TL;DR: I'm basically trying to obtain a column range such as 'Sheet 1'!$A:$A where the A is obtained by matching the contents of a given cell to a 1:1 range within a sheet referenced by another given cell, for use in a dynamic range.
In the highly probable case where that made zero sense, here's an illustration:
PARAMETERS: A2 = "LIST" | C2 = "FirstName" | Desired result: 'LIST'!$A:$A
And I've obtained that, BUT, I can't use that output ('LIST'!$A:$A) within formulas (namely to create a dynamic range). For instance, here 'LIST'!$A:$A contains 101 cells with values in them:
V3 = NamedFormula = 'LIST'!$A:$A
COUNTA(INDIRECT(V3)) = 101
COUNTA(INDIRECT(NamedFormula)) = 1 because it evaluates to #VALUE and that is a singular result.
Before delving into the topic of using INDIRECT with a Named Range (which I've read about and am still getting over my confused grief), I'm realizing my Names are getting a bit out of hand. I tend to use Excel like a mad scientist. So, in case there's a much simpler solution to what I'm trying to do, here's my actual mission:
0. I'm building a tool to simplify a process where email addresses are built from different data, which needs to run without any scripts, only formulas.
1. A tab with no imposed name would contain a user database with minimally (firstname and lastname OR IDs) AND (potentially other data columns) in no specific order. Tool users would import that tab from wherever the data got to them depending on the client, and would only need to copy-paste relevant headers to the main tab without changing anything else here for data integrity.
2. The main tab would have specific input fields where tool users would paste in the name of the imported tab as well as the labels of the columns they need (for instance, the labels in the first row of the columns containing the first name and the last name), and an input field for the domain name to use to build those email addresses.
3. A Data tab is referenced for cleaning and preparing strings for email address formats.
4. The Export tab would spew out a list of clean email addresses that can be exported to CSV.
The Data tab is just 2 columns to use with SUBSTITUTE so that for instance apostrophes are removed but accented letters are normalized (é -> e). I've used LAMBDA within Names to get there. The problem is to tie everything in - to get those Named ranges into the final formula.
The Names I'm using so far (I'd like to use fewer but testing specific parts extended beyond simple usage I fear):
ALPH ={"A";"B";"C";"D";"E";"F";"G";"H";"I";"J";"K";"L";"M";"N";"O";"P";"Q";"R";"S";"T";"U";"V";"W";"X";"Y";"Z"}
LABELS =LAMBDA(labelname,ADDRESS(2,MATCH(labelname,INDIRECT("'"&PARAMETERS!$A$2&"'!$1:$1"),0),1,1,PARAMETERS!$A$2))
RANGECOL =LAMBDA(labelname,COLUMN(INDIRECT(LABELS(labelname))))
RNCOL =LAMBDA(label,"'"&PARAMETERS!$A$2&"'!$"&INDEX(ALPH,RANGECOL(label))&":$"&INDEX(ALPH,RANGECOL(label)))
I haven't tied everything in the Data tab yet - I'm still trying to automate my main tab before pushing further and using the Data tab substitutions on top of everything. That will be the next step, not my current focus. But, for the curious and interested, on the Data tab I'm using something something I found on ablebits which works wonders =]
So, now if I use the offset range with a static LIST!A:A it works:
=IF($C$2<>"",LOWER(INDEX(OFFSET(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(2,MATCH($C$2,INDIRECT("'"&$A$2&"'!$1:$1"),0),1,1,$A$2)),0,0,COUNTA(LIST!A:A)-1,1),ROW())),"") &IF($C$3<>"","."&LOWER(INDEX(OFFSET(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(2,MATCH($C$3,INDIRECT("'"&$A$2&"'!$1:$1"),0),1,1,$A$2)),0,0,COUNTA(LIST!A:A)-1,1),ROW())),"") &"#"&$C$4
But when I try to use the dynamic RNCOL($C$3) it does not:
=IF($C$2<>"",LOWER(INDEX(OFFSET(INDIRECT(LABELS($C$2)),0,0,COUNTA(INDIRECT(RNCOL($C$2)))-1,1),ROW())),"") &IF($C$3<>"","."&LOWER(INDEX(OFFSET(INDIRECT(LABELS($C$3)),0,0,COUNTA(INDIRECT(RNCOL($C$3)))-1,1),ROW())),"") &"#"&$C$4
This just gives #REF, and evaluating shows the digression starting at INDIRECT(RNCOL($C$3)) equating to #VALUE.
