Using VBA to create a grid from 3 spreadsheets with the row, column, and values - vba

Question

I have three excel spreadsheets. The first has the values that are to be assigned to a new excel spreadsheet. The second has the column that the data belongs in. The third has the row that the data belongs in.
It looks something like this:
Data Value:
1 5 7 9
2 2 6 8
Column Number:
1 2 3 1
2 3 1 2
Row Number:
1 2 3 2
4 4 3 1
How can I combine all of this information to create a single spreadsheet that contains the values in a format like this:
Column
1 2 3
Row
1 1 8 0
2 9 5 0
3 6 0 7
4 0 2 2
I have tried to do it by using loops in vba, but I am a beginner and I am having some difficulty.
I know that I need to use a loop that checks the row and column that the data is supposed to be in against the row and column for each iteration. I am just not sure how to go about doing that.

Answer 1

Assuming these are different sheets in the same workbook (if not - create a new workbook and copy the sheets over). I assume that on each sheet, the same range of cells is used (for example A1:D2 in all 3 cases with the values on the first sheet, the column numbers in the second and the row numbers in the third). You can dispense with VBA entirely at the expense of using some complicate formulas (inspired by this excellent article: http://exceluser.com/blog/1043/how-to-create-two-dimensional-lookups-in-excel-formulas.html )
Step 1. Add a fourth sheet and in A1 add the formula
=CONCATENATE(Sheet3!A1,"_",Sheet2!A1)
and copy it over the appropriate range (e.g. A1:D2). This will give you things like 2_1 which tell you that the corresponding entry in sheet 1 belongs in row 2 column 1. Name this range "location" (formula tab - define names option)
Step 2 - Decide where you want to hold the data (I'm assuming it is in sheet 4 for simplicity) And add the row numbers (1-4) and the column numbers (1-3) as labels. In my case the row labels are in A5:A8 and the column labels in B4:C4 (see the screenshot below). Then in the upper left corner of the values to be filled in (B5 in my case) enter the following formula (suitably adjusted to match your ranges):
=IFERROR(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(SUMPRODUCT(ROW(location)*(location = CONCATENATE($A5, "_",B$4))),SUMPRODUCT(COLUMN(location)*(location = CONCATENATE($A5, "_",B$4))),,,"Sheet1")),0)
and copy it over the intended range. Be careful with the dollar signs - this formula mixes row absolute and column absolute references in an essential way. Somewhat oddly, it actually works: