How to loop through worksheets in a defined order using VBA - vba

Question

I have the below working code which loops through each worksheet and if the value defined in the range (myrange) is 'Y', it outputs those sheets into a single PDF document. My challange is that i want to define the order that they are output in the PDF based on the number value in the range (for example 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc) instead of 'Y'. I plan on using the same column in the myrange to check whether it needs to be output to PDF, by simply swapping the 'Y' for a number, such as '1' and '2'.
Currently the order is defined based on the location of the worksheet tabs. from left to right.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Sub Run_Me_To_Create_Save_PDF()
Dim saveAsName As String
Dim WhereTo As String
Dim sFileName As String
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim printOrder As Variant '**added**
Dim myrange
On Error GoTo Errhandler
Sheets("Settings").Activate
' Retrieve value of 'Period Header' from Settings sheet
Range("C4").Activate
periodName = ActiveCell.Value
' Retrieve value of 'File Name' from Settings sheet
Range("C5").Activate
saveAsName = ActiveCell.Value
' Retrieve value of 'Publish PDF to Folder' from Settings sheet
Range("C6").Activate
WhereTo = ActiveCell.Value
Set myrange = Worksheets("Settings").Range("range_sheetProperties")
' Check if Stamp-field has any value at all and if not, add the current date.
If Stamp = "" Then Stamp = Date
' Assemble the filename
sFileName = WhereTo & saveAsName & " (" & Format(CDate(Date), "DD-MMM-YYYY") & ").pdf"
' Check whether worksheet should be output in PDF, if not hide the sheet
For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
Sheets(ws.Name).Visible = True
printOrder = Application.VLookup(ws.Name, myrange, 4, False)
If Not IsError(printOrder) Then
If printOrder = "Y" Then
Sheets(ws.Name).Visible = True
End If
Else: Sheets(ws.Name).Visible = False
End If
Next
'Save the File as PDF
ActiveWorkbook.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, Filename:= _
sFileName, Quality _
:=xlQualityStandard, IncludeDocProperties:=True, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=True
' Unhide and open the Settings sheet before exiting
Sheets("Settings").Visible = True
Sheets("Settings").Activate
MsgBox "PDF document has been created and saved to : " & sFileName
Exit Sub
Errhandler:
' If an error occurs, unhide and open the Settings sheet then display an error message
Sheets("Settings").Visible = True
Sheets("Settings").Activate
MsgBox "An error has occurred. Please check that the PDF is not already open."
End Sub
---------------------- UPDATE: -------------------------------------
Thank you for all your input so far. I did get it to work briefly, but with more playing i've become stuck. I am now receiving a 'Subscript our of range' error with the below code at :
If sheetNameArray(x) <> Empty Then
Any ideas?
Sub Run_Me_To_Create_Save_PDF()
Dim saveAsName As String
Dim WhereTo As String
Dim sFileName As String
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim myrange
ReDim sheetNameArray(0 To 5) As String
Dim NextWs As Worksheet
Dim PreviousWs As Worksheet
Dim x As Integer
'On Error GoTo Errhandler
Sheets("Settings").Activate
' Retrieve value of 'Period Header' from Settings sheet
Range("C4").Activate
periodName = ActiveCell.Value
' Retrieve value of 'File Name' from Settings sheet
Range("C5").Activate
saveAsName = ActiveCell.Value
' Retrieve value of 'Publish PDF to Folder' from Settings sheet
Range("C6").Activate
WhereTo = ActiveCell.Value
' Check if Stamp-field has any value at all and if not, add the current date.
If Stamp = "" Then Stamp = Date
' Assemble the filename
sFileName = WhereTo & saveAsName & " (" & Format(CDate(Date), "DD-MMM-YYYY") & ").pdf"
Set myrange = Worksheets("Settings").Range("range_sheetProperties")
For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
printOrder = Application.VLookup(ws.Name, myrange, 4, False)
If Not IsError(printOrder) Then
printOrderNum = printOrder
If printOrderNum <> Empty Then
'Add sheet to array
num = printOrderNum - 1
sheetNameArray(num) = ws.Name
End If
End If
Next
MsgBox Join(sheetNameArray, ",")
'Order Tab sheets based on array
x = 1
Do While Count < 6
If sheetNameArray(x) <> Empty Then
Set PreviousWs = Sheets(sheetNameArray(x - 1))
Set NextWs = Sheets(sheetNameArray(x))
NextWs.Move after:=PreviousWs
x = x + 1
Else
Count = Count + 1
x = x + 1
End If
Loop
Sheets(sheetNameArray).Select
'Save the File as PDF
ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, Filename:=sFileName, Quality _
:=xlQualityStandard, IncludeDocProperties:=True, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=True
' open the Settings sheet before exiting
Sheets("Settings").Activate
MsgBox "PDF document has been created and saved to : " & sFileName
Exit Sub
Errhandler:
' If an error occurs, unhide and open the Settings sheet then display an error message
Sheets("Settings").Visible = True
Sheets("Settings").Activate
MsgBox "An error has occurred. Please check that the PDF is not already open."
End Sub

