Dynamically select Excel cells with VB .Net in a VS 2010 project - vb.net

I'm using Visual Studio 2010, to create a project from a Excel Workbook template. VS2010 already gives me a workbook with one worksheet. I added another one. The project consist of the following files:
ThisWorkbook.vb
Sheet1.vb
Sheet2.vb
Each file consist of class for each object: Sheet1.vb has its Sheet1 class, Sheet2.vb Sheet2 class and so on.
From MSDN help and another sources, I understood I can access from on vb file, or another class, the other class objects using Globals statement:
Me.Range("A10").Value = "Validation time:"
Me.Range("B10").Value = ValidationTime_T1.Item(ValidationTime_T1.Count - 1) - ValidationTime_T0.Item(ValidationTime_T0.Count - 1)
Dim x As Double
Dim rowOffset As Integer
rowOffset = 3
For x = 0 To JobCounter
Globals.Sheet2.Cells(x + rowOffset, 1) = x
Globals.Sheet2.Cells(x + rowOffset, 2) = ASy_Start_Mem.Item(x)
Globals.Sheet2.Cells(x + rowOffset, 3) = WSZ_Start_Mem.Item(x)
Globals.Sheet2.Cells(x + rowOffset, 4) = WSZ_Start_Pk_Mem.Item(x)
Globals.Sheet2.Cells(x + rowOffset, 5) = PFU_Start_Mem.Item(x)
As you can see, I move data from one sheet to another, or put data that is in memory to sheet2 from sheet1.
So far, so good. There were not that many issues I could not solve by my self.
I think is good to point out here that my background is C, C++, Perl and VBA in the last 4 years, so I'm struggling with VB since quite a bit already, I find .Net more useful, until I had to use it with Excel, it is giving me a hard time.
Now, I need to select specific cells base on positions and it is not always the same position so I need to select them dynamically, NO HARD CODED, as I have found in MSDN, forums, StackOverFlow and different sites, the solution they give is to use:
Globals.Sheet2.Range("C7").Select()
And yeah, that's fine for specific cells for which you use a string to select.
The problem is that I need to select different cells every time depending on the each day data, andt I don't know how to do it with Range. In the previous code you can see I used Cells for that.
I've tried:
Globals.Sheet2.Range(Globals.Sheet2.Cells(2, 2), Globals.Sheet2.Cells(6, 3)).Select()
Because one of Range definitions states that I can receive as parameter two Cells objects, but gives an error. I've tried creating Range objects for the cell positions. I have used Object object with CType, and it also fails.
If anyone could help how I can dynamically select cells, either with Range or Cells, or both, or if you have another solution, I will gladly appreciate it.

First thanks to TnTinMn, for replying, and I apologize for the late response again, it's been crazy at work.
Well, I found the solution thanks to your comment.
There seems to be a known issue with Excel.Interop and Visual Basic .Net called "two dots".
Normally, when you go programming VB in VS write a few letter and IntelliSense prompts you with what may be available (property, method or object) then you enter a dot and another list comes up showing you what’s available, once you chose the previous two categories you either assign them to a variable or object, or given them a value. But you can still put another dot and get another list, here is where VB get messed up and not working, probably VS will let you put whenever amount of dos, but at runtime you'll get the error I got.
Hope an experienced StackOverflow fellow can explain this much better.
So the solution for the Select method:
First you need to make the sheet active, then you can use the Select method, as TnTinMn predicted the error was with the Select method.
Globals.Sheet2.Activate()
Globals.Sheet2.Range(Globals.Sheet2.Cells(2, 2), Globals.Sheet2.Cells(6, 3)).Select()
And now Select method does not throw the runtime error.
With the previous code you can now have an option to go through any cell without hard coding.
The following can also be used to store data ranges from different section, to later use in chart for example:
Dim dataX As Excel.Range
Dim dataY As Excel.Range
Dim dataRange As Excel.Range
dataX = Globals.Sheet6.Cells(xRow, XColumn)
dataY = Globals.Sheet6.Cells(yRow, yColumn)
dataRange = Application.Union(dataX, dataY)
Thank you and hope this help someone.

