I have very little experience with VBA and the last time I used it was years ago.
Heres my VBA:
Function MacIDGen(total, current)
If total - current = 0 Then
current -1
Else
current 1
End If
Macro1 (current)
End Function
Sub Macro1(cur)
Sheets("Donations").Cells(I2).Value = cur & "Test"
End Sub
It's its own module, no other code in with it at all.
So I have a cell which is calling MacIDGen(). It's passing MacID two other cell values. The error comes whenever it's executed, "Compile Error: Expected Sub, Function, or Property" and highlights the functions method signature.
I have no idea why its kicking this up here, I'm guessing its because I've either missed a major step or something about how you can't have a function in that context or some other such issue.
EDIT
As a little extra info, I'm creating these spreadsheets in Excel to serve as random data generation sheets to be imported into a drupal site. I've encountered a problem that cannot be resolved without the use of loops (I also can't hard code the number of iterations either), which formulas don't do.
Regarding the Compile Error, you are getting that because you forgot to use the = sign in current -1 and current 1
Like I mentioned, there are many errors but the main error is that you cannot use a UDF to write to another cell. It really doesn't matter if you break that function into functions or subs. You simply can't write to any other cell. You will get a #Value in the cell where you are using that function.
A Function is used when you want to return something. Now since you are using this as a UDF (user defined function), it should return something and to that particular cell.
If you are writing to the same cell where the function is called from then change your code to
Function MacIDGen(total, current)
If total - current = 0 Then
current = -1
Else
current = 1
End If
MacIDGen = current & "Test"
End Function
If you want to change a cell you can use a sub procedure instead of a UDF, in that case you will need a way to execute it from your spreadsheet such as a commandButton, a ribbon button or a key combination shortcut.
If so, your first line should be:
Sub MacIDGen(total, current)
Related
I'm still learning VBA so I might be doing a lot of very basic mistakes. At the moment I'm trying to make a macro which could count the rows of a table. This sub works perfectly (with a table named "Tab").
Sub AddRowTable()
ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Tab").ListRows.Add (2)
End Sub
However, when I try to convert this sub to a function so I can call it with the name of the table as variable, I get a name error when writing "=AddRowTableFunction(Tab)" in a cell.
Function AddRowTableFunction(TableName)
ActiveSheet.ListObjects(TableName).ListRows.Add (3)
End Function
I understand that it is just a problem of type, but I just cant find how to do it properly.
Thanks.
At the moment I'm trying to make a macro which could count the rows of a table.
First off, that is not what your code is doing. Your code is adding a row to the table. The number of rows would be accessed using ListRows.Count.
when I try to convert this sub to a function so I can call it with the name of the table as variable...
You don't need a Function in order to include a variable. The differance between a Sub and a Function is that a Function returns a variable, while a Sub does not (i.e. a Function gives back a variable to the code that used it). Both Subs and Functions can take variables.
A Function that returns the number of rows in a given table would be something like this:
Function AddRowTableFunction(TableName As String)
AddRowTableFunction = ActiveSheet.ListObjects(TableName).ListRows.Count
End Function
For adding a row, you would probably use a Sub, because the action of adding a row doesn't return any information:
Sub AddRowTable(TableName As String)
ActiveSheet.ListObjects(TableName).ListRows.Add
End Sub
Finally, when using the Function in a formula, as Apafey pointed out, you need to write "Tab" (in quotes), not just Tab. "Tab" tells Excel to pass the text of the word Tab, while Tab tells Excel to look for a range named Tab, which probably doesn't exist.
You should try:
=AddRowTableFunction("Tab")
You wrote:
=AddRowTableFunction(Tab)
that is not fine.
As FaneDuru said, an UDF function can't change other cells, which explains the error). Thnaks !
How do I return a value from a VBA Function variable to a Defined Name in Excel 2010?
In the example below, I want i to be returned to Excel as a Defined Name Value_Count that can be reused in other formulas, such that if MsgBox shows 7, then typing =Value_Count in a cell would also return 7.
Everything else below is about what I've tried, and why I'd like to do it. If it's inadvisable, I'd be happy to know why, and if there's a better method.
