Using a FOR loop within an Excel VBA Function - excel

Question

I created a simple function in MATLAB, and am trying to convert the function into Excel VBA function. My goal is to create an Excel formula =RT('range of dB levels', 'delta-time') and output the estimated reverberation time. The math is simple, see MATLAB code below:
function rr=RT(lvl_broad, dt)
n=12; %number of samples within slope calc
slope=zeros(length(lvl_broad), 1);
for i=1:length(lvl_broad)
if i<((n/2)+1) | i>length(lvl_broad)-(n/2)-1
slope(i)=0;
else
slope(i)=(lvl_broad(i+(n/2))-lvl_broad(i-(n/2)))/n;
end
end
min_slope=min(slope);
rr=abs(dt./min_slope)*60;
end
In excel, I modified/simplified this until I no longer got errors, however, the cell that I enter my 'RT' function in returns #VALUE and I do not know why. Does anything stand out in the code below? (note I changed the input range from lvl_broad to InterruptedNZ)
Function RT(InterruptedNZ, dt)
Dim Slope As Double
Slope = Slope(InterruptedNZ.Height, 1)
For i = 1 To InterruptedNZ.Height
If i < ((6) + 1) Or i > (InterruptedNZ.Height - (6) - 1) Then
Slope(i) = 0
Else
Slope(i) = (InterruptedNZ(i + (6)) - InterruptedNZ(i - (6))) / 12
End If
Next
End
min_slope = Application.WorksheetFunction.Min(Slope)
RT = Abs((dt / min_slope) * 60)
End Function

Answer 1

Here are some tips to translate MATLAB code into VBA code:
length()
If you are trying to get the dimensions of a range, you'll need to use the .Rows.Count or .Columns.Count properties on the range you are working with.
PERFORMANCE NOTE:
When you have a large enough range, it's a good idea to store the values of the range inside an array since you will reduce the number of times you access data from the sheets which can comme with lot of overhead. If so, you'll have to use ubound() and lbound().
zeros()
In VBA, there is no exact equivalent to the zeros() function in MATLAB. The way we would initialize an array of zeros would simply be by initializing an array of doubles (or another numerical type). And since the default value of a double is zero, we don't need to do anything else :
Dim Slope() As Double
ReDim Slope(1 To InterruptedNZ.Rows.Count)
Note that you cannot pass the dimensions in the Dim statement since it only accepts constants as arguments, so we need to create Slope as a dynamic array of doubles and then redimension it to the desired size.
Putting these two principles together, it seems like your code would look something like this:
Function RT(ByRef InterruptedNZ As Range, ByVal dt As Double)
Dim Slope() As Double
ReDim Slope(1 To InterruptedNZ.Rows.Count)
Dim i As Long
For i = 1 To InterruptedNZ.Rows.Count
If i < ((6) + 1) Or i > (InterruptedNZ.Rows.Count - (6) - 1) Then
Slope(i) = 0
Else
Slope(i) = (InterruptedNZ(i + (6)) - InterruptedNZ(i - (6))) / 12
End If
Next
Dim min_slope As Double
min_slope = Application.WorksheetFunction.Min(Slope)
RT = Abs((dt / min_slope) * 60)
End Function
Addtionnal notes:
Refering to cells from a range like this InterruptedNZ(i) works but it is good practice to be more specific like this (assuming column range) :
InterruptedNZ.Cells(i,1)
During my tests, I had a division by zero error since min_slope was zero. You might want to account for that in your code.