Adding a large number of cells to "Allow Edit Range" in VBA? - excel

Question

So using VBA I'm trying to set the fillable fields in a form to an "allowed edit range"
Most fields on my form are merged so I can loop through get a selection and then select/deselect cells to the exact set I desire. So I get a result that looks like this
However the range definition looks like this $E$24:$G$24,$E$25:$G$25,$E$26:$G$26,$E$27:$G$27,$J$24:$L$24,$J$25:$L$25,$J$26:$L$26,$J$27:$L$27,$O$24:$Q$24,$O$25:$Q$25,$O$26:$Q$26,$O$27:$Q$27
As I have many more fields on this form this becomes an issue as the "allowed edit range" is only able to go up to 254 chars.
What I would like is a shorter range definition like this
E24:G27,J24:L27,O24:Q27
Then I can add that to an "allowed edit range"
Currently I'm iterating through each cell in the form and unioning any cell that is merged
Sub SelectMergedCells()
Dim scan_range As Range
Dim cell As Range
Dim merge_range As Range
Set scan_range = ActiveSheet.Range("B11:AM69")
For Each cell In scan_range
If cell.MergeCells Then
If merge_range Is Nothing Then
Set merge_range = cell
Else
Set merge_range = Union(merge_range, cell)
End If
End If
Next cell
merge_range.Select
End Sub
Is there a better way to select the cells? Is there a way to reduce my selection definition to something shorter? Or do I have to break up my definition into multiple 254 char chunks and add multiple ranges?
TIA

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly and if you don't mind using selection ... this is to answer this quote :
What I would like is a shorter range definition like this
so maybe you want to see the code below to help you get started....
The merge cells in a sheet is like this (please ignore the fill color as they are used to be easier to see the merge range).
Expected result :
F3:H3,H5:J6,F7:G7,A7:C8,I8:J11,E9:G11,A2:C4,F2:G2
So after I macro-recording my manual process then modified it a bit, the code is something like this :
Sub test()
Dim rg As Range: Dim c As Range: Dim rgU As Range
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Set rg = Range("A1:J12"): rg(1, 1).Activate
'Set rg = Range("A1:N6"): rg(1, 1).Activate
With Application.FindFormat
.WrapText = False
.ShrinkToFit = False
.MergeCells = True
End With
Set c = rg.Find(What:="", After:=ActiveCell, LookIn:=xlFormulas, LookAt:= _
xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:=False _
, SearchFormat:=True)
If Not c Is Nothing Then
fa = c.Address
Do
c.Select
If rgU Is Nothing Then _
Set rgU = Selection _
Else Set rgU = Union(rgU, Selection)
Set c = rg.Find(What:="", After:=ActiveCell, LookIn:=xlFormulas, LookAt:= _
xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:=False _
, SearchFormat:=True)
Loop While c.Address <> fa
End If
Debug.Print Replace(rgU.Address, "$", "")
Application.FindFormat.Clear
End Sub
Debug print result is the same with the expected result:
F3:H3,H5:J6,F7:G7,A7:C8,I8:J11,E9:G11,A2:C4,F2:G2
Basically the sub is looping to a cell which is merged as c variable.
select the c, and create rgU variable as the union of rgU and the selection (not the c).
Test with a merge cell similar in your case :
the debug print result is like this :
A2:C5,F2:H5,K2:M5
As I have many more fields on this form this becomes an issue as the
"allowed edit range" is only able to go up to 254 chars.
just now I test the code which rg is A1:AQ75 (multiplying the existing merge cell). Although the rgU.select show a correct result, but I'm sorry, the debug.print rgU.address is only until cell R17.
So, even after this $E$24:$G$24,$E$25:$G$25,$E$26:$G$26,$E$27:$G$27 string is already shorten like this E24:G27, my code is still useless as I think it still won't be able to show the address until the last column and row of the merge cell if the range of the merge cells is too big (cell AQ75 in my case, cell AM69 in your case).
So it need a loop within rgU to get all the merge cell address :
for each cell in rgU.areas:debug.print cell.address:next
Then the last looped result is $AO$97:$AQ$75
btw, about allowed edit range, can't you just use your merge_range variable as reference without the need to have it's address?