Category: Excel Intermediate

The Range.Find method and a FindAll function

Posted on by Tushar Mehta

Two things that could be better about the Range.Find method have been 1) up-to-date and correct documentation, and 2) adding the UI’s ‘Find All’ capability to the Excel Object Model. As of Office 2013 neither has happened.

Consequently, every time I want to use the Find method, I continue to have to jump through hoops to figure out the correct values for the different arguments.

I also discovered that FindNext does not work as expected when one wants to search for cells that meet certain format criteria. Consequently, I updated my long available FindAll function so that it works correctly with format criteria.

For a version in a page by itself (i.e., not in a scrollable iframe as below) visit http://www.tushar-mehta.com/publish_train/xl_vba_cases/1001%20range.find%20and%20findall.shtml

Tushar Mehta

Excel Advanced Filter

Posted on by Tushar Mehta

Excel supports two different ways to filter data that are in tabular format. Autofilter is a built-in capability driven via the user interface. As sophisticated as Autofilter has become in recent versions of Excel, no pre-defined setup can possibly cater to all the different questions that the consumer may want answered. These require a custom filter and Advanced Filter provides that capability. It is a data-driven mechanism that uses Excel formulas to extract specific information from the original data. For those who may have heard of SQL but have never been motivated to learn it, you can now leverage some of the power of SQL without learning a single word of SQL!

The layout of this document is as follows: 1) Introduction to the data set used in the examples, 2) Introduction to the Advanced Filter dialog box, 3) Filter using column headers, 4) Filter using Excel formulas, 5) Extract unique data, 6) Work with dynamic source data, and 7) Create a filter in a different worksheet or workbook.

For a version in a page by itself (i.e., not in a scrollable iframe as below) visit http://www.tushar-mehta.com/publish_train/data_analysis/06.shtml

Tushar Mehta

Using the “short date”, “medium date” and “long date” formats

Posted on by Michael

I came across a line of code that formatted a date in VBA like this: Format(aDate,”short date”). And I didn’t get it. So with a little investigation, it turns out that “short date” (and “medium date” and “long date”) relate to the specified system methods of expressing dates found in the regional settings. So I wrote this little bit of code:

Sub testit()
Dim aDate As Date
aDate = Date
Debug.Print Format(aDate, "short date")
Debug.Print Format(aDate, "medium date")
Debug.Print Format(aDate, "long date")
End Sub

This is what I got:
06/05/2012
5-Jun-12
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

On both my XP box and my Mac, except that on the Mac, “long date” maps to Full. Trouble is, on neither machine do I have a “medium” setting, or a setting that maps to “medium date”. So. it looks like “medium date” is XL internal.

I’m not sure what great good these choices do. It would appear to be full proof to just specify the format. This capability does not extend to the spreadsheet TEXT() function.

Here’s a page that covers it: http://www.techonthenet.com/excel/formulas/format_date.php
You can also do the same with Time.

…mrt
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Fitting curves to your data using least squares

Posted on by jkpieterse

Introduction

If you’re an engineer (like I used to be in a previous life), you have probably done your bit of experimenting. Usually, you then need a way to fit your measurement results with a curve. If you’re a proper engineer, you also have some idea what type of equation should theoretically fit your data.

Perhaps you did some measurements with results like this:

Data with fitted equation

I’ve created an Excel file with which you can fit curves to your data, check out the article on my website:

Fitting curves to your data using Least Squares

Enjoy!

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse

http://www.jkp-ads.com/

Noughts and Crosses

Posted on by Michael

Last month I read an article about a job interviewer who played TicTacToe with his applicants. It was like an instant shared round of golf, and the interviewer put great store in the correlation of good hires with good players. So in case any DDoE readers might run into that guy, here is TicTacToe (or Noughts and Crosses as it’s known across the pond) in a user form suitable for practice.
 

 
There are several XL versions out there in the wide world of web (though not too many in a user form) and this is just the latest. It’s a refresh of my first XL code that wasn’t a tutorial, written in XLM too many moons ago.

You can set if you go first or second, set if you are X or O, and set if XL plays hard (don’t know if it can be beat), medium (can be beat), or dumb (as in very dumb—makes random legal moves). It’ll keep score. If you play well, you can’t lose. If XL plays well, you can’t win.
 

 
Start refreshes the game, and Reset takes you back to where you can adjust the mode of play. It looks different, but it works fine on a Mac with XL 2011. Its default is the Comic Sans MS font. If you’re playing second, you can control the start square for XL by clicking Start until XL randomly picks the square you want it to use.

