Output doesn't match input - vba

Question

I've created a macro that's meant to created a lump of CSS & HTML from a set of values in each sheet of a spreadsheet.
It's a little untidy as I created the function to write it from one sheet first as a proof of concept, and then updated it.
It doesn't throw any obvious errors, but the output varies, sometimes it shows the same thing both times, and then depending on where I've got debug MsgBoxs or watches in VBA seems to alter the output.
Any ideas what on earth i'm doing wrong?
Sub createCode()
Dim myWorkbook As Workbook
Dim mySheet As Worksheet
Set myWorkbook = Application.ActiveWorkbook
For Each mySheet In myWorkbook.Worksheets
Dim bannerCount As Integer
Dim BannerCollection() As Banner
Dim r As Range
Dim lastRow, lastCol
Dim allCells As Range
bannerCount = 0
lastCol = mySheet.Range("a2").End(xlToRight).Column
lastRow = mySheet.Range("a2").End(xlDown).Row
Set allCells = mySheet.Range("a2", mySheet.Cells(lastRow, lastCol))
' MsgBox (mySheet.Name)
' MsgBox ("lastRow:" & lastRow & "lastCol:" & lastCol)
ReDim BannerCollection(allCells.Rows.Count)
For Each r In allCells.Rows
Dim thisBanner As Banner
thisBanner.imagePath = ""
thisBanner.retImagePath = ""
thisBanner.bannerTitle = ""
thisBanner.urlPath = ""
bannerCount = bannerCount + 1
' MsgBox (bannerCount)
thisBanner.imagePath = Cells(r.Row, 2).Value
thisBanner.retImagePath = Cells(r.Row, 3).Value
thisBanner.bannerTitle = Cells(r.Row, 4).Value
thisBanner.urlPath = Cells(r.Row, 5).Value
'MsgBox (Cells(r.Row, 2).Value)
'MsgBox (Cells(r.Row, 3).Value)
'MsgBox (Cells(r.Row, 4).Value)
'MsgBox (Cells(r.Row, 5).Value)
BannerCollection(bannerCount - 1) = thisBanner
Next r
Dim i As Variant
Dim retinaCSS, imgCSS, firstBannerCode, otherBannersCode, bannerTracking As String
retinaCSS = ""
imgCSS = ""
firstBannerCode = ""
otherBannersCode = ""
bannerTracking = ""
For i = 0 To bannerCount - 1
bannerTracking = BannerCollection(i).bannerTitle
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, " ", "+")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "&", "And")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "%", "PC")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "!", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "£", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, ",", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "'", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "#", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, ".", "")
retinaCSS = retinaCSS & "#sliderTarget .banner-" & i + 1 & "{background-image: url('/assets/static/" & BannerCollection(i).retImagePath & "');}" & vbNewLine
imgCSS = imgCSS & "#sliderTarget .banner-" & i + 1 & "{background-image: url('/assets/static/" & BannerCollection(i).imagePath & "');}" & vbNewLine
If i = 0 Then
firstBannerCode = firstBannerCode & "<div class=" & Chr(34) & "banner banner-" & i + 1 & " staticBanner" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
firstBannerCode = firstBannerCode & "" & vbNewLine
firstBannerCode = firstBannerCode & "</div>" & vbNewLine
Else
otherBannersCode = otherBannersCode & "<div class=" & Chr(34) & "banner banner-" & i + 1 & " staticBanner" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
otherBannersCode = otherBannersCode & "" & vbNewLine
otherBannersCode = otherBannersCode & "</div>" & vbNewLine
End If
' MsgBox (BannerCollection(i).retImagePath & vbNewLine & BannerCollection(i).imagePath & vbNewLine & BannerCollection(i).bannerTitle & vbNewLine & BannerCollection(i).urlPath)
Next i
CodeString = ""
CodeString = CodeString & "<style type=" & Chr(34) & "text/css" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "/* Banners */" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & imgCSS
CodeString = CodeString & "/* Retina Banners */" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "#media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) {" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & retinaCSS
CodeString = CodeString & "}" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "</style>" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "<div id=" & Chr(34) & "sliderTarget" & Chr(34) & " class=" & Chr(34) & "slides" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & firstBannerCode
CodeString = CodeString & "</div>" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "<script id=" & Chr(34) & "sliderTemplate" & Chr(34) & " type=" & Chr(34) & "text/template" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & otherBannersCode
CodeString = CodeString & "</script>"
FilePath = Application.DefaultFilePath & "\" & mySheet.Name & "code.txt"
Open FilePath For Output As #2
Print #2, CodeString
Close #2
MsgBox ("code.txt contains:" & CodeString)
MsgBox (Application.DefaultFilePath & "\" & mySheet.Name & "code.txt")
Erase BannerCollection
Next mySheet
End Sub
and here is the Banner type:
Public Type Banner
imagePath As String
retImagePath As String
urlPath As String
bannerTitle As String
End Type

