Excel VBA Macro to get the substring of text before semicolon - vba

Question

I have working code here.
In section (3) it grabs values from a cell under a specific header and prints them to a masterfile. These values typically look like
TL-18273982; 10MM
TL-288762; 76DK
CT-576
N/A
I would like to grab just the information that is before the first semicolon. Not all the cells have a semi colon in them so it would probably need an if statement along the lines of if ; then print everything in front of it.
I have been trying to utilize a split function to do this but I am not very experienced with VBA so I am having some trouble. Any suggestions?
Option Explicit
Sub LoopThroughDirectory()
Const ROW_HEADER As Long = 10
Dim objFSO As Object
Dim objFolder As Object
Dim objFile As Object
Dim MyFolder As String
Dim StartSht As Worksheet, ws As Worksheet
Dim WB As Workbook
Dim i As Integer
Dim LastRow As Integer, erow As Integer
Dim Height As Integer
Dim RowLast As Long
Dim f As String
Dim dict As Object
Dim hc As Range, hc1 As Range, hc2 As Range, hc3 As Range, d As Range
Set StartSht = Workbooks("masterfile.xlsm").Sheets("Sheet1")
'turn screen updating off - makes program faster
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'location of the folder in which the desired TDS files are
MyFolder = "C:\Users\trembos\Documents\TDS\progress\"
'find the headers on the sheet
Set hc1 = HeaderCell(StartSht.Range("B1"), "HOLDER")
Set hc2 = HeaderCell(StartSht.Range("C1"), "CUTTING TOOL")
'create an instance of the FileSystemObject
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'get the folder object
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(MyFolder)
i = 2
'loop through directory file and print names
'(1)
For Each objFile In objFolder.Files
If LCase(Right(objFile.Name, 3)) = "xls" Or LCase(Left(Right(objFile.Name, 4), 3)) = "xls" Then
'(2)
'Open folder and file name, do not update links
Set WB = Workbooks.Open(fileName:=MyFolder & objFile.Name, UpdateLinks:=0)
Set ws = WB.ActiveSheet
'(3)
'find CUTTING TOOL on the source sheet
Set hc = HeaderCell(ws.Cells(ROW_HEADER, 1), "CUTTING TOOL")
If Not hc Is Nothing Then
Set dict = GetValues(hc.Offset(1, 0))
If dict.count > 0 Then
Set d = StartSht.Cells(Rows.count, hc2.Column).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0)
'add the values to the masterfile, column 3
d.Resize(dict.count, 1).Value = Application.Transpose(dict.items)
End If
Else
'header not found on source worksheet
End If
'(4)
'find HOLDER on the source sheet
Set hc3 = HeaderCell(ws.Cells(ROW_HEADER, 1), "HOLDER")
If Not hc3 Is Nothing Then
Set dict = GetValues(hc3.Offset(1, 0))
If dict.count > 0 Then
Set d = StartSht.Cells(Rows.count, hc1.Column).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0)
'add the values to the master list, column 2
d.Resize(dict.count, 1).Value = Application.Transpose(dict.items)
End If
Else
'header not found on source worksheet
End If
'(5)
With WB
'print TDS information
For Each ws In .Worksheets
'print the file name to Column 1
StartSht.Cells(i, 1) = objFile.Name
'print TDS name from J1 cell to Column 4
With ws
.Range("J1").Copy StartSht.Cells(i, 4)
End With
i = GetLastRowInSheet(StartSht) + 1
'move to next file
Next ws
'(6)
'close, do not save any changes to the opened files
.Close SaveChanges:=False
End With
End If
'move to next file
Next objFile
'turn screen updating back on
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
ActiveWindow.ScrollRow = 1
'(7)
End Sub
'(8)
'get all unique column values starting at cell c
Function GetValues(ch As Range) As Object
Dim dict As Object, rng As Range, c As Range, v
Set dict = CreateObject("scripting.dictionary")
For Each c In ch.Parent.Range(ch, ch.Parent.Cells(Rows.count, ch.Column).End(xlUp)).Cells
v = Trim(c.Value)
If Len(v) > 0 And Not dict.exists(v) Then
dict.Add c.Address, v
End If
Next c
Set GetValues = dict
End Function
'(9)
'find a header on a row: returns Nothing if not found
Function HeaderCell(rng As Range, sHeader As String) As Range
Dim rv As Range, c As Range
For Each c In rng.Parent.Range(rng, rng.Parent.Cells(rng.Row, Columns.count).End(xlToLeft)).Cells
If Trim(c.Value) = sHeader Then
Set rv = c
Exit For
End If
Next c
Set HeaderCell = rv
End Function
'(10)
Function GetLastRowInColumn(theWorksheet As Worksheet, col As String)
With theWorksheet
GetLastRowInColumn = .Range(col & .Rows.count).End(xlUp).Row
End With
End Function
'(11)
Function GetLastRowInSheet(theWorksheet As Worksheet)
Dim ret
With theWorksheet
If Application.WorksheetFunction.CountA(.Cells) <> 0 Then
ret = .Cells.Find(What:="*", _
After:=.Range("A1"), _
Lookat:=xlPart, _
LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
SearchDirection:=xlPrevious, _
MatchCase:=False).Row
Else
ret = 1
End If
End With
GetLastRowInSheet = ret
End Function