The form is available here. After importing, it needs just a one-line macro to run.

Sub TicTacToe()
frmTicTacToe.Show
End Sub

Presumably, that guy giving the interview plays TicTacToe well, so you won’t win. I don’t think you want to lose, either. Or maybe just lose one out of three. I think I read about it on the BBC’s iPad service. If you remember where it was, please comment. And if you beat it with XL playing hard, please say how. Your game is captured in the VBE’s Immediate Window.

Provided as a public service to Dick’s readers. :roll:

…mrt
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Getting a Font List to a Combo Box

Posted on by Michael

The other day a reader asked about how to get a font list to a combo box so his users could have a choice to specify. Borrowing shamelessly from John Walkenbach’s Tip 79, this is one way to do it. I use this approach when I take a spreadsheet to a web table and want to specify the font.

Font Sampler Image

From top to bottom, the form has:

  • A label, named lblFontcboOverLabel
  • A label, named lblFontcbo
  • A combo box, named cboFontOther
  • A frame, named Frame1
  • An option button, named btnAllFonts
  • An option button, named btnMonoFonts

This is the code behind the form:

Option Explicit
Private Fface As String, FaceNdx As Long
Private InstalledFonts As String

Public Property Get FontFace() As String
FontFace = FFace
End Property

Private Sub btnMonoFonts_Click()
Call AddFontBox(1)
Me.lblFontcbo = "Monospace Fonts"
End Sub

Private Sub btnAllFonts_Click()
Dim i As Long
Dim TempFonts As Variant

Me.cboFontOther.Clear

TempFonts = Split(InstalledFonts, ",")
For i = LBound(TempFonts) To UBound(TempFonts)
Me.cboFontOther.AddItem TempFonts(i)
Next i
Me.cboFontOther.Text = "Comic Sans MS"
Me.lblFontcbo = "All Fonts"
End Sub

Private Sub cboFontOther_Change()
Me.lblFontcboOverLabel = Me.cboFontOther.Text
Me.lblFontcboOverLabel.Font = Me.cboFontOther.Text
Me.lblFontcboOverLabel.Font.Size = 12
Fface = Me.cboFontOther.Text
End Sub

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
Dim FontList As CommandBarControl
Dim Tempbar As CommandBar, i As Long
'http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/tips/tip79.htm

Set FontList = Application.CommandBars("Formatting").FindControl(Id:=1728)
If FontList Is Nothing Then
Set Tempbar = Application.CommandBars.Add
Set FontList = Tempbar.Controls.Add(Id:=1728)
End If
Me.cboFontOther.Clear

For i = 1 To FontList.ListCount
If Left$(FontList.List(i), 1) Like "[A-Za-z0-9]" Then
Me.cboFontOther.AddItem FontList.List(i)
InstalledFonts = InstalledFonts & FontList.List(i)
If i <> FontList.ListCount Then InstalledFonts = InstalledFonts & ","
End If
Next i
Me.lblFontcbo = "All Fonts"

Me.cboFontOther.Text = "Impact"

On Error Resume Next
Tempbar.Delete
End Sub

Private Sub AddFontBox(i As Long)
Dim MonoFont As Variant
'etc

Dim TempFont As Variant, TempStr As String, Str1 As String, Str2 As String

MonoFont = "Monaco,Courier New,Courier,Lucida Sans Typewriter," & _
"Lucida Console,Nimbus Mono L,DejaVu Sans Mono,Andale Mono," & _
"Liberation Mono,Consolas,Courier 10 Pitch,FreeMono," & _
"Menlo Bold,Menlo Bold Italic,Menlo Italic,Menlo Regular," & _
"OCR A Extended,Tlwg Typist,TlwgMono,TlwgTypewriter," & _
"Tlwg Typo,Bitstream Vera Sans Mono"

Select Case i
Case 1: TempFont = Split(MonoFont, ",")
'etc
End Select

Me.cboFontOther.Clear

For i = LBound(TempFont) To UBound(TempFont)
Str1 = TempFont(i) & ","
Str2 = "," & TempFont(i)
If InStr(1, InstalledFonts, Str1, vbTextCompare) Or _
InStr(1, InstalledFonts, Str2, vbTextCompare) Then
TempStr = TempStr & TempFont(i)
If i <> UBound(TempFont) Then TempStr = TempStr & ","
End If
Next i
TempFont = Split(TempStr, ",")

For i = LBound(TempFont) To UBound(TempFont)
Me.cboFontOther.AddItem TempFont(i)
Next i

Me.cboFontOther.Text = TempFont(0)
End Sub

It has the “Get Property” at the top. I screen the installed fonts to filter the Asian fonts from my list. Remove the “Like” operator if you need them. I capture the the installed fonts as a global string variable in a comma-delimited list. The list of monospaced fonts came from here, and represents the fonts installed as a minimum on ⅓ of all Windows, Mac, and Unix computers. They’re listed in percentage order irrespective of machine and not by installation count.

