Apply dynamic AutoFilter across worksheets based on filter on 1st sheet - vba

Question

I am trying to create a dynamic autofilter in excel which could be applied across all the sheets (total: 5) in the excel based on what filter the user selects in 1st sheet.
For Example: I have 5 sheets in an excel all with different columns and 1 "primary key" column.
Sheet1 = Headers - PK, Col1, Col2 ...
Sheet2 = Headers - PK, Col6, Col7 ...
.
.
Sheet5 = Headers - PK, Col20, Col21 ...
The filter should work like, the user creates a filter on the column headers on sheet1 via selecting the header and then Home > Sort & Filter. Once we have filters on header, the user can then selects multiple values (check boxes) on the 1st column (PK) and now wants that filter to be applied across all sheets on the PK column.
I was able to create an autofilter but it is actually static and does not change based on user input.
Version: MS OFfice Excel 2010
VB Macro:
Sub apply_autofilter_across_worksheets()
Dim xWs As Worksheet
On Error Resume Next
For Each xWs In Worksheets
xWs.Range("A1").AutoFilter 1, "=Sheet1!$A$1"
Next
End Sub
I am relatively new to excel. In this case, the column I am filtering on, on the first sheet is a number, so the array I am trying to use in the criteria seems to be a text.

Answer 1

Not exactly the solution I was looking for but I think I can get the end-user work with this setup. I ended up creating a separate sheet altogether which would be used as a reference filter. To populate the data in this sheet, the user can copy whatever data he need from sheet1 to filter upon for example - first 5 records he want to filter upon.
Populate the REFERENCE sheet with the data he needs to filter upon.
Pre-Created, dynamic named range. In this case - Critlist
Run the macros below and filter on all sheets.
Note: In this case, I puposefully used the 2nd column ($B) from the REFERENCE sheet to create this dynamic list since my filter will loop through all the sheets and filter on 1st column. Once it reaches the reference sheet, it wont find the 1st column and so can exit cleanly.
I used the reference below to help on this situation. Couple of lessons learned -
1. The array used in the link is myarray which works fine for their use case as per the sample file, but I had to use myarray(i, 1) when I was looping though it - Reference #3. Not sure why would it need two-dimensional array to work.
2. The array created in Reference #1 is Range of values - sheet.Range("").Value whereas in my case I created an array as sheet.Range("") i.e. without the value.
VB Macros:
Option Explicit
Public Sub apply_autofilter_across_worksheets()
Dim myarray As Variant, xWs As Worksheet, wsL As Worksheet, i As Long
Set wsL = Worksheets("REFERENCE")
myarray = wsL.Range("CritList")
For i = LBound(myarray, 1) To UBound(myarray, 1)
myarray(i, 1) = CStr(myarray(i, 1))
Next
For Each xWs In Worksheets
xWs.Range("$A$1").AutoFilter _
Field:=1, _
Criteria1:=Application.WorksheetFunction.Transpose(myarray), _
Operator:=xlFilterValues
Next
End Sub
EDIT:
I think I have found a better way doing it even without creating an additional sheet (the way I was hoping to do ideally). It is the same concepts with creating the same list, however in this case, instead of creating it separately, I created it on the 1st sheet I want to drive the selection/filtering from. Then by using .SpecialCells(xlCellTypeVisible).EntireRow we can only select what is visible on the sheet i.e. the filtered criteria and then apply it to the remaining sheets in the loop. In this case, even if it overwrites the 1st sheet, it should not be a problem since it is already filtered the way we want. This should also be repeatable since every time the reference list changes, it should dynamically update the rest of the filters by running the macros.
VB Code:
Option Explicit
Public Sub Filter_RFX()
Dim myarray As Variant, xWs As Worksheet, wsL As Worksheet, i As Long
Set wsL = Worksheets("Sheet1")
myarray = wsL.Range("CritList").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeVisible).EntireRow
For i = LBound(myarray, 1) To UBound(myarray, 1)
myarray(i, 1) = CStr(myarray(i, 1))
Next
For Each xWs In Worksheets
xWs.Range("$A$1").AutoFilter _
Field:=1, _
Criteria1:=Application.WorksheetFunction.Transpose(myarray), _
Operator:=xlFilterValues
Next
End Sub
Reference:
1. http://www.contextures.com/xlNames01.html#videodynamic
http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2010/12/15/excel-autofilter-with-criteria-in-a-range/
http://www.java2s.com/Code/VBA-Excel-Access-Word/Data-Type/UseLBoundandUBoundinforstatement.htm