Importing data from multiple text files into Excel VBA [closed] - vba

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I might have a question about VBA and Excel Macros. The thing that I need to do is to import data (actually integer values) from multiple text files that have random generated names (for example 12345678.txt, 8654321.txt, etc.) but which are stored in the same folder (let's call it Data folder) to excel into a column.
The problem that I face is that I have the same name for the measured values (called MVA) that are repeating over and over in the text files. I don't need all the data from the text files, only some specific rows of these MVA (for the example below let's say that I need only the MVA number for the "LED 01 Intensity" which is 6250 to be stored in a new cell in Excel. And I need to get that value that comes after "LED 01 Intensity" in the MVA row from 10 multiple text files (with random names that I don't know) to be stored each one in separate cells in Excel (from A1 to A10).
Example_____________________________________________________________________
Name: 153588.txt
Date: 14.05.2016
Name of product: Electronic Device 01
CHECK TEST
Resistance 101
MVA: 2 Ohm
MAX: 5 Ohm
MIN: 0 Ohm
PASS
LED 01 Intensity
MVA: 6250
MAX: 10000
MIN: 5000
PASS
I need a lot of these MVA values to be stored in Excel for analysis and I need to get an idea if this problem can be solved with VBA. If you can offer me some help to create a macro for this I would be thankful (I have basic knowledge of programming but I'm a beginner in VBA).