As I use the full form, the Over Label lies atop the combo box. But if you want to see more than the font’s name in its own font, modify the combo box change to something like this:

Private Sub cboFontOther_Change()
Me.lblFontcboOverLabel = "Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz."
Me.lblFontcboOverLabel.Font = Me.cboFontOther.Text
Me.lblFontcboOverLabel.Font.Size = 12
Fface = Me.cboFontOther.Text
End Sub

…mrt
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A Suite of XL Color Functions, Part 3

Posted on by Michael

HEXADECIMAL and XL color values are equivalent systems for representing RGB colors, but they start at different ends. In XL, pure red–RGB(255,0,0)–is 25510. In HEX, pure red–FF000–is 1671168010. XL has red as the least significant digits, HEX has it as the most significant digits. But we’re using computers, so this version of endianness is a manageable problem.

To go from XL representation to web-friendly HEX, turn the XL color to HEX, pad it with leading zeroes, and then swap the end pairs. Green stays in the middle. Red, 25510, becomes FF, then 0000FF, and then FF0000. This is the XL2HEX() function.

Function XL2HEX(xlclr As Long, Optional Prefix As String) As String
Dim Temp As String
Temp = Hex(xlclr)
If Len(Temp) < 6 Then Temp = String(6 - Len(Temp), "0") & Temp XL2HEX = Prefix & Right$(Temp, 2) & Mid$(Temp, 3, 2) & Left$(Temp, 2) End Function
It includes an optional prefix. Usual ones are # for web colors, and &H or &h to indicate a hexadecimal number. There are many more. You can pass the VB color constants to XL2HEX():

?xl2hex(vbwhite,"#") ?xl2hex(vbred,"#") ?xl2hex(vbgreen,"#") ?xl2hex(vbblue,"#")
#FFFFFF #FF0000 #00FF00 #0000FF
?xl2hex(vbyellow,"#") ?xl2hex(vbcyan,"#") ?xl2hex(vbmagenta,"#") ?xl2hex(vbblack,"#")
#FFFF00 #00FFFF #FF00FF #000000

The flip function needs to strip off the prefix, make sure it's six characters long, read the red, green, and blue, and then create the XL color. Since CSS allows #ABC to represent #AABBCC we'll special case it.

Function HEX2XL(hexclr As String) As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim Red As Long, Green As Long, Blue As Long
Dim Temp As String

Temp = CheckCSS(hexclr)

Red = CLng("&h" & Left$(Temp, 2))
Green = CLng("&h" & Mid$(Temp, 3, 2))
Blue = CLng("&h" & Right$(Temp, 2))

HEX2XL = RGB(Red, Green, Blue)
End Function

Function CheckCSS(hexclr As String) As String
Dim Temp As String, i As Long
If Len(hexclr) = 4 And Left$(hexclr, 1) = "#" Then
For i = 2 To 4
Temp = Temp & Mid$(hexclr, i, 1) & Mid$(hexclr, i, 1)
Next i
Else
For i = 1 To Len(hexclr)
If Mid$(hexclr, i, 1) Like "[A-Fa-f0-9]" Then Temp = Temp & Mid$(hexclr, i, 1)
Next i
If Len(Temp) < 6 Then Temp = String(6 - Len(Temp), "0") & Temp End If CheckCSS = Temp End Function
The CLng() conversion turns hex into longs as part of its business. The HEX-to-color functions are more of the same.

Function HEX2RED(hexclr As String) As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim Temp As String

Temp = CheckCSS(hexclr)

HEX2RED = CLng("&h" & Left$(Temp, 2))
End Function

Function HEX2GRN(hexclr As String) As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim Temp As String

Temp = CheckCSS(hexclr)

HEX2GRN = CLng("&h" & Mid$(Temp, 3, 2))
End Function

Function HEX2BLU(hexclr As String) As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim Temp As String

Temp = CheckCSS(hexclr)

HEX2BLU = CLng("&h" & Right$(Temp, 2))
End Function

Function HEX2RGB(hexclr As String) As Variant
Dim i As Long, Red As Long, Green As Long, Blue As Long
Dim Temp As String

Temp = CheckCSS(hexclr)

Red = CLng("&h" & Left$(Temp, 2))
Green = CLng("&h" & Mid$(Temp, 3, 2))
Blue = CLng("&h" & Right$(Temp, 2))

HEX2RGB = Array(Red, Green, Blue)
End Function

The HEX2RGB() function is array-entered. The function I use the most is XL2HEX(). I pass it cell or font color properties, such as FontColor = XL2HEX(.Color)

Thus ends the XL Color Functions. The picture at the top? It's hexclr'd.

