How to embed large (max 10Mb) text files into an Excel file - vba

Question

What is the best way to store a large text file (max 10Mb) in an Excel file?
I have a couple of requirements:
It has to be embedded so that the excel file can be moved and sent to a different computer and all the text files will follow.
It needs to be done from a macro.
And a macro needs to be able to read the file contents after it has been embedded.
I already tried to store it by breaking the text into several chunks enough small to fit into a cell (~32 000 chars), but it didn't work. After my macro had inserted the first 150 000 characters it gave me an "Out of Memory" error.
I remember seeing one web page with a couple of options for this I but cannot find it anymore. Any suggestions are most welcome. I will try them out if you are not sure if it works or not.

Answer 1

It would likely be best to simply save the .txt file alongside the Excel file, and have the macro pull the text as needed from that folder. To read more on importing files see this:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-customize/vba-code-to-import-multiple-text-files-from/525bd388-0f7d-4b4a-89f9-310c67227458
Keeping the .txt within the Excel file itself is not necessary and will likely make it harder to transfer files in the long run. For example, if you cannot e-mail a file larger than 10MB, then you can simply break your .txt file in half and e-mail separately - using a macro which loads the text into Excel locally.

Answer 2

Very simple CustomXMLPart example:
Sub CustomTextTester()
Dim cxp1 As CustomXMLPart, cxp2 As CustomXMLPart
Dim txt As String
'read file content
txt = CreateObject("scripting.filesystemobject").opentextfile( _
"C:\_Stuff\test.txt").readall()
'Add a custom XML part with that content
Set cxp1 = ThisWorkbook.CustomXMLParts.Add("<myXMLPart><content><![CDATA[" & txt _
& "]]></content></myXMLPart>")
Debug.Print cxp1.SelectSingleNode("myXMLPart/content").FirstChild.NodeValue
End Sub

Answer 3

Consider the method shown below. It uses Caption property of Label object located on a worksheet for data storage. So you can create a number of such containers with different names.
Sub Test()
Dim sText
' create special hidden sheet for data storage
If Not IsSheetExists("storage") Then
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets.Add()
.Name = "storage"
.Visible = xlVeryHidden
End With
End If
' create new OLE object TypeForms.Label type as container
AddContainer "test_container_"
' read text from file
sText = ReadTextFile("C:\Users\DELL\Desktop\tmp\tmp.txt", 0)
' put text into container
PutContent "test_container_", sText
' retrieve text from container
sText = GetContent("test_container_")
' show length
MsgBox Len(sText)
' remove container
RemoveContainer "test_container_"
End Sub
Function IsSheetExists(sSheetName)
Dim oSheet
For Each oSheet In ThisWorkbook.Sheets
If oSheet.Name = sSheetName Then
IsSheetExists = True
Exit Function
End If
Next
IsSheetExists = False
End Function
Sub AddContainer(sName)
With ThisWorkbook.Sheets("storage").OLEObjects.Add(ClassType:="Forms.Label.1")
.Visible = False
.Name = sName
End With
End Sub
Sub RemoveContainer(sName)
ThisWorkbook.Sheets("storage").OLEObjects.Item(sName).Delete
End Sub
Sub PutContent(sName, sContent)
ThisWorkbook.Sheets("storage").OLEObjects.Item(sName).Object.Caption = sContent
End Sub
Function GetContent(sName)
GetContent = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("storage").OLEObjects.Item(sName).Object.Caption
End Function
Function ReadTextFile(sPath, iFormat)
With CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").OpenTextFile(sPath, 1, False, iFormat)
ReadTextFile = ""
If Not .AtEndOfStream Then ReadTextFile = .ReadAll
.Close
End With
End Function