Answer 1

Here is the code I promised for. It is actually not only sample but actual code that you need according the descriptions you provided.
Please note I wrote it according to the sample file you provided - means that it might fail with different text file structures.
You will notice there is a settings section at the beginning. That's where you setup what needs to be given to the code.
It won't be a big impact for only hundreds of text files for your system considering the sample file - perhaps will work and finish in seconds. However screen updating might be disabled in the code during the code execution. See ScreenUpdating property of Excel Application object if you notice a real big system slowness.
I am hoping to give you some good start for the VBA, so I tried to use many methods and commented a lot to explain what we are doing in each step. For example, using the first worksheet as results worksheet in the newly created workbook but creating a new worksheet for the temporary worksheet. There is a reason for this: every new workbook is created with at least one worksheet but it might be also the only one worksheet according to the Excel settings in that computer. However, even those part could be designed different by getting the number of the worksheets first and delete the unnecessary ones and keep only 2 then use those instead creating a new one.
Shortly - there are many different ways to accomplish the same task - like in many other programming languages. For example, I used QueryTable to import data into the worksheet then used Find method to find out if it has the values I needed. I didn't have to do this, I could have instead put the all information in a string variable and make the search in the string! Or by using another method, or another.
Finally this is supposed to be what you need. And I hope it gives you a good start. To make this code work: Create a new workbook -> goto VBA -> Use menu and Insert->Module -> Copy and paste the following code into the right pane opened in the editor. Change the necessary variables in the settings area at the beginning in the sub procedure (likely only the path variable) and hit F5 to run the code.
Sub ImportData()
Dim wrk As Workbook
Dim shtSource As Worksheet
Dim shtResult As Worksheet
Dim rng As Range
Dim fndSection As Range
Dim fndValue As Range
Dim data As QueryTable
Dim strFile
Dim strPath As String
Dim strExt As String
Dim strSection As String
Dim strValue As String
' ======== BEGIN SETTINGS ========
' Define the files path - note there is a last backslash
strPath = "C:\Users\smozgur\Desktop\files\"
' Define file extension
strExt = "*.txt"
' Section to be find
strSection = "Led 01 Intensity"
' Cell value to be find after section
strValue = "MVA:"
' ======== END SETTINGS ========
' Create a new workbook to not mess with existing
Set wrk = Application.Workbooks.Add
With wrk
' Use first (or only) worksheet to store results
Set shtResult = .Worksheets(1)
' Create temp worksheet for reading text files
Set shtSource = .Worksheets.Add
End With
' Name the Results worksheet
' and put search value to indicate it in results
With shtResult
.Cells(1, 1).Value = strValue
.name = "Results"
End With
' Make file search with the given path & extension information
strFile = Dir(strPath & strExt, vbNormal)
' Dir function returns the first file name
' with the given extension in the given path
' if it is empty string then it means "no more file returned"
Do Until strFile = ""
' Create a query table buffer by using the file reference
' in the temp worksheet starting from cell A1
Set data = shtSource.QueryTables.Add(Connection:="TEXT;" & strPath & strFile, Destination:=shtSource.Cells(1, 1))
' Set up query table import properties
With data
.TextFileStartRow = 1
.TextFileParseType = xlDelimited
.TextFileTextQualifier = xlTextQualifierDoubleQuote
.TextFileConsecutiveDelimiter = False
.TextFileTabDelimiter = False
.TextFileSemicolonDelimiter = False
.TextFileCommaDelimiter = False
.TextFileSpaceDelimiter = False
.TextFileColumnDataTypes = Array(1)
.TextFileTrailingMinusNumbers = True
' Finally retrieve data from the file
.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
End With
' Now the file content is in the temp worksheet as rows
' Find the section string in the data as Cell
Set fndSection = data.ResultRange.Find(strSection)
If Not fndSection Is Nothing Then
' If section is found then search for the Value Name AFTER found section
Set fndValue = data.ResultRange.Find(strValue, fndSection)
If Not fndValue Is Nothing Then
' If Value Name is found then put it into the next available cell in Results worksheet
' by removing the Value Name, so it will be the value itself
shtResult.Cells(shtResult.Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Offset(1).Value = Replace(fndValue, strValue, "")
End If
End If
With data
' Clear the query table range
.ResultRange.Delete
' Delete the query table so we can recreate it for the next file
.Delete
End With
' Search for the next file meets the given path and extension criteria
strFile = Dir
Loop
' Delete the temporary worksheet
' Make it silent disabling Application Alerts about deleting the worksheet
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
shtSource.Delete
' Enable Application Alerts back
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
End Sub
Enjoy VBA programming!
==================================
* EDIT FOR MULTIPLE SECTIONS *
Following code handles multiple sections in the source files.
Sub ImportData()
Dim wrk As Workbook
Dim shtSource As Worksheet
Dim shtResult As Worksheet
Dim rng As Range
Dim fndSection As Range
Dim fndNextSection As Range
Dim fndValue As Range
Dim data As QueryTable
Dim strFile
Dim strPath As String
Dim strExt As String
Dim strSection As String
Dim strSections
Dim strValue As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim indFileNames As Boolean
' ======== BEGIN SETTINGS ========
' Define the files path - note there is a last backslash
strPath = "C:\Users\smozgur\Desktop\files\"
' Define file extension
strExt = "*.txt"
' Sections to be find
strSections = Array("Led 01 Intensity", _
"Led 02 Intensity", _
"Led 03 Intensity", _
"Led 04 Intensity", _
"Led 05 Intensity")
' Cell value to be find after section
strValue = "MVA:"
' Indicate file names in the output?
indFileNames = True
' ======== END SETTINGS ========
' Create a new workbook to not mess with existing
Set wrk = Application.Workbooks.Add
With wrk
' Use first (or only) worksheet to store results
Set shtResult = .Worksheets(1)
' Create temp worksheet for reading text files
Set shtSource = .Worksheets.Add
End With
' Name the Results worksheet
' and put section headers to indicate their columns
With shtResult
With .Cells(1).Resize(, UBound(strSections) + 1)
.Value = strSections
.Resize(, UBound(strSections) + 1).Font.Bold = True
End With
If indFileNames = True Then
With .Cells(1, UBound(strSections) + 3)
.Value = "NOTES"
.Font.Bold = True
End With
End If
.name = "Results"
End With
' Make file search with given information
strFile = Dir(strPath & strExt, vbNormal)
' Dir function returns the first file name
' with the given extension in the given path
' if it is empty string then it means "no more file returned"
Do Until strFile = ""
' Create a query table buffer by using the file reference
' in the temp worksheet starting from cell A1
Set data = shtSource.QueryTables.Add(Connection:="TEXT;" & strPath & strFile, Destination:=shtSource.Cells(1, 1))
' Set up query table import properties
With data
.TextFileStartRow = 1
.TextFileParseType = xlDelimited
.TextFileTextQualifier = xlTextQualifierDoubleQuote
.TextFileConsecutiveDelimiter = False
.TextFileTabDelimiter = False
.TextFileSemicolonDelimiter = False
.TextFileCommaDelimiter = False
.TextFileSpaceDelimiter = False
.TextFileColumnDataTypes = Array(1)
.TextFileTrailingMinusNumbers = True
' Finally retrieve data from the file
.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
End With
' Now the file content is in the temp worksheet as rows
' Loop through requested sections
For i = 0 To UBound(strSections)
' Find the section string in the data as Cell
Set fndSection = data.ResultRange.Find(strSections(i))
If Not fndSection Is Nothing Then
' If section is found then search for the Value Name AFTER found section
Set fndValue = data.ResultRange.Find(strValue, fndSection)
If Not fndValue Is Nothing Then
' What if value doesn't exist in this section but it finds the next value in the next section
' We have to avoid that unless we are certainly sure each section MUST have the value
If i < UBound(strSections) Then
Set fndNextSection = data.ResultRange.Find(strSections(i + 1), fndSection)
Else
Set fndNextSection = shtSource.Cells(shtSource.Rows.Count)
End If
' Next available cell in the Results worksheet
Set rng = shtResult.Cells(shtResult.Rows.Count, i + 1).End(xlUp).Offset(1)
' Only use the value if found value belongs to the section
If fndValue.Row < fndNextSection.Row Then
' If Value Name is found then put it into the next available cell in Results worksheet
' by removing the Value Name, so it will be the value itself
rng.Value = Replace(fndValue, strValue, "")
Else
rng.Value = "N/A"
End If
End If
End If
Next i
If indFileNames = True Then
' Let's indicate which file we got this values
Set rng = shtResult.Cells(shtResult.Rows.Count, UBound(strSections) + 3).End(xlUp).Offset(1)
rng.Value = strFile
End If
With data
' Clear the query table range
.ResultRange.Delete
' Delete the query table so we can recreate it for the next file
.Delete
End With
' Search for the next file meets the given path and extension criteria
strFile = Dir
Loop
' Autofit columns in the Results worksheet
shtResult.Columns.AutoFit
' Delete the temporary worksheet
' Make it silent disabling Application Alerts about deleting the worksheet
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
shtSource.Delete
' Enable Application Alerts back
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
End Sub