Related

Set Workbook Language in VBA Excel

I have a workbook that gets copied to different users with different regional language settings.
The problem I have is, that because of the regional settings, some the macros i build wont work because they refer to translated values.
Examples are Date names and the value for Year.
(Year to Jaar.)
ActiveSheet.PivotTables("OpenPO").PivotFields("Years").ShowDetail = False
This refers to selected data inside a pivot table named Year in the original workbook. however this gets automaticly translated into the language of the user.
To solve this I was hoping I could lock or set this specific workbooks language.
unfortunately it is not an option to,
run the Macro before copy,
Set regional settings for every user,
set Excels regional settings for every user,
rewrite the macro's for every language.
I have been searching for a long time to find a solution but have yet to find an answer. I really hope someone on here can help me.
My most desired solution would be a simple VBA code to set the language of the workbook.
In the example you are passing "Years" as a String:
ActiveSheet.PivotTables("OpenPO").PivotFields("Years").ShowDetail = False
If a Dutch Excel is expecting Jaar, then you need some specific way of telling it. E.g.:
Option Explicit
Public Sub TestMe()
Dim yearIndependent As String
Select Case Application.LanguageSettings.LanguageID(msoLanguageIDUI)
Case 1043: 'Dutch
yearIndependent = "Jaar"
Case 1031: 'German
yearIndependent = "Jahr"
Case Else: 'English (default)"
yearIndependent = "Year"
End Select
ActiveSheet.PivotTables("OpenPO").PivotFields(yearIndependent).ShowDetail = False
End Sub
As you see, you have to rewrite the whole code. The good news is that there are not so many language-dependent words, thus you can use some MVC architecture, write the words on a sheet and read them from there. And if you export the logic in a function, returning the correct string, it would be quite digestable.
Some good reading about it - RonDeBruin.nl

How do I assign an Excel VBA variable to a Defined Name

How do I return a value from a VBA Function variable to a Defined Name in Excel 2010?
In the example below, I want i to be returned to Excel as a Defined Name Value_Count that can be reused in other formulas, such that if MsgBox shows 7, then typing =Value_Count in a cell would also return 7.
Everything else below is about what I've tried, and why I'd like to do it. If it's inadvisable, I'd be happy to know why, and if there's a better method.
Function process_control_F(raw_data As Variant)
Dim i As Integer
i = 0
For Each cell In raw_data
i = i + 1
Next cell
MsgBox i
End Function
My goal is to have the value returned by the MsgBox be returned instead to a Defined Name that can be reused in other forumulas. However, I cannot get the value to show. I have tried a variety of forms (too numerous to recall, let alone type here) similar to
Names.Add Name:="Value_Count", RefersTo:=i
I am trying to accomplish this without returning a ton of extra info to cells, just to recall it, hence the desire to return straight to a Defined Name.
I'm using a Function rather than Sub to streamline my use, but if that's the problem, I can definitely change types.
I am creating a version of a Statistical Control Chart. My desired end result is to capture a data range (generally about 336 values) and apply a series of control rules to them (via VBA), then return any values that fall outside of the control parameters to Defined Names that can then be charted or otherwise manipulated.
I've seen (and have versions of) spreadsheets that accomplish this with digital acres of helper columns leading to a chart and summary statistics. I'm trying to accomplish it mostly in the background of VBA, to be called via Defined Names to Charts — I just can't get the values from VBA to the Charts.
The interest in using a Function rather than a Sub was to streamline access to it. I'd rather not design a user interface (or use one), if I can just keystroke the function into a cell and access the results directly. However, as pointed out by Jean-François Corbett, this is quickly turning into a circuitous route to my goal. However, I still think it is worthwhile, because in the long-term I have a lot of iterations of this analysis to perform, so some setup time is worth it for future time savings.
With minor changes to your function, you can use its return value to accomplish what you want:
Function process_control_F(raw_data As Variant) As Integer ' <~~ explicit return type
Dim i As Integer
Dim cell As Variant ' <~~~~ declare variable "cell"
i = 0
For Each cell In raw_data
i = i + 1
Next cell
process_control_F = i ' <~~~~ returns the value i
End Function
You can then use that function in formulas. For example:

