Copy a range to a virtual range - vba

Question

Is it possible to copy a range to a virtual range or does it require me to sloppily paste it in another range in the workbook?
dim x as range
x = copy of Range("A1:A4")
obviously I usually use the following code
dim x as range
set x = Range("A1:A4")
but in the above example it only makes x a "shortcut" to that range rather than a copy of the range object itself. Which is usually what I want but lately I have been finding it would be quite useful to totally save a range and all it's properties in memory rather than in the workbook somewhere.

Answer 1

I think this is what you are trying to do:
'Set reference to range
Dim r As Range
Set r = Range("A1:A4")
'Load range contents to an array (in memory)
Dim v As Variant
v = r.Value
'Do stuff with the data just loaded, e.g.
'Add 123 to value of cell in 1st row, 3rd column of range
v(1,3) = v(1,3) + 123
'Write modified data back to some other range
Range("B1:B4").Value = v

Answer 2

Is it possible to copy a range to a virtual range?
No it is not possible. Range allways represents some existing instance(s) of cells on a worksheet in a workbook.
Does it require me to sloppily paste it in another range in the
workbook?
It depends on what you want to do. You can paste everithing from one range to another, you can paste only something like e.g. formulas to another range.
dim x as range
set x = Range("A1:A4")
But in the above example it only makes x a "shortcut" to that range
rather than a copy of the range object itself.
Variable x holds a reference to that specific range. It is not possible to made any standalone copy of a range. It is possible to create references to a range and to copy everithing / something from one range to another range.
Lately I have been finding it would be quite useful to totally save a
range and all it's properties in memory rather than in the workbook
somewhere.
Again, it is not possible to save all range properties to some virtual, standalone copy of specific Range because Range allways represents an existing, concrete set of cells. What you could do is to create your own class with some properties of a Range or even all properties ... but it will be some extra work to do.
Here some examples how to use range as parameter and copy it to another range. HTH.
Option Explicit
Sub Main()
Dim primaryRange As Range
Set primaryRange = Worksheets(1).Range("A1:D3")
CopyRangeAll someRange:=primaryRange
CopyRangeFormat someRange:=primaryRange
' Value property of a range represents and 2D array of values
' So it is usefull if only values are important and all the other properties do not matter.
Dim primaryRangeValues As Variant
primaryRangeValues = primaryRange.value
Debug.Print "primaryRangeValues (" & _
LBound(primaryRangeValues, 1) & " To " & UBound(primaryRangeValues, 1) & ", " & _
LBound(primaryRangeValues, 2) & " To " & UBound(primaryRangeValues, 2) & ")"
' Prints primaryRangeValues (1 To 3, 1 To 4)
Dim value As Variant
For Each value In primaryRangeValues
' This loop throught values is much quicker then to iterate through primaryRange.Cells itself.
' Use it to iterate through range when other properties except value does not matter.
Debug.Print value
Next value
End Sub
Private Sub CopyRangeAll(ByVal someRange As Range)
' Here all properties of someRange which can be copied are copied to another range.
' So the function gets a reference to specific range and uses all its properties for another range.
Dim secondaryRange As Range
Set secondaryRange = Worksheets(2).Range("D4:G6")
someRange.Copy secondaryRange
End Sub
Private Sub CopyRangeFormat(ByVal someRange As Range)
' Here only formats are copied.
' Function receives reference to specific range but uses only one special property of it in that another range.
Dim secondaryRange As Range
Set secondaryRange = Worksheets(3).Range("G7:J9")
someRange.Copy
secondaryRange.PasteSpecial xlPasteFormats ' and many more e.g. xlPasteFormulas, xlPasteValues etc.
End Sub