Manipulating Excel spreadsheet, removing rows based on values in a column and then removing more rows based on values in another column - vba

Question

I have a rather complicated problem.
I have a log file that when put into excel the column "I" contains event IDs, and the column J contains a custom key that keeps a particular even grouped.
All i want to do is remove any rows that do not contain the value of say 102 in the event id column.
And THEN i need to check the custom key (column J) and remove rows that are duplicates since any duplicates will falsely show other statistics i want.
I have gotten as far as being able to retrieve the values from the columns using com objects and .entirecolumn cell value etc, but I am completely stumped as to how i can piece together a solid way to remove rows. I could not figure out how to get the row for each value.
To give a bit more clarity this is my thought process on what i need to do:
If cell value in Column I does not = 102 Then delete the row that cell contains.
Repeat for all rows in spreadsheet.
And THEN-
Read every cell in column J and remove all rows containing duplicates based on the values in column J.
Save spreadsheet.
Can any kind persons help me?
Additional Info:
Column I holds a string that is an event id number e.g = 1029
Column J holds a string that is a mix of numbers and letters = 1ASER0X3NEX0S

Answer 1

Ellz, I do agree with Macro Man in that your tags are misleading and, more importantly, I did indeed need to know the details of Column J.
However, I got so sick of rude posts today and yours was polite and respectful so I've pasted some code below that will do the trick ... provided Column J can be a string (the details of which you haven't given us ... see what Macro Man's getting at?).
There are many ways to test for duplicates. One is to try and add a unique key to a collection and see if it throws an error. Many wouldn't like that philosophy but it seemed to be okay for you because it also gives you a collection of all the unique (ie remaining) keys in Column J.
Sub Delete102sAndDuplicates()
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim uniques As Collection
Dim rng As Range
Dim rowPair As Range
Dim iCell As Range
Dim jCell As Range
Dim delRows As Range
Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
Set rng = Intersect(ws.UsedRange, ws.Range("I:J"))
Set uniques = New Collection
For Each rowPair In rng.Rows
Set iCell = rowPair.Cells(, 1)
Set jCell = rowPair.Cells(, 2)
On Error Resume Next
uniques.Add jCell.Value2, jCell.Text
If Err = 457 Or iCell.Value2 = 102 Then
On Error GoTo 0
If delRows Is Nothing Then
Set delRows = rowPair.EntireRow
Else
Set delRows = Union(delRows, rowPair.EntireRow)
End If
End If
Next
If Not delRows is Nothing then
MsgBox delRows.Address(False, False) & " deleted."
delRows.Delete
End If
End Sub

Answer 2

There are a number of ways in which this can be done, and which is best will depend on how frequently you perform this task and whether you want to have it fully automated. Since you've tagged your question with VBA I assume you'll be happy with a VBA-based answer:
Sub removeValues()
Range("I1").Select 'Start at the top of the I column
'We are going to go down the column until we hit an empty row
Do Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Value) = True
If ActiveCell.Value <> 102 Then
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete 'Then delete the row
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(1).Select 'Select the cell below
End If
Loop
'Now we have removed all non-102 values from the column, let`s remove the duplicates from the J column
Range("A:J").RemoveDuplicates Columns:=10, Header:=xlNo
End Sub
The key line there is Range("A:J").RemoveDuplicates. It will remove rows from the range you specify according to duplicates it finds in the column you specify. In that case, it will remove items from the A-J columns based on duplicates in column 10 (which is J). If your data extends beyond the J column, then you'll need to replace "A:J" with the appropriate range. Note that the Columns value is relative to the index of the first column, so while the J column is 10 when that range starts at A (1), it would be 2 for example if the range were only I:J. Does that make sense?
(Note: Using ActiveCell is not really best practice, but it's the method that most obviously translates to what you were trying to do and as it seems you're new to VBA I thought it would be the easiest to understand).