, 16) - 1
End If
Cells(Counter + 1, 17) = -Cells(Counter + 1, 16)
Next
End Sub
That basically just loops the string and calculates net values. I'm not sure however how to deal with the delimiters, how it would swap over player 1 and player 2 after each game. Also how I could do a point, game, set count. The point count would need to reset after each game and the game count would reset after each set. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can use Split([String], [Delimiter])to get an Array of strings in which there is a delimiter. for example, your string RSSRRSSRRR;RSRRSSRSRSRSSRSS;RSRSSS;SRRRSSRR;SSSRS;SRSSRRSRRSSS;SRSSRS;SRSSS;RSSRSRSS;RSRSSRSRRSSS;RSSSS;SRSSS;S/RR/SR/SS/RS/RR.SSSRRS;RSSSS;SRSSS;SSSS;RSSRSRSS;SSRSS;SSRRSRSRSS;SRRSRSSS;RSSSRRSS;SSSS;SSSRS;SRSSS;R/SR/SS/RR/RR/SR/RR/S when used in the function :
Dim MyArray() As String
MyArray = Split(MyString, ";")
would be separated as such :
RSSRRSSRRR
RSRRSSRSRSRSSRSS
RSRSSS
SRRRSSRR
SSSRS
SRSSRRSRRSSS
SRSSRS
SRSSS
RSSRSRSS
RSRSSRSRRSSS
RSSSS
SRSSS
S/RR/SR/SS/RS/RR.SSSRRS
RSSSS
SRSSS
SSSS
RSSRSRSS
SSRSS
SSRRSRSRSS
SRRSRSSS
RSSSRRSS
SSSS
SSSRS
SRSSS
R/S
R/SS/RR/RR/SR/RR/S
Each line being a separate entry in the Array. MyArray[0] would then be the first line RSSRRSSRRR, which would be the first game, and MyArray[UBound(MyArray)] would be the last one R/SS/RR/RR/SR/RR/S. UBound(MyArray)is the last index of the array provided, which would be equivalent to 25in this example.
To loop through each entry, you can use a for loop :
Dim CurrentGame As Integer
For CurrentGame = 0 to UBound(MyArray)
For Counter = 0 to Len(MyArray[CurrentGame])
' do stuff
' like MyArray[CurrentGame][Counter] to get the character "R", "S" or whatever is there.
Next
Next
NOTE : I assume you are using the default base 0 indexes from your example, but the best practice would be to use For CurrentGame = LBound(MyArray) '... instead, where LBound(MyArray) gives you the first index of the provided Array.
To remember which player is serving, you can create another variable :
Dim player1Serving as Boolean
player1Serving = True
When you want to switch, simply write :
player1Serving = Not player1Serving
And when you want to act according to who is serving :
If player1Serving Then
' Do stuff for Player 1 serving
Else
' Do stuff for Player 2 serving
End If