I'm starting to see double here but my undying and completely normal love for Excel prevents me from going home from work as I'm way too far down the rabbit hole to let my obsession die here.
Any pointers as to how this can work?
Note - all of the names in the supplied sheet were generated by an online fake name generator, nothing in here is actual user data #GDPR
Thanks in advance! <3
Test sheet is available via Google Drive.
Your current set-up is not good for many reasons, and in my opinion would require a complete overhaul, the scope of which lies beyond a response on this website.
As to a 'quick fix' to your current issue, the reason your formula in E1 is currently returning an error is due to the fact that, as you can see via stepping through with the Evaluate Formula tool, the part
COUNTA(INDIRECT(RNCOL($C$2)))-1
is resolving to
COUNTA(INDIRECT({"'LIST'!$A:$A"}))-1
and this is not the same as
COUNTA(INDIRECT("'LIST'!$A:$A"))-1
in that the value being passed to INDIRECT is an array in the former though not in the latter. Although INDIRECT can accept arrays, it is only within certain constructions in conjunction with other suitable functions; here it will simply error.
And the reason that it is returning an array is due to the fact that RNCOL($C$2) is returning an array, and that is because that function is defined as
=LAMBDA(label,"'"&PARAMETERS!$A$2&"'!$"&INDEX(ALPH,RANGECOL(label))&":$"&INDEX(ALPH,RANGECOL(label)))
and, since RANGECOL($C$2) resolves to 1 here, the above is equivalent to
"'PARAMETERS!$A$2'!$"&INDEX(ALPH,1)&":$"&INDEX(ALPH,1)
Here, because you are omitting the column_num parameter from INDEX, the part
INDEX(ALPH,1)
is resolving to
{"A"}
which is an array (albeit one comprising a single value) and technically different from
"A"
In most circumstances, this is not an issue. As such, it is almost always unnecessary to pass both a row_num and column_num parameter to INDEX when indexing a one-dimensional array. Here, however, it matters.
You can resolve this by explicitly including a column_num parameter, i.e. redefine RNCOL as
=LAMBDA(label,"'"&PARAMETERS!$A$2&"'!$"&INDEX(ALPH,RANGECOL(label),1)&":$"&INDEX(ALPH,RANGECOL(label),1))
Related
Over the weekend, my work laptop did a restart and Microsoft gave me the perfect gift in Excel, it introduced the implicit intersection operator which has completely messed up my world, literally every formula has gone crazy.
I've checked every link I can and cannot work out how to correct even the most basic formula. I would like to ask about this one so I can at least make some progress forwards.
=FIND('Value Definitions'!C3,'User Interface'!K:K) was my formula that was worked forever.
The explanation of this formula is to flag all value definitions that have been used within text of all rows in the user interface column K.
When Excel asks me to correct the formula, it rewrites it as =FIND('Value Definitions'!C3,#'User Interface'!K:K).
This results in #VALUE rather than a number of where the first occurrence was found. If I remove the # then I get #SPILL!.
Just to reiterate the purpose of the formula, I identify which phrases exist in an interface that come from the value definitions worksheet, irrespective of the number value I get (character count of first occurence), I just want to identify that it exists at least once. Then I can use this flag to lookup all related value definitions to be included on the user interface.
Thanks for your help in advance.
I have a dataset in long format with a unique ID representing people at different points in time. I already have a list of ID's with the first code, but would like to add a column for the second and third code, if available.
An example of the data, with what the output should look like at the bottom
I already have the first two columns in this example. I was thinking I would specify that I want to look at the values that are not the first code, and output a different code in the range if available, otherwise it returns blank. I also want to be able to use the command with few modifications in a third cell for a third code, again as long as it exists.
Ideally this can all be done without the use of vba, however if that would be easier, then by all means go ahead. Any solution not necessarily following my logic map are appreciated as well. Thanks in advance for the help!
Basically I am trying to improve a spreadsheet that current uses fixed IF functions within IF functions to determine where to find data, then originally used the VLOOKUP function to return the appropriate cable cleat size. Where "Cleat Diameter">"Cable Diameter".
