Differentiate between "1" and "11" - excel

Question

I have 20 cases. For every row in my sheet, I have a cell that assigns related case numbers to it. A row could have multiple case numbers assigned to it in that cell (Example: 1,2,11,12)
I am writing a code to copy all the rows that have Case number 1 assigned to them, copy them someplace else..
and then go to case number 2 and repeat the same..
This is what I am using:
For CaseNumbers = 1 To 20
For i = Row1 To RowLast
If InStr(1, Range(CaseNoCell & i).Value, CaseNumbers & ",") Then
COPY AND PASTE CODE
End If
Next
Next
The problem I am facing is, the code considers case number 11 as case number 1 too (since it has the digit 1).
This is the first time I am writing a VBA code and I have no background in this.
Can someone please advise on better way of doing this? Should I assign a checklist instead to each row?
All I want to do is find all the rows that have Case number 1 assigned, copy them.. then find all the rows that have Case 2 assigned, copy them.. and so on.
Please help.

Answer 1

You can use a function to do the test
Public Function isCaseNumberIncluded(ByVal caseToCheck As Long, ByVal caseNumbers As String) As Boolean
'add , to make all values distinct
caseNumbers = "," & caseNumbers & ","
Dim strCaseToCheck As String
strCaseToCheck = "," & caseToCheck & ","
If InStr(1, caseNumbers, strCaseToCheck) > 0 Then
isCaseNumberIncluded = True
End If
End Function
You would call this function within your main code like this:
Dim caseNumber As Long 'I removed the s - as this could be misleading in my eyes
For caseNumber = 1 To 20
For i = Row1 To RowLast
If isCaseNumberIncluded(caseNumber, Range(CaseNoCell & i).Value) Then
COPY AND PASTE CODE
End If
Next
Next
Using a separate function to run the test has two advantages:
your code gets more readable, ie you know from reading the functions name what the result should be - without reading the whole code how to do it :-)
you can re-use this code propably at another place
Or you can test the function first:
Public Sub test_isCaseNumberIncluded()
Debug.Print isCaseNumberIncluded(1, "1,2,11,12"), "Should be true"
Debug.Print isCaseNumberIncluded(1, "2,11,12"), "Should be false"
Debug.Print isCaseNumberIncluded(11, "1,2,11,12"), "Should be true"
Debug.Print isCaseNumberIncluded(11, "1,2,12"), "Should be false"
End Sub

Answer 2

Well, you are working with this piece of code:
If InStr(1, Range(CaseNoCell & i).Value, CaseNumbers & ",") Then
This checks against 1,, 12,, ..., but obviously it won't cover the last entry so that's something you'll need to add. And you have the problem that 11, gets treated as 1,.
In a similar way you can use this piece of code:
If InStr(1, Range(CaseNoCell & i).Value, "," & CaseNumbers & ",") Then
This checks against ,1,, ,12,, ... so it will solve your error, but obviously it won't cover the last and the first entry so that's something you'll need to add.

Answer 3

This is something that should be encapsulated in a function rather than being done in line. The method provided in VBA for tokenising a string is 'Split'.
You could wite a function that checks tokens 1 by 1, or which compile a collection of the tokens which then uses a built checking method of the collection to determine if the specified token is present or not.
In this specific case I've chosen to use the collection method. The specific object for the collection is the ArrayList (but a Scripting.Dictionary is also possible). The function contains checks for zero length strings and allows the seperator to be specified if it isn't a comma.
Option Explicit
Function FindToken(ByVal ipToken As String, ByVal ipTokenList As String, Optional ByVal ipSeparator As String = ",") As Boolean
' Guard against ipSeparator being vbnullstring
Dim mySeparator As String
mySeparator = IIf(VBA.Len(ipSeparator) = 0, ",", ipSeparator)
'Raise an error if ipToken or ipTokenList are empty strings
If VBA.Len(ipToken) = 0 Or VBA.Len(ipTokenList) = 0 Then
Err.Raise 17, "Empty string error"
End If
'Convert the token list to tokens
Dim myTokens As Variant
myTokens = VBA.Split(ipTokenList, mySeparator)
' Put the tokens in an ArrayList so we can use the contains method
' no point is doing early binding as arraylist doesn't provide intellisense
Dim myAL As Object
Set myAL = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
Dim myItem As Variant
For Each myItem In myTokens
' Trim just in case there are spaces
myAL.Add VBA.Trim(myItem)
Next
'Finally test if the Token exists in the token list
Find = myAL.contains(VBA.Trim(ipToken))
End Function
This means that your code
If InStr(1, Range(CaseNoCell & i).Value, CaseNumbers & ",") Then
can now be rewritten as
If FindToken(CStr(CaseNUmbers), Range(CaseNoCell & cstr(i)).Value) Then

Answer 4

Identify Criteria Rows
Option Explicit
Sub Test()
Const WordSeparator As String = ","
Dim ws As Worksheet: Set ws = ActiveSheet ' improve!
Dim CaseNumber As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim cValue As Variant
Dim cString() As String
For CaseNumber = 1 To 20
For i = Row1 To RowLast
cValue = CStr(ws.Range(CaseNoCell & i).Value)
If Len(cValue) > 0 Then
cString = Split(cValue, WordSeparator)
If IsNumeric(Application.Match( _
CStr(CaseNumber), cString, 0)) Then
' CopyAndPasteCode CaseNumber
Debug.Print "Case " & CaseNumber & ": " & "Row " & i
End If
End If
Next i
Next CaseNumber
End Sub