Execute a user-defined function into another cell VBA Excel

I need to automatize a process which execute various (a lot) user-defined function with different input parameters.
I am using the solution of timer API found in I don't want my Excel Add-In to return an array (instead I need a UDF to change other cells) .
My question is the following: "Does anybody can explain to me HOW IT IS WORKING?" If I debug this code in order to understand and change what I need, I simply go crazy.
1) Let say that I am passing to the public function AddTwoNumbers 14 and 45. While inside AddTwoNumber, the Application.Caller and the Application.Caller.Address are chached into a collection (ok, easier than vectors in order not to bother with type). Application.Caller is kind of a structured object where I can find the function called as a string (in this case "my_function"), for example in Application.Caller.Formula.
!!! Nowhere in the collection mCalculatedCells I can find the result 59 stored.
2)Ok, fair enough. Now I pass through the two UDF routines, set the timers, kill the timers.
As soon as I am inside the AfterUDFRoutine2 sub, the mCalculatedCell(1) (the first -- and sole -- item of my collection) has MAGICALLY (??!?!?!!!??) obtained in its Text field exactly the result "59" and apparently the command Set Cell = mCalculatedCells(1) (where on the left I have a Range and on the right I have ... I don't know) is able to put this result "59" into the variable Cell that afterward I can write with the .Offset(0,1) Range property on the cell to the right.
I would like to understand this point because I would like to give MORE task to to inside a single collection or able to wait for the current task to be finished before asking for a new one (otherwise I am over-writing the 59 with the other result). Indeed I read somewhere that all the tasks scheduled with the API setTimer will wait for all the callback to be execute before execute itself (or something like this).
As you can see I am at a loss. Any help would be really really welcomed.
In the following I try to be more specific on what (as a whole)
I am planning to achieved.
To be more specific, I have the function
public function my_function(input1 as string, Field2 as string) as double
/*some code */
end function
I have (let's say) 10 different strings to be given as Field2.
My strategy is as follow:
1)I defined (with a xlw wrapper from a C++ code) the grid of all my input values
2)define as string all the functions "my_function" with the various inputs
3)use the nested API timer as in the link to write my functions IN THE RIGHT CELLS as FORMULAS (not string anymore)
3)use a macro to build the entire worksheet and then retrieve the results.
4)use my xlw wrapper xll to process further my data.
You may wonder WHY should I pass through Excel instead of doing everything in C++. (Sometime I ask myself the same thing...) The prototype my_function that I gave above has inside some Excel Add-In that I need to use and they work only inside Excel.
It is working pretty well IN THE CASE I HAVE ONLY 1 "instance" of my_function to write for the give grid of input. I can even put inside the same worksheet more grids, then use the API trick to write various different my_functions for the different grids and then make a full calculation rebuild of the entire worksheet to obtain the result. It works.
However, as soon as I want to give more tasks inside the same API trick (because for the same grid of input I need more calls to my_function) I am not able to proceed any further.
After Axel Richter's comment I would like to ad some other information
#Axel Richter
Thank you very much for your reply.
Sorry for that, almost surely I wasn't clear with my purposes.
Here I try to sketch an example, I use integer for simplicity and let's say that my_function works pretty much as the SUM function of Excel (even if being an Excel native function I could call SUM directly into VBA but it is for the sake of an example).
If I have these inputs:
input1 = "14.5"
a vector of different values for Field2, for instance (11;0.52;45139)
and then I want to write somewhere my_function (which makes the sum of the two values given as input).
I have to write down in a cell =my_function(14.5;11), in the other =my_function(14.5;0.52) and in a third one =my_function(14.5;45139).
