Objects/dictionary for global variables - vba

Question

I am writing a macro that will sit in workbook A.
Workbook A's primary function will be to open workbooks 1-5, and run the macros in those workbooks. However in order to run the macros in workbooks 1-5 I will need to pass inputs to workbooks 1-5 from workbook A.
I would like to define a dictionary or an object in workbook A, which will pass an entire set of inputs to each workbook 1-5. And the macros in workbooks 1-5 will only grab the necessary inputs.
How can I acheive this?

Answer 1

I'm wary of the vagueness of "run the macros in those workbooks", but I'll proceed with caution... :)
Let's say you have your workbooks, Master.xls and Child1-3.xls. They all have a reference set to the Windows Scripting Runtime library.
Master has a Settings worksheet and some VBA
Child1-3 each have two worksheets, DataDump and Settings
Child1-3 each have a public module with a VBA proc to be run (name is known)
The Master Settings w/s is populated thusly:
A1 = SettingName B1 = SettingValue
A2 = Setting1 B2 = Value1
A3 = Setting2 B3 = Value2
A4 = Setting3 B4 = Value3
(note that column C is empty and E always has a trailing \)
D1 = WBName E1 = WBPath F1 = ProcName
D2 = Child1.xls E2 = C:\Temp\ F2 = MaryJo
D3 = Child2.xls E3 = C:\Temp\ F3 = MaryLou
D4 = Child3.xls E4 = C:\Temp\ F4 = DaisyLou
There's the setup, now the execution.
Within a proc ("Bob") in Master write something like this:
Public Sub Bob
Dim dctSetting As Dictionary
Dim wkbCurrent As Workbook
Dim rngWkbook As Range
Dim rngSetting As Range
Set rngSetting = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A2")
Set dctSetting = New Dictionary
Do Until rngSetting = ""
dctSetting.Add rngSetting.Value, rngSetting.Offset(0, 1).Value
Loop
Set rngWkBook = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("D2")
Do Until rngWkBook.Value = ""
Set wkbCurrent = Workbooks.Open(rngWkBook.Offset(0,1) & rngWkBook)
Application.Run "'" & rngWkBook & "'!" & rngWkBook.Offset(0,2),
dctSetting
Set wkbCurrent.Saved = True
wkbCurrent.Close False
Set rngWkBook = rngWkBook.Offset(1,0)
Loop
End Sub
Each of Child1-3 has their respective procs (MaryJo, MaryLou, DaisyLou), with the limitation of this approach being that each of those procs has to accept one param (best to make it a dictionary, I guess).
Each child's proc doesn't have to use all three settings, or even any of them. By using a dictionary, you can check for the existence of a setting prior to using it. So in each of the child procs there would be something like:
Public Sub MaryLou(dctSettings as Dictionary)
Dim strMyValue As String
If dctSettings.Exists("TheNameOfTheMasterSettingIWantToUse") Then
strMyValue = dctSettings("TheNameOfTheMasterSettingIWantToUse")
' Your code runs here with the populated variable
End If
End Sub
You'll need to do extra stuff like check for the child w/b at the specified path - at a bare minimum!