Creating separate line entries for multi-value fields - vba

Question

I have a table with a list of items. Essentially it's an export from an issue tracking tool. One of the columns of that table contains comma-separated values. I am looking for a way to create separate entries for the individual values of multi-value entries.
Example: (this is a simplified example, the real case contains around a dozen columns)
Source data:
ID | Title | Areas Affected |
1 | Issue title A | Area X, Area Y |
2 | Issue title B | Area Y, Area Z |
3 | Issue title C | Area X, Area Z |
What I am trying to get to:
ID | Title | Areas Affected |
1 | Issue title A | Area X |
1 | Issue title A | Area Y |
2 | Issue title B | Area Y |
2 | Issue title B | Area Z |
3 | Issue title C | Area X |
3 | Issue title C | Area Z |
It is OK that there are now duplicate entries for IDs and Titles?
Is there a formula, macro, or VBA script to achieve this?

Answer 1

You need to split rows on that column using the comma as a separator. In VBA you have the Split() function that you can use to return an array. For the first element just put it back in the cell where the list was. For the others, insert a new line for each element in the array (meaning you can have n elements in that comma-separated list), copy the entire row on that new line and put the i-th value in there.

Answer 2

After some reading/going through sample code, here's the answer if anyone needs. This is the actual working code, which doesn't fit 1:1 the examples I posted in the question.
Sub DataLobs()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False 'Nice to have to increase the script speed.
Dim wsSrc As Worksheet
Dim wsDst As Worksheet
Dim curRowSrc As Integer
Dim curRowDst As Integer
Dim ttlRows As Integer
Dim splitLob() As String
' Setting initial values to start rows in source and destination
' tables, as well as the total number of rows
curRowSrc = 5
curRowDst = 5
ttlRows = 10000
Set wsSrc = Worksheets("Source") 'whatever you worksheet is
Set wsDst = Worksheets("Destination") 'or whatever your worksheet is called
wsDst.Range("A5:F" & ttlRows).Clear
' Goes through column D in the source table
' and copies rows where the D cell is not blank
' into the destination table
For curRowSrc = 5 To ttlRows
If wsSrc.Range("D" & curRowSrc).Value <> "" Then ' There are some blank cells in the source table, so we are eliminating them.
' Split the cell value against the comma
splitLob = Split(wsSrc.Range("D" & curRowSrc).Value, ", ") 'THIS IS WHERE #AlexandreP.Levasseur's HINT COMES INTO PLAY!
For i = LBound(splitLob) To UBound(splitLob)
wsDst.Range("A" & curRowDst).Value = splitLob(i)
wsDst.Range("B" & curRowDst).Value = wsSrc.Range("A" & curRowSrc)
wsDst.Range("C" & curRowDst).Value = wsSrc.Range("C" & curRowSrc)
wsDst.Range("D" & curRowDst).Value = wsSrc.Range("AC" & curRowSrc)
wsDst.Range("E" & curRowDst).Value = wsSrc.Range("AE" & curRowSrc)
wsDst.Range("F" & curRowDst).Value = wsSrc.Range("AD" & curRowSrc)
curRowDst = curRowDst + 1
Next
End If
Next curRowSrc
End Sub