These input changes any time I need to refresh my data, then I cannot use directly a sub (I think) and, in any case, as far as I understand, in writing directly without the trick I linked, I will always obtain strings : something like '=my_function(14.5;0.52). Once evaluated (for example by a full rebuild or going over the written cell and make F2 + return) will give me only the string "=my_function(14.5;0.52)" and not its result.
I tried at the beginning to use an Evaluate method which works well as soon as I write something like 14.5+0.52, but it doesn't work as soon as a function (nor a user-defined function) is used instead.
This is "as far as I can understand". In the case you can enlighten me (and maybe show an easier track to follow), it would be simply GREAT.
So far the comments are correct in that they repeat the simple point that a User-Defined Function called a worksheet can only return a value, and all other actions that might inject values elsewhere into the worksheet calculation tree are forbidden.
That's not the end of the story. You'll notice that there are add-ins, like the Reuters Eikon market data service and Bloomberg for Excel, that provide functions which exist in a single cell but which write blocks of data onto the sheet outside the calling cell.
These functions use the RTD (Real Time Data) API, which is documented on MSDN:
How to create a RTD server for Excel
How to set up and use the RTD function in Excel
You may find this link useful, too:
Excel RTD Servers: Minimal C# Implementation
However, RTD is all about COM servers outside Excel.exe, you have to write them in another language (usually C# or C++), and that isn't the question you asked: you want to do this in VBA.
But I have, at least, made a token effort to give the 'right' answer.
Now for the 'wrong' answer, and actually doing something Microsoft would rather you didn't do. You can't just call a function, call a subroutine or method from the function, and write to the secondary target using the subroutine: Excel will follow the chain and detect that you're injecting values into the sheet calculation, and the write will fail.
You have to insert a break into that chain; and this means using events, or a timer call, or (as in RTD) an external process.
I can suggest two methods that will actually work:
1: Monitor the cell in the Worksheet_Change event:
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim strFunc As String strFunc = "NukeThePrimaryTargets" If Left(Target.Formula, Len(strFunc) + 1) = strFunc Then Call NukeTheSecondaryTargets End If End Sub
Alternatively...
2: Use the Timer callback API:
However, I'm not posting code for that: it's complex, clunky, and it takes a lot of testing (so I'd end up posting untested code on StackOverflow). But it does actually work.
I can give you an example of a tested Timer Callback in VBA:
Using the VBA InputBox for passwords and hiding the user's keyboard input with asterisks.
But this is for an unrelated task. Feel free to adapt it if you wish.
Edited with following requirements: It is necessary to run a user defined worksheet function, because there are addins called in this function and those work only within a Excel sheet. The function has to run multiple times with different parameters and its results have to be gotten from the sheet.
So this is my solution now:
Public Function my_function(input1 As Double, input2 As Double) As Double
my_function = input1 + input2
End Function
Private Function getMy_Function_Results(input1 As Double, input2() As Double) As Variant
Dim results() As Double
'set the Formulas
With Worksheets(1)
For i = LBound(input2) To UBound(input2)
strFormula = "=my_function(" & Str(input1) & ", " & Str(input2(i)) & ")"
.Cells(1, i + 1).Formula = strFormula
Next
'get the Results
.Calculate
For i = LBound(input2) To UBound(input2)
ReDim Preserve results(i)
results(i) = .Cells(1, i + 1).Value
Next
End With
getMy_Function_Results = results
End Function
Sub test()
Dim dFieldInput2() As Double
Dim dInput1 As Double
dInput1 = Val(InputBox("Value for input1"))
dInput = 0
iIter = 0
Do
dInput = InputBox("Values for fieldInput2; 0=END")
If Val(dInput) <> 0 Then
ReDim Preserve dFieldInput2(iIter)
dFieldInput2(iIter) = Val(dInput)
iIter = iIter + 1
End If
Loop While dInput <> 0
On Error GoTo noFieldInput2
i = UBound(dFieldInput2)
On Error GoTo 0
vResults = getMy_Function_Results(dInput1, dFieldInput2)
For i = LBound(vResults) To UBound(vResults)
MsgBox vResults(i)
Next
noFieldInput2:
End Sub
The user can input first a value input1 and then input multiple fieldInput2 until he inputs the value 0. Then the results will be calculated and presented.
Greetings
Axel

