Cut & Paste Overwriting Range Object definitions - vba

Question

I've found an interesting problem with Excel VBA's Cut and paste involving the use of a defined Range Object.
Here's the code that doesn't work:
Sub PasteToRangeDoesntWork()
Dim StRng As Range
Dim j, k, x, y As Integer
Set StRng = Range("A3")
x = 0
j = Range(StRng, StRng.End(xlToRight)).Columns.Count
k = WorksheetFunction.Max(Range(StRng, StRng.End(xlDown)))
For y = 1 To k
While StRng.Offset(x, 0) = y
x = x + 1
Wend
If y < k Then
Range(StRng.Offset(x, 0), StRng.End(xlDown).Offset(o, j - 1)).Select
Selection.Cut
Set StRng = StRng.Offset(0, j + 1)
ActiveSheet.Paste Destination:=StRng
x = 0
End If
Next y
End Sub
The problem is that when pasting to the defined StRng, the StRng object disappears and becomes and undefined object.
There's a simple fix, which I've done below.
Sub PasteToRangeWorks()
Dim StRng As Range
Dim j, k, x, y As Integer
Set StRng = Range("A3")
x = 0
j = Range(StRng, StRng.End(xlToRight)).Columns.Count
k = WorksheetFunction.Max(Range(StRng, StRng.End(xlDown)))
For y = 1 To k
While StRng.Offset(x, 0) = y
x = x + 1
Wend
If y < k Then
Range(StRng.Offset(x, 0), StRng.End(xlDown).Offset(o, j - 1)).Select
Selection.Cut
Set StRng = StRng.Offset(0, j)
ActiveSheet.Paste Destination:=StRng.Offset(0, 1)
Set StRng = StRng.Offset(0, 1)
x = 0
End If
Next y
End Sub
This works -- i.e. by not pasting the new cells directly to the StRng and instead to StRng.offset(0,1), the StRng object remains defined.
The Data in question are five columns across. The first column is an integer (with values going from 1 to 7), the next column is text followed by a column with dates and finally, two columns of general format data (2 decimal points).
The fix is not difficult but I'm perplexed as to why the first code doesn't work. Does anyone have ideas?

Answer 1

If you use the .Paste method, then all defined ranges that fall withing the paste boundaries will be reset. The exact "Why?" is something only Microsoft can explain I'm afraid.
A better alternative is to work with the Range.Value and Range.Clear members; these won't cause this issue, are faster, and also don't mess with the clipboard. Note however that this only copies the values and not the formatting nor any formulas.
The code for this can be something like this:
Dim SourceRng As Range
Set SourceRng = Range(StRng.Offset(x, 0), StRng.End(xlDown).Offset(0, j - 1))
Set StRng = StRng.Offset(0, j + 1)
Dim DestRng As Range
Set DestRng = StRng.Resize(SourceRng.Rows.Count, SourceRng.Columns.Count)
DestRng.Value = SourceRng.Value
Call SourceRng.Clear