Answer 1

I ended up doing a bit of a code review (oops spent too much time on the Code Review site). I'll post this here in addition to #Jeeped answer in case you get some value from it.
Option Explicit
You should specify Option Explicit at the top of each code module. What this does is tell the VBA compiler to check that every variable that you are trying to use has been declared (i.e. you've got Dim blah as String, Public blah as String or Private blah as String for each blah you're using).
If you attempt to use a variable which hasn't been declared, the compiler will give you a compilation error where the first problem occurs. This helps if you mistype a variable name, otherwise the compiler will think you are talking about something new.
Adding this to the top of your code requires a couple of declarations in your code but nothing major.
Multiple variable declaration on a single line
Don't do it. You have the following line: Dim retinaCSS, imgCSS, firstBannerCode, otherBannersCode, bannerTracking As String which declares 5 variables. The first 4 are declared as variants and the last one is a String. Now your code may work like this but you were probably expecting all 5 to be Strings. Other languages I believe do operate this way but VBA doesn't.
Declare them separately like:
Dim retinaCSS As String
Dim imgCSS As String
Dim firstBannerCode As String
Dim otherBannersCode As String
Dim bannerTracking As String
Don't initialise variables unnecessarily
I see code like:
CodeString = ""
CodeString = CodeString & "<style type=" & Chr(34) & "text/css" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
Now the problem with this is that you're assigning the empty string value to CodeString but then you are immediately assigning something else to it in the very next line. The risk is that you might try to use a variable before you have assigned something to it. This isn't a risk for the string type since it implicitly assigned an empty string value when it is created.
You can safely remove the first assignment to it. The danger could come from object references. Say if you have a reference to a worksheet but do not assign a worksheet to the variable before you try to use it. In any case you want to make sure that your variable has the required value before you attempt to use the value it holds.
Use Collection instead of an array
The array code is cumbersome and inflexible. VBA has a simple collection type which allows you to add and remove items to and from it without having to declare a fixed size.
You can also iterate through the contents using a For Each loop.
Here is the code I'm recommending:
Dim BannerCollection As Collection
Set BannerCollection = New Collection
' ...
For Each r In allCells.Rows
Dim thisBanner As Banner
Set thisBanner = New Banner
' ...
BannerCollection.Add thisBanner
Next r
' ...
Dim b As Banner
For Each b In BannerCollection
' do something with the banner.
Next
Now to do this, Banner must be a Class not a Type. I think it makes life a lot easier though.
Split a big method up into single purpose methods.
For instance I extracted a method as follows:
Private Function UrlEncode(ByVal text As String) As String
text = Replace(text, " ", "+")
text = Replace(text, "&", "And")
text = Replace(text, "%", "PC")
text = Replace(text, "!", "")
text = Replace(text, "£", "")
text = Replace(text, ",", "")
text = Replace(text, "'", "")
text = Replace(text, "#", "")
text = Replace(text, ".", "")
UrlEncode = text
End Function
Now this can be referenced like bannerTracking = UrlEncode(b.bannerTitle).