Unable to copy a table from a word document and paste it in to a excel sheet in VB.NET

Following is the code snippet i tried
r.Cells(3).Range.Copy()
.Sheets("sheet4").Range("F" & k).Select()
.Sheets("sheet4").Cells(k, 6).Columnwidth = 14
.Sheets("sheet4").paste()
k = k + 1
this doesnt copy the entire string inside one cell.I tried to use the pastespecial()
when i use pastespecial its showing error that pastespecial is not a member of Application Class
.Sheets("sheet4").Range("F" & k).pasteSpecial(ExApp.XlPasteType.xlPasteAll, False, False)
Any help would be appreciated.
I haven't ever tried this before, but it seems to be an Excel-Word coordination issue. From my MS Office coupling experience, I know that there are many alternatives, which theoretically should be fine, provoking errors. Instead spending time on finding out a working alternative (perhaps there is none), why not removing the problem (Excel-Word communication)? You can store the Word value in a temporary variable and write this variable to the Excel cell.

vb.net Object(,) Array index won't find (0,0) even though it's an 11x37 array

first time questioner here. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
I'm trying to read a bunch of data from a spreadsheet, chop it up, then throw it into a database. I would rather not do things this way, but it's a basic reality of dealing with accountant-types. Thankfully these spreadsheet reports are very consistent. Anyway, I'm using LINQ for SQL to handle the object-to-reference stuff and I'm using Microsoft.Office.Interop to get my Excel on.
I read through a directory full of .xls and for each one, I'm opening the file, getting a couple of specific data from some specific cells, and then getting a range of cells to pick out values.
Private Sub ProcessAFile(ByVal f As FileInfo)
thisFile = openApp.Workbooks.Open(f.fullName)
thisMonth = Split(thisChart.Range("D6").Value, "-").Last.Trim
thisFY = thisChart.Range("L7").Value
thisWorkArea = thisChart.Range("A14", "L51").Value2
openApp.Workbooks.Close()
...
thisWorkArea was Dimmed as a global:
Dim thisWorkArea As Object(,)
I'm getting both strings and ints in my range between A14 and L51, so making it an Object array makes sense here. I don't want to go through each row and pick out ranges in Excel, I want to just read it once and then close it.
So I'm getting the following exception:
System.IndexOutOfRangeException was unhandled
Message=Index was outside the bounds of the array.
in this function:
Private Sub fillCurrMonth()
Dim theseRows As Integer() = {0, 2, 3, 5}
For Each i In theseRows
Dim thisMonth As New Month
'make sure category is in Database
thisMonth.Dept = thisDeptName
thisMonth.FY = thisFY
thisMonth.Category = thisWorkArea(i, 0)
...
"Month" above refers to a LINQ entity. It's nothing fancy.
That last line there is where I'm catching the exception. In my watch, I find that thisWorkArea has a length of 456 and (0,0) -> "Inpatient"{String}
So why am I getting this exception? I put this in your expert hands. I'm still rather new to vb.net, so maybe I'm just missing something fundamental.
Excel uses 1-based indicies. This stems from it using VB as it's in-app programming language which traditionally used 1-based indicies.
You'll find Excel returned an array defined as thisWorkArea(1 To 11, 1 To 37) As Object
'Fix excel's 1 based index
Dim oData(UBound(xData) - 1, UBound(xData, 2) - 1) As Object
For i As Integer = 1 To UBound(xData)
For ii As Integer = 1 To UBound(xData, 2)
oData(i - 1, ii - 1) = xData(i, ii)
Next
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