Function process_control_F(raw_data As Variant)
Dim i As Integer
i = 0
For Each cell In raw_data
i = i + 1
Next cell
MsgBox i
End Function
My goal is to have the value returned by the MsgBox be returned instead to a Defined Name that can be reused in other forumulas. However, I cannot get the value to show. I have tried a variety of forms (too numerous to recall, let alone type here) similar to
Names.Add Name:="Value_Count", RefersTo:=i
I am trying to accomplish this without returning a ton of extra info to cells, just to recall it, hence the desire to return straight to a Defined Name.
I'm using a Function rather than Sub to streamline my use, but if that's the problem, I can definitely change types.
I am creating a version of a Statistical Control Chart. My desired end result is to capture a data range (generally about 336 values) and apply a series of control rules to them (via VBA), then return any values that fall outside of the control parameters to Defined Names that can then be charted or otherwise manipulated.
I've seen (and have versions of) spreadsheets that accomplish this with digital acres of helper columns leading to a chart and summary statistics. I'm trying to accomplish it mostly in the background of VBA, to be called via Defined Names to Charts — I just can't get the values from VBA to the Charts.
The interest in using a Function rather than a Sub was to streamline access to it. I'd rather not design a user interface (or use one), if I can just keystroke the function into a cell and access the results directly. However, as pointed out by Jean-François Corbett, this is quickly turning into a circuitous route to my goal. However, I still think it is worthwhile, because in the long-term I have a lot of iterations of this analysis to perform, so some setup time is worth it for future time savings.
With minor changes to your function, you can use its return value to accomplish what you want:
Function process_control_F(raw_data As Variant) As Integer ' <~~ explicit return type
Dim i As Integer
Dim cell As Variant ' <~~~~ declare variable "cell"
i = 0
For Each cell In raw_data
i = i + 1
Next cell
process_control_F = i ' <~~~~ returns the value i
End Function
You can then use that function in formulas. For example:
I am trying to write a simple UDF, which is supposed to loop through each of the cells of a given_row, and pick up those cells which do not have any precedent ranges, and add up the values.
Here is the code:
Public Function TotalActualDeductions(given_row As Integer) As Integer
Total_Actual_Deduction = 0
For present_column = 4 To 153
Set precedent_range = Nothing
If Cells(2, present_column) = "TDS (Replace computed figure when actually deducted)" Then
On Error Resume Next
Set precedent_range = Cells(given_row, present_column).Precedents
If precedent_range Is Nothing Then
Total_Actual_Deduction = Total_Actual_Deduction + Cells(given_row, present_column)
End If
End If
Next
TotalActualDeductions = Total_Actual_Deduction
End Function
If I try to run it by modifying the top declaration, from:
Public Function TotalActualDeductions(given_row As Integer) As Integer
to:
Public Function TotalActualDeductions()
given_row = 4
then it runs successfully, and as expected. It picks up exactly those cells which match the criteria, and all is good.
However, when I try to run this as a proper UDF from the worksheet, it does not work. Apparently, excel treats those cells which have no precedents, as though they have precedents, when I call the function from the worksheet.
I don't know why this happens, or if the range.precedents property is supposed to behave like this.
How can this be fixed?
After a lot of searching, I encountered this:
When called from an Excel VBA UDF, Range.Precedents returns the range and not its precedents. Is there a workaround?
Apparently, "any call to .Precedents in a call stack that includes a UDF gets handled differntly".
So, what I did was use Range.Formula Like "=[a-zA-Z]" , because it satisfied my simple purpose. It is in no way an ideal alternative to the range.precedents property.
Foe a more detailed explanation, please visit that link.
I need to automatize a process which execute various (a lot) user-defined function with different input parameters.
I am using the solution of timer API found in I don't want my Excel Add-In to return an array (instead I need a UDF to change other cells) .
My question is the following: "Does anybody can explain to me HOW IT IS WORKING?" If I debug this code in order to understand and change what I need, I simply go crazy.
1) Let say that I am passing to the public function AddTwoNumbers 14 and 45. While inside AddTwoNumber, the Application.Caller and the Application.Caller.Address are chached into a collection (ok, easier than vectors in order not to bother with type). Application.Caller is kind of a structured object where I can find the function called as a string (in this case "my_function"), for example in Application.Caller.Formula.
