Can't get my Ranges set up from my spreadsheet using VBA - vba

Question

My overall goal here is to grab the values and row indices of three different columns on the original spreadsheet, evaluate them, and then save them to a new spreadsheet. I am wanted to accomplish this by using a macro initiated by a button on the original spreadsheet.
The plan to accomplish this was to
create a Range for each column
Loop through the most significant Range to grab and evaluate the each cell value
perform nested loops within the first loop to further evaluate the other two Ranges and grab their values
assign values to variables
create the new spreadsheet from a template
write the values to the respective columns
save the new spreadsheet
When I run the code below I get the error listed below. I'm confused because I thought this is how you reference an entire column:
Sub Transfer2NewWorkbook()
Dim currentsheet As String
Dim newsheet As String
Dim analysisDate As String
Dim initial As String
Dim aInitial() As String
Dim analystInit As String
Dim batchNo As String
Dim wb As Object
Dim dataRangeA As Range, dataRangeB As Range, dataRangeI As Range
Set dataA = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
' Grab and Create filenames
currentsheet = ActiveWorkbook.Name
newsheet = currentsheet & "-" & "uploadable"
' Grab data from original spreadsheet
analysisDate = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Cells(1, 9).Value
initial = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Cells(1, 2).Value
aInitial = Split(initial, "/")
analystInit = aInitial(1)
Set dataRangeA = Range("A4:A").Select ' <-- Line causing error
Set dataRangeB = Range("B4:B").Select
Set dataRangeI = Range("I4:I").Select
For i = 1 To dataRangeA.Rows.Count
dataA.Add Key:=i, Item:=dataRangeA.Cells.Value
Next i
Set wb = Workbooks.Add("C:\Users\dalythe\documents\uploadtemp.xlsx")
ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Cells(3, 2).Value = analysisDate
ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Cells(3, 4).Value = analystInit
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs (newsheet & ".xlsx")
End Sub

Answer 1

try this:
Set dataRangeA = Range("A:A").Select
Set dataRangeB = Range("B:B").Select
Set dataRangeI = Range("I:I").Select
For i = 4 To dataRangeA.Rows.Count
dataA.Add Key:=i, Item:=dataRangeA.Cells.Value
Next i

Answer 2

After removing the .Select, my ranges were accepted.
Set dataRangeA = Range("A:A")
Set dataRangeB = Range("B:B")
Set dataRangeI = Range("I:I")
For i = 4 To dataRangeA.Rows.Count
dataA.Add Key:=i, Item:=dataRangeA.Cells.Value
Next i
Thanks for the input YowE3k. Now I have to think on how I want my loop to end. Because doing it the way I have it above will cause it to run out of memory. The spreadsheet will not have a "predefined" number of rows. I guess I will have to have the user type "End" in the cell of the last row or something.

Answer 3

Your problems with the particular line throwing the error are caused by two things:
"A4:A" is not a valid address in Excel. You can either use "A:A" for the entire column or define the end of the range, e.g. "A4:A272".
The Range.Select method does not return an object, so Set dataRangeA = Range("A4:A").Select is effectively Set dataRangeA =.
To fix your specific error, you could do something like:
Set dataRangeA = Range("A4", Cells(Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp))
However, using unqualified Cells and Range and Rows is a dangerous habit to get into once you have more than one worksheet / workbook being used in your code, because those objects default to referring to the ActiveSheet in the ActiveWorkbook and that may not be the one you are expecting it to be.
The code below ensures that each object is qualified, plus makes some other improvements to your code (such as the inevitable out-of-memory error that would arise in populating the Dictionary).
Sub Transfer2NewWorkbook()
Dim currentsheet As String
Dim newsheet As String
Dim analysisDate As String
Dim initial As String
Dim aInitial() As String
Dim analystInit As String
Dim batchNo As String
Dim wb As Object
Dim dataRangeA As Range, dataRangeB As Range, dataRangeI As Range
Dim dataA As Object ' declare this, unless you have declared it at a higher
' level scope
Set dataA = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
' Grab and Create filenames
currentsheet = ActiveWorkbook.Name
newsheet = currentsheet & "-" & "uploadable"
'Use a With block to avoid having to constantly refer
' to "ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1)"
With ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1)
' Grab data from original spreadsheet
analysisDate = .Cells(1, 9).Value
initial = .Cells(1, 2).Value
aInitial = Split(initial, "/")
analystInit = aInitial(1)
Set dataRangeA = .Range("A4", .Cells(.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp))
Set dataRangeB = .Range("B4", .Cells(.Rows.Count, "B").End(xlUp))
Set dataRangeI = .Range("I4", .Cells(.Rows.Count, "I").End(xlUp))
'This loop is making every entry in the Dictionary contain the value of
'every cell in the range - i.e. each of the 1048573 entries in the Dictionary
'would have contained an array which was dimensioned As (1 To 1048573, 1 To 1)
'For i = 1 To dataRangeA.Rows.Count
' dataA.Add Key:=i, Item:=dataRangeA.Cells.Value
'Next i
Dim cel As Range
For Each cel in dataRangeA
dataA.Add Key:=cel.Row, Item:=cel.Value
'or
'dataA.Add Key:=cel.Row - 3, Item:=cel.Value
'if you wanted A4's value to have a key of 1
Next
'Note: If you just wanted an array of values, you could have used
' Dim dataA As Variant
' dataA = Application.Transpose(.Range("A4", .Cells(.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp)))
'and then access each value using dataA(1) for the value from A4,
'dataA(2) for the value from A5, etc.
'This then gets rid of the need for dataRangeA, and the need for a
' dictionary object, and the need for the loop populating the dictionary.
End With
Set wb = Workbooks.Add("C:\Users\dalythe\documents\uploadtemp.xlsx")
With wb.Worksheets(1)
.Cells(3, 2).Value = analysisDate
.Cells(3, 4).Value = analystInit
End With
wb.SaveAs newsheet & ".xlsx"
End Sub