Answer 2

You are setting allCells to a distinct range of cells correctly.
Set allCells = mySheet.Range("a2", mySheet.Cells(lastRow, lastCol))
Then you loop through each row in the allCells range.
For Each r In allCells.Rows
But when you actually go to use r, it is only to use the row number.
thisBanner.imagePath = Cells(r.Row, 2).Value
r.Row is a number between 1 and 1,048,576, nothing more. There is no guarantee that Cells(r.Row, 2).Value refers to something on mySheet; only that whatever worksheet it is coming from it will using whatever worksheet's row number that corresponds to r.row. You need to define some parentage. An With ... End With block within the For ... Next and properly annotated .Range and .Cell references should suffice.
Sub createCode()
Dim myWorkbook As Workbook
Dim mySheet As Worksheet
Dim bannerCount As Integer
Dim BannerCollection() As Banner
Dim r As Range
Dim lastRow, lastCol
Dim allCells As Range
Set myWorkbook = Application.ActiveWorkbook
For Each mySheet In myWorkbook.Worksheets
With mySheet
'declare your vars outside the loop and zero/null then here if necessary.
bannerCount = 0
lastCol = .Range("a2").End(xlToRight).Column
lastRow = .Range("a2").End(xlDown).Row
Set allCells = .Range("a2", .Cells(lastRow, lastCol))
' MsgBox (mySheet.Name)
' MsgBox ("lastRow:" & lastRow & "lastCol:" & lastCol)
ReDim BannerCollection(allCells.Rows.Count)
For Each r In allCells.Rows
Dim thisBanner As Banner
thisBanner.imagePath = ""
thisBanner.retImagePath = ""
thisBanner.bannerTitle = ""
thisBanner.urlPath = ""
bannerCount = bannerCount + 1
' MsgBox (bannerCount)
thisBanner.imagePath = .Cells(r.Row, 2).Value
thisBanner.retImagePath = .Cells(r.Row, 3).Value
thisBanner.bannerTitle = .Cells(r.Row, 4).Value
thisBanner.urlPath = .Cells(r.Row, 5).Value
'MsgBox (.Cells(r.Row, 2).Value)
'MsgBox (.Cells(r.Row, 3).Value)
'MsgBox (.Cells(r.Row, 4).Value)
'MsgBox (.Cells(r.Row, 5).Value)
BannerCollection(bannerCount - 1) = thisBanner
Next r
Dim i As Variant
Dim retinaCSS, imgCSS, firstBannerCode, otherBannersCode, bannerTracking As String
retinaCSS = ""
imgCSS = ""
firstBannerCode = ""
otherBannersCode = ""
bannerTracking = ""
For i = 0 To bannerCount - 1
bannerTracking = BannerCollection(i).bannerTitle
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, " ", "+")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "&", "And")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "%", "PC")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "!", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "£", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, ",", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "'", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, "#", "")
bannerTracking = Replace(bannerTracking, ".", "")
retinaCSS = retinaCSS & "#sliderTarget .banner-" & i + 1 & "{background-image: url('/assets/static/" & BannerCollection(i).retImagePath & "');}" & vbNewLine
imgCSS = imgCSS & "#sliderTarget .banner-" & i + 1 & "{background-image: url('/assets/static/" & BannerCollection(i).imagePath & "');}" & vbNewLine
If i = 0 Then
firstBannerCode = firstBannerCode & "<div class=" & Chr(34) & "banner banner-" & i + 1 & " staticBanner" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
firstBannerCode = firstBannerCode & "" & vbNewLine
firstBannerCode = firstBannerCode & "</div>" & vbNewLine
Else
otherBannersCode = otherBannersCode & "<div class=" & Chr(34) & "banner banner-" & i + 1 & " staticBanner" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
otherBannersCode = otherBannersCode & "" & vbNewLine
otherBannersCode = otherBannersCode & "</div>" & vbNewLine
End If
' MsgBox (BannerCollection(i).retImagePath & vbNewLine & BannerCollection(i).imagePath & vbNewLine & BannerCollection(i).bannerTitle & vbNewLine & BannerCollection(i).urlPath)
Next i
CodeString = ""
CodeString = CodeString & "<style type=" & Chr(34) & "text/css" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "/* Banners */" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & imgCSS
CodeString = CodeString & "/* Retina Banners */" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "#media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) {" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & retinaCSS
CodeString = CodeString & "}" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "</style>" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "<div id=" & Chr(34) & "sliderTarget" & Chr(34) & " class=" & Chr(34) & "slides" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & firstBannerCode
CodeString = CodeString & "</div>" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & "<script id=" & Chr(34) & "sliderTemplate" & Chr(34) & " type=" & Chr(34) & "text/template" & Chr(34) & ">" & vbNewLine
CodeString = CodeString & otherBannersCode
CodeString = CodeString & "</script>"
FilePath = Application.DefaultFilePath & "\" & mySheet.Name & "code.txt"
Open FilePath For Output As #2
Print #2, CodeString
Close #2
MsgBox ("code.txt contains:" & CodeString)
MsgBox (Application.DefaultFilePath & "\" & mySheet.Name & "code.txt")
Erase BannerCollection
End With
Next mySheet
End Sub