Answer 1

If you one use Split function, you will love it -> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6x627e5f%28v=vs.90%29.aspx
Look for this example:
Sub TestSplit()
Dim String1 As String
Dim Arr1 As Variant
String1 = "TL-18273982; 10MM"
Arr1 = Split(String1, ";")
Debug.Print "TEST1: String1=" & String1
Debug.Print "TEST1: Arr1(0)=" & Arr1(0)
Debug.Print "TEST1: Arr1(1)=" & Arr1(1)
String1 = "CT-576"
Arr1 = Split(String1, ";")
Debug.Print "TEST2: String1=" & String1
Debug.Print "TEST2: Arr1(0)=" & Arr1(0)
String1 = "N/A"
Arr1 = Split(String1, ";")
Debug.Print "TEST3: String1=" & String1
Debug.Print "TEST3: Arr1(0)=" & Arr1(0)
End Sub
Results:
TEST1: String1=TL-18273982; 10MM
TEST1: Arr1(0)=TL-18273982
TEST1: Arr1(1)= 10MM
TEST2: String1=CT-576
TEST2: Arr1(0)=CT-576
TEST3: String1=N/A
TEST3: Arr1(0)=N/A
Edit:
Maybe simple modification GetValues will resolve problem?
Change function call to:
Set dict = GetValues(hc.Offset(1, 0), "SplitMe")
And change function like this:
'(8)
'get all unique column values starting at cell c
Function GetValues(ch As Range, Optional vSplit As Variant) As Object
Dim dict As Object, rng As Range, c As Range, v
Dim spl As Variant
Set dict = CreateObject("scripting.dictionary")
For Each c In ch.Parent.Range(ch, ch.Parent.Cells(Rows.Count, ch.Column).End(xlUp)).Cells
v = Trim(c.Value)
If Len(v) > 0 And Not dict.exists(v) Then
If Not IsMissing(vSplit) Then
spl = Split(v, ";")
v = spl(0)
End If
dict.Add c.Address, v
End If
Next c
Set GetValues = dict
End Function

Answer 2

Consider:
Public Function PreSemicolon(sIN As String) As String
If InStr(sIN, ";") = 0 Then
PreSemicolon = ""
Exit Function
Else
PreSemicolon = Split(sIN, ";")(0)
End If
End Function

Answer 3

The following VBA code snippet demonstrates the possible solution assuming the text is entered in "A1" cell (Note: it does not need Split() Function):
Sub GetSubstringDemo()
Dim position As Integer
Dim substring As String
position = InStr(Cells(1, 1), ";")
If (position > 0) Then
substring = Left(Cells(1, 1), position - 1)
'or use the following one to exclude "["
'substring = Replace(Left(Cells(1, 1), position - 1), "[", "")
Debug.Print substring
End If
End Sub
The same Sub can be extended to loop through the range of cells (e.g. A1 to A10):
Sub GetSubstringDemo()
Dim position As Integer
Dim substring As String
For i = 1 To 10
position = InStr(Cells(i, 1), ";")
If (position > 0) Then
substring = Replace(Left(Cells(i, 1), position - 1), "[", "")
Debug.Print substring
End If
Next i
End Sub
Hope this may help.
PS. Pertinent to you additional question in comments: business logic is a bit unclear, but following that sample code, it could be modified as :
Set dict = GetValues(hc.Offset(1, 0))
If dict.count > 0 Then
Set d = StartSht.Cells(Rows.count, hc2.Column).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0)
position = InStr(d.Value, ";")
substring = Replace(Left(d.Value, position - 1), ";", "")
d.Resize(dict.count, 1).Value = Application.Transpose(dict.items)
End If
Best Regards,

Answer 4

Try something like that.I'm not sure about your variables, you might have to adapt them.
You can use instr to locate a character within the string (returning the position of '[' for example). You can then use mid to extract a substing, using the positions of ']' and '['.
openPos = instr (hc , "[") closePos = instr (hc , ";")
if closePos = 0 then
closePos = instr (hc , "]")
end if
dict = mid (hc , openPos+1, closePos - openPos - 1)