Would like Excel VBA to refer to open workbook starting with - vba

Question

We work off multiple reports that all start with the name of the report and end with the date in the same format every time, such as 'Example Report 28.09.16.xls'.
I am trying to show results from one workbook in another workbook when they are both open at the same time, is there anyway to make this work using left function or contains so that I can open any combination of 2 reports and they will pull over irrelevant of the date?
Windows("Example Report 28.09.16.xls").Activate
Or
=VLOOKUP(B1,'[Example Report 28.09.16.xls]Sheet1'!$B$1:$C$10,2,FALSE)
I would prefer this to be a macro but a formula version would be good also.
As above I need the date to be able to be anything else, as the person opening the report will open the relevant report at the same time.
The goal is to have an item that is referenced in a number of reports show all the data for each report next to that item in one report.
Does anyone know of how I can do this or any better way around this?
EDIT
Another idea ive just had, is there a way to piece together the window to activate by using the 'Right' function to pull the date from the filename of the current file open then add it to the static report name I am referencing? such as:
Dim ReportDate As String
ReportDate = Right(ThisWorkbook.FullName,12)
Dim ReportName As String
ReportName = "Example Report "
Windows( ReportName + ReportName ).Activate

Answer 1

You could ask the user to select the files to open, or use some way of getting a valid date (maybe a calendar control) and then use the references to those workbooks in the code.
The code below will ask for the location of the file (using the GetFile1 function) and open that. It will then open the file with todays date on the users desktop (GetFile) - just pass a different date for a different file.
It will then grab the value from cell A1 in the two workbooks and place those values in cells A1:A2 of the workbook containing the code.
Public Sub Test()
Dim wrkBk1 As Workbook
Dim wrkBk2 As Workbook
Set wrkBk1 = Workbooks.Open(GetFile1)
Set wrkBk2 = Workbooks.Open(GetFile(Date))
'ThisWorkbook is the file containing this code.
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
.Cells(1, 1) = wrkBk1.Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(1, 1) 'Get the value from A1 and place in A1.
.Cells(2, 1) = wrkBk2.Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(1, 1) 'Get the value from A1 and place in A2.
End With
End Sub
Function GetFile1(Optional startFolder As Variant = -1) As Variant
Dim fle As FileDialog
Dim vItem As Variant
Set fle = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)
With fle
.Title = "Select a File"
.AllowMultiSelect = False
.Filters.Add "Excel Files", "*.xls*", 1
If startFolder = -1 Then
.InitialFileName = Application.DefaultFilePath
Else
If Right(startFolder, 1) <> "\" Then
.InitialFileName = startFolder & "\"
Else
.InitialFileName = startFolder
End If
End If
If .Show <> -1 Then GoTo NextCode
vItem = .SelectedItems(1)
End With
NextCode:
GetFile = vItem
Set fle = Nothing
End Function
Function GetFile(dDate As Date) As Variant
GetFile = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").SpecialFolders("Desktop") & "\Example Report " & Format(dDate, "dd.mm.yyyy") & ".xls"
End Function