I've been using this for a while, however excel quickly runs out of resources with all the remaining calculations being performed. As a result, I've opted to put all data a single table, and try to use the match function to retrieve the necessary row. Then Simply use the =INDIRECT function to retrieve data from the appropriate column of the associated row.
Unfortunately I believe the issue relates to the fact that I first need to perform at MATCH Type 0 (exact match), followed by a type -1 for the size to identify the next size up that can accommodate a specific cable size.
I've managed a simple lookup on another dataset using (for exact matches):
=MATCH($B3,'Current Raw Data'!A:A,0)+ROW('Current Raw Data'!A:A)-1
However when I attempt the same thing with two types of matches I get errors. The closest I get it using the following array formula, but it does not work unless the data set is arranged so that the contents of Cell C3 is the first occurring item in the dataset in column A:A:
{=MATCH(C3,($B3='Lookup - Cleats'!A:A)*('Lookup - Cleats'!B:B),-1)}
Main sheet:
Dataset Example:
With this array formula (click Ctrl + Shift + Enter together inside formula bar), you should be able to get your results:
=IFERROR(INDEX('Lookup - Cleats'!C$3:C$26,MATCH($B3&$C3,'Lookup - Cleats'!$A$3:$A$26&'Lookup - Cleats'!$B$3:$B$26,0)),"")
I tried my best to use your data setup but maybe miss one or two things that you will need to adjust accordingly. Let me know if this is not working.
I'm trying to read an Excel sheet from an XLS or XLSX file in memory using Delphi 7. When possible I use automation to read the cells one by one, but when Excel is not installed, I revert to using the ADO/ODBC Jet driver.
I connect using either
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Data Source=file.xls;Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;Persist Security Info=False;IMEX=1;HDR=No";
Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; Data Source=file.xlsx;Extended Properties="Excel 12.0;Persist Security Info=False;IMEX=1;HDR=No";
My problem then is that when I use the following query:
SELECT * FROM [SheetName$]
the returned results do not contain the empty rows or empty columns, so if the sheet contains such rows or columns, the following cells are shifted and do not end up in their correct position. I need the sheet to be loaded "as is", ie know exactly from what cell position each value comes from.
I tried to read the cells one by one by issuing one query of the form
SELECT F1 FROM `SheetName$A1:A1`
but now the driver returns an error saying "There is data outside the selected region". btw I had to use backticks to enclose the name because using brackets like this [SheetName$A1:A1] gave out a syntax error message.
Is there a way to tell the driver to select the sheet as-is, whithout skipping blanks? Or maybe a way to know from which cell position each value is returned?
For internal policy reasons (I know they are bad but I do not decide these), it is not possible to use a third party library, I really need this to work from standard Delphi 7 components.
I assume that if your data is say in the range B2:D10 for example, you want to include the column A as an empty column? Maybe? Is that correct? If that's the case, then your data set, when you read the sheet (SELECT * FROM [SheetName$]) would also return 1 million rows by 16K columns!
Can you not execute a query like: SELECT * FROM [SheetName$B2:D10] and use the ADO GetRows function to get an array - which will give you the size of the data. Then you can index into the array to get what data you want?
OK, the correct answer is
Use a third party library no matter what your boss says. Do not even
try ODBC/ADO to load arbitrary Excel files, you will hit a wall sooner or later.
It may work for excel files that contain a single data table, but not when you want to cherry pick data in a sheet primarily made for human consumption (ie where a single column contains some cells with introductory text, some with numerical data, some with comments, etc...)
Using IMEX=1 ignores empty lines and empty columns
Using IMEX=0 sometimes no longer ignores empty lines, but now some of the first non empty cells are considered field names instead of data, although HDR=No. Would not work anyway since valules in a column are of mixed types.
Explicitly looping across cells and making a SELECT * FROM [SheetName$A1:A1] works until you reach an empty cell, then you get access violations (see below)
Access violation at address 1B30B3E3 in module 'msexcl40.dll'. Read of address 00000000
I'm too old to want to try and guess the appropriate value to use so it works until someone comes with yet another mix of data in a column. Sorry for having wasted everybody's time.