Answer 1

You would want to define the worksheets in an array.
This example uses a static array, knowing the sheets order and what you want to print in advance. This does work.
ThisWorkbook.Sheets(Array("Sheet1","Sheet2","Sheet6","Master","Sales")).Select
ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, fileName:=sFileName, Quality _
:=xlQualityStandard, IncludeDocProperties:=True, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=True
The problem is that if a sheet is hidden, it will fail on the selection.
So you will need to already know which sheets pass the test to be printed or not before declaring the Array. Therefore you will need a dynamic array to build the list of Worksheets.
I did change how your PrintOrder works, instead of making the sheet invisible, it simply doesn't add it to the array, or vice versa, adds the ones you want to the array. Then you select the array at the end, and run your print macro that works.
I tested this using my own test values, and am trusting that your PrintOrder Test works. But this does work. I used it to print time sheets that only have more than 4 hours per day, and it succeeded, merging 5 sheets out of a workbook with 11 sheets into one PDF.. All of them qualified the test.
TESTED: Insert this instead of your For Each ws and add the Variable Declarations with yours
Sub DynamicSheetArray()
Dim wsArray() As String
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim wsCount As Long
wsCount = 0
For Each ws In Worksheets
printOrder = Application.VLookup(ws.Name, myrange, 4, False)
If Not IsError(printOrder) Then
If printOrder = "Y" Then
wsCount = wsCount + 1
ReDim Preserve wsArray(1 To wsCount)
'Add sheet to array
wsArray(wsCount) = ws.Name
End If
End If
Next
Sheets(wsArray).Select
ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, fileName:=sFileName, Quality _
:=xlQualityStandard, IncludeDocProperties:=True, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, _
OpenAfterPublish:=True
End Sub
edit: further explained context of my code to OP

Answer 2

Here is a bit of code I came up with. Basically you would want to take this and adapt it to fit your specific needs but the general idea should work!
Sub MovingPagesAccordingToNumberInRange()
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim NextWs As Worksheet
Dim PreviousWs As Worksheet
Dim sheetNameArray(0 To 400) As String
Dim i As Integer
'This first loop is taking all of the sheets that have a number
' placed in the specified range (I used Cell A1 of each sheet)
' and it places the name of the worksheet into an array in the
' order that I want the sheets to appear. If I placed a 1 in the cell
' it will move the name to the 1st place in the array (location 0).
' and so on. It only places the name however when there is something
' in that range.
For Each ws In Worksheets
If ws.Cells(1, 1).Value <> Empty Then
num = ws.Cells(1, 1).Value - 1
sheetNameArray(num) = ws.Name
End If
Next
' This next section simply moves the sheets into their
' appropriate positions. It takes the name of the sheets in the
' previous spot in the array and moves the current spot behind that one.
' Since I didn't know how many sheets you would be using I just put
' A counter in the prevent an infinite loop. Basically if the loop encounters 200
' empty spots in the array, everything has probably been organized.
x = 1
Do While Count < 200
If sheetNameArray(x) <> Empty Then
Set PreviousWs = sheets(sheetNameArray(x - 1))
Set NextWs = sheets(sheetNameArray(x))
NextWs.Move after:=PreviousWs
x = x + 1
Else
Count = Count + 1
x = x + 1
End If
Loop
End Sub