Text templating engine/function in Visual Basic for Applications - vba

Question

A common usage of VBA at my company is generation of source code based on information entered in Excel tables. Given VBA's native string manipulation, the code that does this is tedious to write and not very readable.
A simple example (these get more complex) is:
Print #fileIdentifier, SSpace(9) & "update_" & print_string & "[" & CStr(j) & "] <= 1'b0;"
Print #fileIdentifier, SSpace(9) & print_string & "_ack_meta" & "[" & CStr(j) & "] <= 1'b0;"
Print #fileIdentifier, SSpace(9) & print_string & "_ack_sync" & "[" & CStr(j) & "] <= 1'b0;"
I am looking for a solution in VBA that would allow me to specify this using a "text template", so define a text that would look something like this
update_#name#[#bit#] <= 1'b0;
#name#_ack_meta[#bit#] <= 1'b0;
#name#_ack_sync[#bit#] <= 1'b0;
and have a function/method call, passing the values of #name# and #bit#, replace all instances of #name# and #bit# with corresponding values.

Answer 1

Basic insertion function:
Function insert(template As String, ParamArray inserts() As Variant) As String
Dim i As Long
For i = 0 To UBound(inserts)
template = Replace$(template, "%" & i + 1 & "%", inserts(i))
Next
'// some special cases perhaps
template = Replace$(template, "%SSPACE%", SSpace(9))
template = Replace$(template, "\r\n", VbCrLf)
insert = template
End Function
For
?insert("Foo %1% Bar %2% Qux %3% (%1%)", "A", "B", "C")
Foo A Bar B Qux C (A)
Map (add a reference to Microsoft Scripting Runtime):
Dim col As New Scripting.Dictionary
col("name") = "bob"
col("age") = 35
MsgBox insert2("Hello %name% you are %age%", col)
...
Function insert2(template As String, map As Scripting.Dictionary) As String
Dim name
For Each name In map.Keys()
template = Replace$(template, "%" & name & "%", map(name))
Next
insert2 = template
End Function

Answer 2

Alex K., thank you for the solution.
Here is how I expanded it (please feel free to let me know if there is a better way of doing this)
Function FillTemplateGeneric(template As Variant, map As Scripting.Dictionary) As String
Dim name
Dim out_text As String
' Handle multiple ways of receiving the template string
If VarType(template) = vbString Then
out_text = template
ElseIf VarType(template) = vbArray Then
out_text = Join(template, vbCrLf)
ElseIf TypeName(template) = "String()" Then
out_text = Join(template, vbCrLf)
ElseIf TypeName(template) = "Variant()" And TypeName(template(LBound(template, 1))) = "String" Then
out_text = Join(template, vbCrLf)
Else
MsgBox "Unknown Var Type passed to FillTemplateGeneric as first argument:" & vbCrLf & TypeName(template)
Err.Raise vbObjectError + 513, "FillTemplateGeneric", "Unknown Var Type passed to FillTemplateGeneric as first argument:" & vbCrLf & TypeName(template)
End If
For Each name In map.Keys()
out_text = Replace$(out_text, "%" & name & "%", map(name))
Next
FillTemplateGeneric = out_text
End Function
This allows for it to accept calls in multiple formats:
' Common dictionary for expansion
Dim col As New Scripting.Dictionary
col("name") = print_string
' Using inline text for template
MsgBox FillTemplateGeneric("test text with %name% name - just string", col)
' Using a multi-line string
Dim template As String
templ_text = " update_%name% <= 1'b0; // 1 - manual multi-line string" & _
vbCrLf & " %name%_ack_meta <= 1'b0; // " & _
vbCrLf & " %name%_ack_sync <= 1'b0; // "
MsgBox FillTemplateGeneric(templ_text, col)
' Using an array of strings
Dim ttext(1 To 3) As String
ttext(1) = " update_%name% <= 1'b0; // 2 - manual array of strings"
ttext(2) = " %name%_ack_meta <= 1'b0; // "
ttext(3) = " %name%_ack_sync <= 1'b0; // "
MsgBox FillTemplateGeneric(ttext, col)
' Using an inline array of strings
MsgBox FillTemplateGeneric(Array( _
" update_%name% <= 1'b0; // 3 - immediate array of strings", _
" %name%_ack_meta <= 1'b0; // ", _
" %name%_ack_sync <= 1'b0; // " _
), col)