It seems like a bit of an omission that there's no easy way to create a user-defined declarative function in Excel without defining a macro. I can't use XSLM with the uphill battle that will entail in the Enterprise, but I want to be able to define a function with intent thus.
I want to do this;
=BreakEven(C1:C20)
But I can't use a macro, although I can use a "named formula". The trouble is how to pass parameters to that? I've seen a couple of tricks (kludgy workarounds) but not for xslx.
I'd like to be able to define a Breakeven() function in another tab and reference it here passing in MORE THAN one parameter, two ranges in fact. I'm sure there's some way using string parsing but I can't see it.
I don't mind if the function doesn't look exactly like that, as long as it evaluates within the cell and I can parse it for 'intent'. For instance, this example (http://www.jkp-ads.com/articles/ExcelNames09.asp) which I was unable to get to work in xlsx uses this syntax;
=IF(ROW(D3),CellColor)
Where "cellcolor" is the name of the function and D3 is the range parameter. The other solution I'm toying with is to define a function in column format with a variable argument list (this is two rows of an excel spreadsheet);
[Value][function][parameter1][parameter2][parameter3]
24050 BreakEven C1:C20 A1:A20
It's not pretty, but the benefit of the latter is that it describes the function to an external reader. We know it's a breakeven function, whereas if we put the actual formula "OFFSET,INDIRECT,SUM()()()()etc" it would not be readable/parseable. Of course, in that case, I'd have to construct the value field by parsing the cells to the right in Excel, which would make the Value formula messy but at least it would be a self-describing row.
Can anyone suggest a better method?
Poor-man's UDF
So I think what we're going to have to do is this;
A B C D E
1 [Value][function][parameter1][parameter2][parameter3]
2 24050 BreakEven C1:C20 A1:A20
3 111 mySum 1 10 100
Where "BreakEven" is a "named function". Here's the formula for "mySum";
=sum(C1:E1)
To evaluate functions listed in B, we just put this in column A (transposing the same value for all rows in column A;
=value(B)
This works because A2 and A3 both evaluate column B as a value, which causes BreakEven and Sum to run (as poor-man's UDFs) in the context of A2 and A3. The range (C1:E1) is relative of course.
So in effect, we can write any function name in column B (as long as there's a corresponding named function defined in the workbook which can be as complex as you like). Columns C, D and E act as the parameters for the function on the same row.
I would have loved to just be able to write the following in column A instead;
=mySum(1,10,100)
But in the absence of that support, the mechanism above serves to provide a readable parameterised function that would be understandable by a user, that's also machine readable (works in CSV too) and allows us to offload our re-usable functions to a library sheet somewhere in the workbook for maintenance.
Not perfect, but an acceptable compromise, unless anyone has a clever way of doing this in a single cell?
Not really an answer, but easier to illustrate here than in a comment. Although you can't rename formulas in a simplistic way - I like your suggestion actually I've never thought about that before; but then I've never worked in a non-macro environment so this has never occurred- you can add notes into the actual formula explaining what it does. For example:
=N("This is a really complex BreakEven Formula")+SUM(3,4,5)
Is a perfectly valid formula. As I said, not really an answer, but could potentially add clarity to a complex formula
You can do this with a small trick
For example to create effectively a cuberoot UDF that emulates =cuberoot(x) then name a variable as cuberoot with a 'value' like this.
=(RC[-1])^(1/3)
Now you can either do this using a temporary switch to RC mode, or put the cursor in say cell E5 and type the name value as =(D5)^(1/3)
Now whenever you need a cuberoot you can put the argument in any cell and put =cuberoot in the cell to its right. It really works and follows true Excel rules.
I use it for multiparameter models that have the single 'argument' Time as a dependent variable. I then define the term Model as the model equation eg =a+bTime+cTime^2
where a,b,c are already named locations holding unique parameter values -
and then define Time as =RC[-1]
My sheets are filled with cells simply saying =Model and have the required time value to the left (ie their argument). It is simple to extend to multi arg functions using multiple cells. It usually fits in well with spreadsheet layouts. Change the definition of your model once in the define name box and all places change simultaneously.
I have a function called ToDMS which takes the decimal degree value in the preceding cell and converts it to a deg Min and Sec string - very tidy.
You need the degrees to be in a single cell but want it in the alt. form in another cell
elegant, simple and it works
Bob Jordan