Clear cells out of the used range - vba

In one of my macros I loop trough used range, but the used range is way bigger than the actual used range, therefore the macro is impossible to run. I think that cells outside the actual used range may have other impacts on my code such as error "too many cell format" with only one cell.
How can I clean cells outside my used range so that they are not taken into account in my Used range ?

The Used Range not truly reflecting what is the actual used range is a common issue and just requires some basic cleaning up of the sheet.
Check out this on the Microsoft Support site: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244435

You can delete everything outside of your actual used range.
You can either do this manually with selecting a row and ctrl+shift+down (and ctrl+shift+right with a column selected) or you can do it programatically by identifying where your data actually ends (either via a COUNTA or xlRight style of command) and then delete everything after those points.
The manual way is good for if it's just a one one off cleanup operation, and if you're doing it in the macro then you may as well just use the method for determining the range to keep to go straight to selecting it, and not bothering to delete outside of the range.

Related

Excel Named Range Formula - Not Automatic Updating

I have a table in Excel that has column heading names (e.g. data_type1, data_type2, etc.). The data in this table changes based on parameters entered on another sheet, and they are pulled to charts which update dynamically.
As a convenience to a user who might be using this sheet I have added a 'user specified function' (non-vba) which also plots to one of the charts. By user specified function I mean I have three cells with dropdown lists. Two correspond to the table headings and one has a short list of operations that can be applied between the two selected data types (e.g. a user might select 'dataype1', '+', 'datatype2' which would produce a sum of the two in the final column of my table).
The user specified function is achieved by defining a named 'range/function' to match the drop downs with their respective column headers and then calls evaluate. See below:
=EVALUATE("="&ADDRESS(ROW('Raw Data'!XFD5),MATCH(user_in1,'Raw Data'!$A$4:$AF$4,0)) & user_operation & ADDRESS(ROW('Raw Data'!XFD5),MATCH(user_in2,'Raw Data'!$A$4:$AF$4,0)))
I name this 'user1_result' and then enter =user1_result in the final column of my table. This approach is nice because it calculates much faster than doing the same thing through building a UDF in VBA and then applying that UDF to every cell in a fairly long column.
Now here is my hangup, this works fine initially, but if the user makes a parameter change that affects one or both of the selected datatypes, the user specified column does not recalculate on-the-fly with the updated data. If the user re-toggles any of the dropdowns the data does recalculate. I am speculating this is from one of two things:
1) Excel does not recognize that a precedent of 'user1_result' has changed, and so for efficiency sake doesn't bother to recompute the column;
2) The 'Evaluate' function used in the named definition of 'user1_result' is not checked for updating, because it's not a normal function (doesn't show up through intellisense if you try to just add that to a cell).
So I am looking for some either confirmation or refutation of these speculations. In the case of confirmation I am hoping to get some advice on how to force the user specified column to update if its precedents change.
One solution is to have VBA do this checking for me and force the computation, but I would like to leave that as a last resort. So, non-VBA solutions preferred.
For posterity I'll answer the above question based on Mat'sMug's feedback:
Regarding the cause of the problem:
The reason the user specified column does not update is because the 'Evaluate' portion of the 'user1_result' named formula is intended to be used at the application level and not as a worksheet function. Because of this, Excel doesn't bother checking to see if its precedents change and ignores it for recalculation.
The problem's solution:
It was suggested to use VBA to watch for worksheet_change events, however, my problem requires that I do NOT use VBA. So, an alternative workaround that forces Excel to check precedents and recalculate the user specified function uses two steps. This functions as a pseudo worksheet_change stand-in.
First, I use a helper cell that performs a countif with an arbitrary counting condition. I don't need it to change, I just need it to share precedents with the inputs of 'user1_result'. So I have it count the number of cells in the first row of data that are larger than some constant:
=COUNTIF(A5:AK5,">100000")
The result of this computation doesn't matter, but in my case my data have small values and so this returns 0 always.
Second, I use a condition for the computation in the user specified column (the last column in my data table).
=IF($AO$1=$AO$1,user1_result)
Now, anytime my data table updates, the final column using the named function recomputes. Simple, and if using macros is not viable (for example due to a client/user's security concerns), this can sort of substitute for a worksheet change event.
I hope somebody out there gets use from this!

Worksheet Range Reference - Expands based on data added/removed

Trying to make an array change based on the length of the data added. The data has to be deleted except for the top row starting at A:4 and then pulled via a database that creates rows drilling down to the bottom of the node(s). This can vary from A10:Axxxxx depending on the data in that node.
=AVERAGE(IF((MOD(ROW(Repurchase!E4:E45)+4,6)=0)*(Repurchase!E4:E45)<>0,(MOD(ROW(Repurchase!E4:E45)+4,6)=0)*(Repurchase!E4:E45)))
What I have so far and it works. But of course once the data is deleted and re-pulled
Repurchase!#REF!
shows up and I have to manually add back in A4:Axxxx.
Any help would be appreciated. Can use VBA if needed but was looking for a non-macro worksheet solution.
Replace all references of Repurchase!E4:E45 with,
Repurchase!E4:INDEX(Repurchase!E:E, MATCH(1e99, Repurchase!E:E))
This will create a range from E4 down to the last number in column E. You can delete rows without consequence but the range will dynamically reshape to the new proportions. There can be blank or text within the range. It will always be from E4 to the last number in the column.
If someone suggests the OFFSET function, tell them you would prefer to avoid volatile functions.
If the rows could potentially affect E4 as well, then use the INDEX function to reference both sides of the colon in the range reference.
INDEX(Repurchase!E:E, 4):INDEX(Repurchase!E:E, MATCH(1e99, Repurchase!E:E))