!!! Nowhere in the collection mCalculatedCells I can find the result 59 stored.
2)Ok, fair enough. Now I pass through the two UDF routines, set the timers, kill the timers.
As soon as I am inside the AfterUDFRoutine2 sub, the mCalculatedCell(1) (the first -- and sole -- item of my collection) has MAGICALLY (??!?!?!!!??) obtained in its Text field exactly the result "59" and apparently the command Set Cell = mCalculatedCells(1) (where on the left I have a Range and on the right I have ... I don't know) is able to put this result "59" into the variable Cell that afterward I can write with the .Offset(0,1) Range property on the cell to the right.
I would like to understand this point because I would like to give MORE task to to inside a single collection or able to wait for the current task to be finished before asking for a new one (otherwise I am over-writing the 59 with the other result). Indeed I read somewhere that all the tasks scheduled with the API setTimer will wait for all the callback to be execute before execute itself (or something like this).
As you can see I am at a loss. Any help would be really really welcomed.
In the following I try to be more specific on what (as a whole)
I am planning to achieved.
To be more specific, I have the function
public function my_function(input1 as string, Field2 as string) as double
/*some code */
end function
I have (let's say) 10 different strings to be given as Field2.
My strategy is as follow:
1)I defined (with a xlw wrapper from a C++ code) the grid of all my input values
2)define as string all the functions "my_function" with the various inputs
3)use the nested API timer as in the link to write my functions IN THE RIGHT CELLS as FORMULAS (not string anymore)
3)use a macro to build the entire worksheet and then retrieve the results.
4)use my xlw wrapper xll to process further my data.
You may wonder WHY should I pass through Excel instead of doing everything in C++. (Sometime I ask myself the same thing...) The prototype my_function that I gave above has inside some Excel Add-In that I need to use and they work only inside Excel.
It is working pretty well IN THE CASE I HAVE ONLY 1 "instance" of my_function to write for the give grid of input. I can even put inside the same worksheet more grids, then use the API trick to write various different my_functions for the different grids and then make a full calculation rebuild of the entire worksheet to obtain the result. It works.
However, as soon as I want to give more tasks inside the same API trick (because for the same grid of input I need more calls to my_function) I am not able to proceed any further.
After Axel Richter's comment I would like to ad some other information
#Axel Richter
Thank you very much for your reply.
Sorry for that, almost surely I wasn't clear with my purposes.
Here I try to sketch an example, I use integer for simplicity and let's say that my_function works pretty much as the SUM function of Excel (even if being an Excel native function I could call SUM directly into VBA but it is for the sake of an example).
If I have these inputs:
input1 = "14.5"
a vector of different values for Field2, for instance (11;0.52;45139)
and then I want to write somewhere my_function (which makes the sum of the two values given as input).
I have to write down in a cell =my_function(14.5;11), in the other =my_function(14.5;0.52) and in a third one =my_function(14.5;45139).
These input changes any time I need to refresh my data, then I cannot use directly a sub (I think) and, in any case, as far as I understand, in writing directly without the trick I linked, I will always obtain strings : something like '=my_function(14.5;0.52). Once evaluated (for example by a full rebuild or going over the written cell and make F2 + return) will give me only the string "=my_function(14.5;0.52)" and not its result.
I tried at the beginning to use an Evaluate method which works well as soon as I write something like 14.5+0.52, but it doesn't work as soon as a function (nor a user-defined function) is used instead.
This is "as far as I can understand". In the case you can enlighten me (and maybe show an easier track to follow), it would be simply GREAT.
So far the comments are correct in that they repeat the simple point that a User-Defined Function called a worksheet can only return a value, and all other actions that might inject values elsewhere into the worksheet calculation tree are forbidden.
That's not the end of the story. You'll notice that there are add-ins, like the Reuters Eikon market data service and Bloomberg for Excel, that provide functions which exist in a single cell but which write blocks of data onto the sheet outside the calling cell.
These functions use the RTD (Real Time Data) API, which is documented on MSDN:
How to create a RTD server for Excel
How to set up and use the RTD function in Excel
You may find this link useful, too:
Excel RTD Servers: Minimal C# Implementation
However, RTD is all about COM servers outside Excel.exe, you have to write them in another language (usually C# or C++), and that isn't the question you asked: you want to do this in VBA.
