VBA to format PNEZD string in Excel - vba

Question

I have a large list of points with PNEZD (point, northing, easting, elevation, description) fallowed by a few attributes for each point. how can I combine these extra attribute columns to my D column separated by a space? And can i do that with a push of a button?
example of a few points would be
10,1000,5000,50,tree,birch,12IN
11,1100,5500,55,tree,spruce,10IN
12,1130,5560,54,powerpole,tele,wood,12IN,guyed
I want to combine the last few so it will read:
10,1000,5000,50,tree birch 12IN
11,1100,5500,55,tree spruce 10IN
12,1130,5560,54,powerpole tele wood 12IN guyed
please help!

Answer 1

You can create a user-defined function in VBA that you can then use on your worksheet as any normal formula.
From Excel, press Alt+F11 to get to the VBA editor. Once there, press Ctrl+R to show or activate the Project Explorer. Right-click on the Modules node, and select Insert -> Module. Put the code below into the module:
Option Explicit
Public Function GetPnezdLabel(pnezd As Variant) As Variant
On Error GoTo errHandler
Dim result As Variant
Dim parts As Variant
Dim lastPartIndex As Long
Dim intermediatePartIndex As Long
Dim index As Long
result = ""
parts = Split(CStr(pnezd), ",", Compare:=VbCompareMethod.vbBinaryCompare)
lastPartIndex = UBound(parts)
intermediatePartIndex = Application.WorksheetFunction.Min(3, lastPartIndex)
For index = 0 To intermediatePartIndex
result = result & parts(index) & IIf(index < lastPartIndex, ",", "")
Next
For index = 4 To lastPartIndex
result = result & parts(index) & IIf(index < lastPartIndex, " ", "")
Next
Done:
GetPnezdLabel = result
Exit Function
errHandler:
result = XlCVError.xlErrValue
Resume Done
End Function
Press Alt+F11 to return to Excel. Now, assuming you have a PNEZD value in cell A1, you can create a formula in e.g. B1 as follows:
=GetPnezdLabel(A1)
and you'll see the result appear.
The principle behind the GetPnezdLabel function is to split the parameter's value at commas and to build the result from the parts.

Answer 2

For information, the same result can be achieved through following formula.
Assuming your data is in cell A2 then in cell D2 insert following formula and copy down.
=TRIM(LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(A2,",",REPT(" ",199),4),199))
&","&
SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A2,",",REPT(" ",199),4),199)),","," ")
As you've indicated VBA specifically, you may not want a formula solution.