Trying to extract data from curly braces but not working - vba

Question

I need to sync up the values in the curly braces {} found in column C and put them against the user id in column F as seen below.
E.g. on the Emails sheet
becomes this on a new sheet
Sub CopyConditional()
Dim wshS As Worksheet
Dim WhichName As String
Set wshS = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Emails")
WhichName = "NewSheet"
Const NameCol = "C"
Const FirstRow = 1
Dim LastRow As Long
Dim SrcRow As Long
Dim TrgRow As Long
Dim wshT As Worksheet
Dim cpt As String
Dim user As String
Dim computers() As String
Dim computer As String
On Error Resume Next
Set wshT = Worksheets(WhichName)
If wshT Is Nothing Then
Set wshT = Worksheets.Add(After:=wshS)
wshT.Name = WhichName
End If
On Error GoTo 0
If wshT.Cells(1, NameCol).value = "" Then
TrgRow = 1
Else
TrgRow = wshT.Cells(wshT.Rows.Count, NameCol).End(xlUp).Row + 1
End If
LastRow = wshS.Cells(wshS.Rows.Count, NameCol).End(xlUp).Row
For SrcRow = FirstRow To LastRow
cpt = wshS.Range("C" & SrcRow).value
user = wshS.Range("F" & SrcRow).value
If InStr(cpt, ":") Then
cpt = Mid(cpt, InStr(1, cpt, ":") + 1, Len(cpt))
End If
If InStr(cpt, ";") Then
computers = Split(cpt, ";")
For i = 0 To UBound(computers)
If computers(i) <> "" Then
wshT.Range("A" & TrgRow).value = user
wshT.Range("B" & TrgRow).value = Mid(Left(computers(i), Len(computers(i)) - 1), 2)
TrgRow = TrgRow + 1
End If
Next
Else
computer = cpt
If computer <> "" Then
wshT.Range("A" & TrgRow).value = user
wshT.Range("B" & TrgRow).value = Mid(Left(computer, Len(computer) - 1), 2)
TrgRow = TrgRow + 1
End If
End If
Next SrcRow
End Sub
I managed to resolve it with the above code but there are 3 niggling issues:
1) The first curly brace is always copied, how do I omit this so something like {Computer1 looks like Computer 1
2) Where there are two computers in a row, then the output looks something like this:
when it should really be split into two different rows i.e.
User 1 | Computer 1
User 1 | Computer 2
3) If there is text after the last curly brace with text in it e.g. {Computer1};{Computer2};Request submitted then that text is added as a new row, I don't want this, I want it to be omitted e.g.
should just be:
User 1 | Computer 1
User 1 | Computer 2
How do I go about rectifying these issues?

Answer 1

Try this:
Sub Collapse()
Dim uRng As Range, cel As Range
Dim comps As Variant, comp As Variant, r As Variant, v As Variant
Dim d As Dictionary '~~> Early bind, for Late bind use commented line
'Dim d As Object
Dim a As String
With Sheet1 '~~> Sheet that contains your data
Set uRng = .Range("F1", .Range("F" & .Rows.Count).End(xlUp))
End With
Set d = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
With d
For Each cel In uRng
a = Replace(cel.Offset(0, -3), "{", "}")
comps = Split(a, "}")
Debug.Print UBound(comps)
For Each comp In comps
If InStr(comp, "Computer") <> 0 _
And Len(Trim(comp)) <= 10 Then '~~> I assumed max Comp# is 99
If Not .Exists(cel) Then
.Add cel, comp
Else
If IsArray(.Item(cel)) Then
r = .Item(cel)
ReDim Preserve r(UBound(r) + 1)
r(UBound(r)) = comp
.Item(cel) = r
Else
r = Array(.Item(cel), comp)
.Item(cel) = r
End If
End If
End If
Next
Next
End With
For Each v In d.Keys
With Sheet2 '~~> sheet you want to write your data to
If IsArray(d.Item(v)) Then
.Range("A" & .Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0) _
.Resize(UBound(d.Item(v)) + 1) = v
.Range("B" & .Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0) _
.Resize(UBound(d.Item(v)) + 1) = Application.Transpose(d.Item(v))
Else
.Range("A" & .Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0) = v
.Range("B" & .Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0) = d.Item(v)
End If
End With
Next
Set d = Nothing
End Sub
Above code uses Replace and Split Function to pass your string to array.
a = Replace(cel.Offset(0, -3), "{", "}") '~~> standardize delimiter
comps = Split(a, "}") '~~> split using standard delimiter
Then information are passed to dictionary object using User as key and computers as items.
We filter the items passed to dictionary using Instr and Len Function
If InStr(comp, "Computer") <> 0 _
And Len(Trim(comp)) <= 10 Then
As I've commented, I assumed your max computer number is 99.
Else change 10 to whatever length you need to check.
Finally we return the dictionary information to the target worksheet.
Note: You need to add reference to Microsoft Scripting Runtime if you prefer early bind
Result: I tried it on a small sample data patterned on how I see it in you SS.
So assuming you have this data in Sheet1:
Will output data in Sheet2 like this:

Answer 2

I use a custom parse function for this type of operation:
Sub CopyConditional()
' some detail left out
Dim iRow&, Usern$, Computer$, Computers$
For iRow = ' firstrow To lastrow
Usern = Sheets("Emails").Cells(iRow, "F")
Computers = Sheets("Emails").Cells(iRow, "C")
Do
Computer = zParse(Computers) ' gets one computer
If Computer = "" Then Exit Do
' Store Computer and Usern
Loop
Next iRow
End Sub
Function zParse$(Haystack$) ' find all {..}
Static iPosL& '
Dim iPosR&
If iPosL = 0 Then iPosL = 1
iPosL = InStr(iPosL, Haystack, "{") ' Left
If iPosL = 0 Then Exit Function ' no more
iPosR = InStr(iPosL, Haystack, "}") ' Right
If iPosR = 0 Then MsgBox "No matching }": Stop
zParse = Mid$(Haystack, iPosL + 1, iPosR - iPosL - 1)
iPosL = iPosR
End Function

Answer 3

1) Use the Mid function to drop the first character:
str = "{Computer1"
str = Mid(str,2)
now str = "Computer1"
2) You can use the Split function to separate these out and combine with the Mid function above
str = "{Computer1}{Computer2}"
splt = Split(str,"}")
for a = 0 to Ubound(splt)
result = Mid(splt(a),2)
next a
3) Add a conditional statement to the above loop
str = "{Computer1}{Computer2}"
splt = Split(str,"}")
for a = 0 to Ubound(splt)
if Left(splt(a),1) = "{" then result = Mid(splt(a),2)
next a
Use this loop and send each result to the desired cell (in the for-next loop) and you should be good to go.