Sorting data using VBA and data in cell - vba

Question

I'm quite new to VBA and macros, and was looking for a bit of help sorting data using a macro. I've recorded doing what I was, and it has produced this:
Macro1 Macro
Range("A19:L28").Select
ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("EuropeanStocks").Sort.SortFields.Clear
ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("EuropeanStocks").Sort.SortFields.Add Key:=Range( _
"h20:h28"), SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, Order:=xlDescending, DataOption:= _
xlSortNormal
With ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("EuropeanStocks").Sort
.SetRange Range("A19:L28")
.Header = xlYes
.MatchCase = False
.Orientation = xlTopToBottom
.SortMethod = xlPinYin
.Apply
End With
My question is how do I make is so that the sort range is defined by the data in a cell. For this example with the sort range of h20:h28, the 20 and 28 parts would be constant, and I'd have a cell in the worksheet
E.g A1, which contains the letter of the column that needs to be sorted, E.g. "i","j", etc..
How would I make it so A1 was read into the sort range?

Answer 1

See the code below. You need to place the value in Range("A1") into a variable and then set your range in the code with that variable.
Dim ws As Worksheet, c As String, rSort As Range, rData As Range
ws = Sheets("EuropeanStock")
With ws
c = .Range("A1").Value
Set rData = .Range("A19:L28")
Set rSort = .Range(c & "20:" & c & "28")
With rData.Sort
With .SortFields
.Clear
.Add Key:=rSort, SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, Order:=xlDescending, DataOption:=xlSortNormal
End With
.SetRange rData
.Header = xlYes
.MatchCase = False
.Orientation = xlTopToBottom
.SortMethod = xlPinYin
.Apply
End With
End With

Answer 2

The most versatile way would be to define a named range for the range you want to sort (or the range containing the range you want to sort), but for this simple requirement, you can simply wrap a Range call to the cell containing the sort range (e.g. A1) in another Range call, thus obtaining the desired range. E.g.:
.SetRange Range(Range("A1"))
EDIT: This assumes that A1 contains a full range reference (e.g. it contains "A19:L28"). If you want to construct the target range from other cells partially, one solution could be to construct the range reference, for example:
.SetRange Range(Range("A1") & "19" & ":" & Range("A2") & "28")

Answer 3

Just place the columns that you want to sort in A1, and separate them with a slash / (i.e. a/f/h/s)
This will sort all of them one by one :
Dim NewRange As String, _
DataRange As String, _
Sp() As String
Sp = Split(Range("A1"), "/")
With ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("EuropeanStocks")
For i = LBound(Sp) To UBound(Sp)
NewRange = Sp(i) & "19:" & Sp(i) & "28"
DataRange = Sp(i) & "20:" & Sp(i) & "28"
With .Sort
.SortFields.Clear
.SortFields.Add _
Key:=Range(DataRange), _
SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, _
Order:=xlDescending, _
DataOption:=xlSortNormal
.SetRange Range(NewRange)
.Header = xlYes
.MatchCase = False
.Orientation = xlTopToBottom
.SortMethod = xlPinYin
.Apply
End With
Next i
End With