… mrt
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A Suite of XL Color Functions, Part 2

Posted on by Michael

CMYK color modelWhen you go to replenish your ink cartridges, you don’t come home with a Red/Green/Blue gizmo. You come home with a Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black multi-pack whose cost is about the same as your printer. (It’s the razor and blades business model.) Your computer (input device) works in RGB; your printer (output device) works in CMYK. The RGB color vectors are zero to 255, the CMYK vectors are zero to 100. But it’s not that simple (more on this at the end). It’s like converting Fahrenheit to Celsius and only being able to use integer degrees. The -40° equivalent commonality point for colors is zero. The image is a representation of the CMYK color space.

A Code Project page referenced from Wikipedia gives the generic algorithm:

  • Black = minimum(1-Red,1-Green,1-Blue)
  • Cyan = (1-Red-Black)/(1-Black)
  • Magenta = (1-Green-Black)/(1-Black)
  • Yellow = (1-Blue-Black)/(1-Black)

Red, Blue, and Green are normalized to 0.0 to 1.0 (divide by 255) and the output then is scaled (multiply by 100). This is the XL2CMYK() function.

Function XL2CMYK(xlclr As Long) As Variant
Dim Red As Double, Green As Double, Blue As Double
Dim Cyan As Double, Magenta As Double, Yellow As Double, Black As Double

Red = XL2RED(xlclr) / 255 'normalizing
Green = XL2GRN(xlclr) / 255
Blue = XL2BLU(xlclr) / 255

Black = Application.WorksheetFunction.Min(1 - Red, 1 - Green, 1 - Blue)
Cyan = Round(100 * (1 - Red - Black) / (1 - Black), 0) 'scaling then rounding
Magenta = Round(100 * (1 - Green - Black) / (1 - Black), 0)
Yellow = Round(100 * (1 - Blue - Black) / (1 - Black), 0)
Black = Round(100 * Black, 0)

XL2CMYK = Array(Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black)
End Function

With the RGB shown on the linked page {171,215,170}–an apple green, the xlclr is 11196331. The CMYK out is {20,0,21,16}, irritatingly different than what is shown in the Code Project page’s image, but what in fact does happen when you run the downloadable file.

The flip function CMYK2XL() is this:

Function CMYK2XL(Rng As Range) As Long
Dim Cyan As Double, Magenta As Double, Yellow As Double, Black As Double
Dim Red As Double, Green As Double, Blue As Double

Cyan = Rng.Cells(1, 1) / 100 'normalizing
Magenta = Rng.Cells(1, 2) / 100
Yellow = Rng.Cells(1, 3) / 100
Black = Rng.Cells(1, 4) / 100

Red = (1 - Cyan) * (1 - Black)
Green = (1 - Magenta) * (1 - Black)
Blue = (1 - Yellow) * (1 - Black)

Red = Round(255 * Red, 0) 'scaling then rounding
Green = Round(255 * Green, 0)
Blue = Round(255 * Blue, 0)

CMYK2XL = RGB(Red, Green, Blue)
End Function

When input {20,0,21,16} the output is 11130539. Tilt. It’s because of the rounding and aligning to integers. This is what it looks like:

11196331⟹     ⟸11130539

Close enough for now. I can’t see a difference, but these eyes have some miles on them, and are behind plastic to boot. But there are differences. Wikimedia Commons gets almost the last word.

A comparison of RGB and CMYK color spaces. … If you were to print the image on a CMYK device (an offset press or maybe even a ink jet printer) the two sides would likely look much more similar, since the combination of cyan, yellow, magenta and black cannot reproduce the range (gamut) of color that a computer monitor displays. This is a constant issue for those who work in print production. Clients produce bright and colorful images on their computers and are disappointed to see them look muted in print. (An exception is photo processing. In photo processing, like snapshots or 8×10 glossies, most of the RGB gamut is reproduced.)

The code above is a device-independent solution to a device-dependent problem. Your printer will vary. But passing your work through it and back will give you an idea of what the printed product will look like, before it’s printed.

Next up, Part 3: XL2HEX() and HEX2XL()

…mrt
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