But I have, at least, made a token effort to give the 'right' answer.
Now for the 'wrong' answer, and actually doing something Microsoft would rather you didn't do. You can't just call a function, call a subroutine or method from the function, and write to the secondary target using the subroutine: Excel will follow the chain and detect that you're injecting values into the sheet calculation, and the write will fail.
You have to insert a break into that chain; and this means using events, or a timer call, or (as in RTD) an external process.
I can suggest two methods that will actually work:
1: Monitor the cell in the Worksheet_Change event:
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim strFunc As String strFunc = "NukeThePrimaryTargets" If Left(Target.Formula, Len(strFunc) + 1) = strFunc Then Call NukeTheSecondaryTargets End If End Sub
Alternatively...
2: Use the Timer callback API:
However, I'm not posting code for that: it's complex, clunky, and it takes a lot of testing (so I'd end up posting untested code on StackOverflow). But it does actually work.
I can give you an example of a tested Timer Callback in VBA:
Using the VBA InputBox for passwords and hiding the user's keyboard input with asterisks.
But this is for an unrelated task. Feel free to adapt it if you wish.
Edited with following requirements: It is necessary to run a user defined worksheet function, because there are addins called in this function and those work only within a Excel sheet. The function has to run multiple times with different parameters and its results have to be gotten from the sheet.
So this is my solution now:
Public Function my_function(input1 As Double, input2 As Double) As Double
my_function = input1 + input2
End Function
Private Function getMy_Function_Results(input1 As Double, input2() As Double) As Variant
Dim results() As Double
'set the Formulas
With Worksheets(1)
For i = LBound(input2) To UBound(input2)
strFormula = "=my_function(" & Str(input1) & ", " & Str(input2(i)) & ")"
.Cells(1, i + 1).Formula = strFormula
Next
'get the Results
.Calculate
For i = LBound(input2) To UBound(input2)
ReDim Preserve results(i)
results(i) = .Cells(1, i + 1).Value
Next
End With
getMy_Function_Results = results
End Function
Sub test()
Dim dFieldInput2() As Double
Dim dInput1 As Double
dInput1 = Val(InputBox("Value for input1"))
dInput = 0
iIter = 0
Do
dInput = InputBox("Values for fieldInput2; 0=END")
If Val(dInput) <> 0 Then
ReDim Preserve dFieldInput2(iIter)
dFieldInput2(iIter) = Val(dInput)
iIter = iIter + 1
End If
Loop While dInput <> 0
On Error GoTo noFieldInput2
i = UBound(dFieldInput2)
On Error GoTo 0
vResults = getMy_Function_Results(dInput1, dFieldInput2)
For i = LBound(vResults) To UBound(vResults)
MsgBox vResults(i)
Next
noFieldInput2:
End Sub
The user can input first a value input1 and then input multiple fieldInput2 until he inputs the value 0. Then the results will be calculated and presented.
Greetings
Axel
Suppose I have a function attached to one of my Excel sheets:
Public Function foo(bar As Integer) as integer
foo = 42
End Function
How can I get the results of foo returned to a cell on my sheet? I've tried "=foo(10)", but all it gives me is "#NAME?"
I've also tried =[filename]!foo(10) and [sheetname]!foo(10) with no change.
Try following the directions here to make sure you're doing everything correctly, specifically about where to put it. ( Insert->Module )
I can confirm that opening up the VBA editor, using Insert->Module, and the following code:
Function TimesTwo(Value As Integer)
TimesTwo = Value * 2
End Function
and on a sheet putting "=TimesTwo(100)" into a cell gives me 200.
Put the function in a new, separate module (Insert->Module), then use =foo(10) within a cell formula to invoke it.
Where did you put the "foo" function? I don't know why, but whenever I've seen this, the solution is to record a dimple macro, and let Excel create a new module for that macro's code. Then, put your "foo" function in that module. Your code works when I follow this procedure, but if I put it in the code module attached to "ThisWorkbook," I get the #NAME result you report.
include the file name like this
=PERSONAL.XLS!foo(10)