Display change in value of a cell in adjacent cell using excel VBA

I have a excel sheet that display's price on certain items in a column by looking up amazon API using excel vba. The price of may change overtime. So I am trying to display the difference in prices each time i run my macro, in a cell adjacent to the cell that displays price.
But I am not sure how to achieve this. Can any body guide me on how to achieve this?
This is just a sample, it must be adapted to your schema and data layout. Say the prices are stored in column A from A1 to A100. Say you already have a macro called RefreshData() that updates column A. In B1 enter:
=C1-A1
and copy down. This macro store the current values in column C before refreshing the data:
Sub DoUpdate()
Range("A1:A100").Copy Range("C1")
Call RefreshData
End Sub
Column B will display the price difference.
Something like this?
Let's say your data are in a range A2:A10
Dim rng as Range
Set rng = Range("A2:A10")
rng.Offset(0,1).Value = rng.Value
Run this before you run your original macro to store the values in an adjacent column before the values change. You may need to make the range dynamic, depending on your needs.
Without seeing you code, I cannot give a detailed answer. However, I ran across a similar problem once, not using Amazon API though, but a sharepoint connection.
If the amazon api is somewhat similar to the sharepoint stuff, I guess it refreshes cells when you click "update", or run the update sub. In that case you will have to either create an array to store the old prices in vba (very slow process), and then write them to your table, or create a separate tab where you store the item-lastPrice combination.
I ended up storing not only current price but all prices and the date/time of the price, to be able to see change over time.
For the copying of data itself using VBA, either of the above methods should work. In my initial code I used vba loops :-p, but copying using excel functionality is much faster.

Unable to move / delete rows in shared workbook - Not enough resources

this one's a bit of a painful one so thank you for your help and patience with me.
We have an Excel spreadsheet that we use as a master file for our website products. As such there are quite a few sheets and quite a few products on each running along side some macros to provide some extra functionality (turning entered data into HTML for product page, etc).
My issue is that one of our most used spreadsheets has become a trouble in that it has some phantom formatting all the way down to the millionth-and-something row and all the way across, causing the last cell to be the very last cell possible.
The issue that has finally popped up as a result is that we can no longer move rows in, out or around the sheet (a required functionality) as it results in an 'out of resources error'.
I've tried:
Highlight all rows below used range to right-click> delete - Results in runtime error (from macro)
Highlighting large chunks of rows and using Clear All - Resulted in the 38MB file bloating to 380MB
Deleting a chunk of rows at a time - Maxed out at 1,000 before it caused Excel to crash
Moving to new spreadsheet - Broke all our macros (which I did not write and am not proficient enough to fix on a new sheet)
Disabling macros and trying the above options, only marginally more efficient but still out of resources
I'm at my wits end on this one and, while we can continue with most day-to-day functions, we will soon be completely unable to use this particular sheet as we need it at all.
I'm wondering if there might be a way to run a VBA script to remove these rows, potentially one by one? I've tried running a short script that went something like rows[960,1000000].Delete (forgive my terrible VBA markup), but this also resulted in not enough resources errors.
I'm wondering if there's anything like:
row = 960;
while(row<=1048576){row.Delete};
Continuing, the runtime error debug points me to the below if statement within the macro:
If Target.Count > 1 Then Exit Sub
Where Target is the variable passed to the sub.
Which strikes me as very odd because my (limited) understanding of VBA and IF's in general simply recognizes that 'if my selection is larger than 1 (row?), do not run this code..
Thanks again in advance.
Use this method only if you don't have any links into or out of the sheet that will get broken. Also might have Sql connections that might get broken. Might need to disable macros. There are many possible problems with this approach. Use at your own risk.
Note the exact "Name" and "(Name)" of the sheet; Look in the VBA code window at the properties for the sheet. "Name" is the name displayed on the worksheet tab. "(Name)" is the code name visible only in the properties window.
Make a list of range names on the sheet.
Copy the data to a new sheet.
Copy any macros to the new sheet.
Delete the old sheet.
Rename the "Name" and "(Name)" of the new sheet the same as the old one.
Recreate range names.
A better method if you don't have too many formats:
Disable macros and set calculation to manual. This avoids recalculating while doing your delete operation.
Select entire sheet and clear formats.
Delete all rows below your data.
Redo your formatting. Select entire column (not just used area) to apply format if applicable.
It is important to remove formatting on the entire sheet from A1 to the end. Otherwise you'll get the bloat you mentioned. Just that step may solve your problem. If not then proceed with removing all the rows below the data. This should not cause file size bloat.

What range is calculated in Excel when using VBA .Calculate?

If I use:
Sheets("Sheet1").Calculate
Is every cell on Sheet1 calculated, or only cells in the UsedRange?
I'm writing a subroutine that recalculates a variable number of rows and I'm ultimately trying to determine if my calculation will be faster using:
Sheets("Sheet1").Range("VariableNumberOfRows").Calculate
Or
Sheets("Sheet1").UsedRange.Calculate
There are other rows outside the variable number of rows (and obviously inside the UsedRange), but these do not contain formulas therefore doesn't matter if they're included in the calculation.
If there's a technical article on what .Calculate specifically calculates (which cells, types of formulas) that would helpful as well.
Thanks!
Clearly the answer is no, it does not calculate cells outside the used range. There would be nothing there, so there is nothing to calculate. Excel tracks the cells used (it has to in order to report the .UsedRange).
Use .UsedRange if you want all cells on the sheet that contain formulas to be calculated, or specify a smaller range if you only want that range calculated.