Vlookup based on criteria - excel

Question

The data I have in my "entity sheet"
entity id
source id
source entity id
HR0001
GOP
1200
HR0002
WSS
WSS1201
HR0003
GOP
1201
HR0004
WSS-T
WSST1202
HR0005
GOP
1202
HR0006
GOP
1203
HR0007
WSS-S
WSSS1203
HR0008
GOP
1204
HR0009
GOP
1205
HR0010
GOP
1206
HR0011
WSS-R
WSSR1204
HR0012
WSS-T
WSST1205
HR0013
WSS-S
WSSS1206
HR0014
GOP
1207
HR0015
WSS-T
WSSS1207
HR0006
WSS-S
WSSS1208
HR0007
GOP
1208
HR0008
WSS-R
WSST1209
HR0009
WSS-S
WSSS1210
In my working sheet, I need the source entity id (column c) data, by doing a VLOOKUP on the entity id (column A), based on source id (column b). that is I need only those beginning with "WS" IDs on my working sheet. My code is
Sub Test()
Worksheets("working sheet").Activate
Dim sht, sht1 As Worksheet
Dim i As Long, LR As Long
Set sht = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("working sheet")
Set sht1 = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("entity sheet")
LR = sht.UsedRange.Rows.Count
With sht
For i = 2 To LR
If InStr(sht1.Range("B" & i).Value, "WS") Then
sht.Range("B" & i).Value = (Application.VLookup(.Range("A" & i).Value, Worksheets("entity sheet").Range("A2:C5000"), 3, False))
End If
Next i
End With
End Sub
desired result - in the working sheet
entity id
source entity id - WSS
HR0001
HR0002
WSS1201
HR0003
HR0004
WSST1202
HR0005
HR0006
WSSS1208
HR0007
WSSS1203
HR0008
WSST1209
HR0009
WSSS1210
HR0010
HR0011
WSSR1204
HR0012
WSST1205
HR0013
WSSS1206
HR0014
HR0015
WSSS1207

Answer 1

Took me a little while but... I've got two different versions for you: one with VBA and one with just formulas.
With VBA
The issue you had was that VLOOKUP returns the first match but you needed to satisfy two criteria (that is: (i) match on entity id and (ii) match on source id begins with "WS").
This meant that you either had to:
use a formula that could match both criteria at the same time, OR
find all matches with the first criteria (e.g. with FIND) and then loop through the results to match the second criteria -- probably something like this: https://www.thespreadsheetguru.com/the-code-vault/2014/4/21/find-all-instances-with-vba
I selected option #1 as I expected it would make the code shorter.
To do this, I took advantage of a trick I've used in formulas before where I can use "&" between two ranges to match on two criteria at the same time. So, instead of matching "HR0012" first and then "WS-something" second, I match "HR0012WS-something" at once. (You can view this concept by pasting =A2:A20&B2:B20 in an empty column somewhere in your entity sheet.)
The following code assumes that your active worksheet is your working sheet. Paste this code behind your working sheet, then run it when you have that sheet open.
Public Sub tester()
Dim rg As Range
Dim sSourceEntityId As String
For Each rg In Range("A2:A16")
sSourceEntityId = Evaluate("=XLOOKUP(""" & rg.Value & "WS"",entity!A2:A20&LEFT(entity!B2:B20,2),entity!C2:C20,"""",0,1)")
If Len(sSourceEntityId) > 0 Then
rg.Offset(0, 1).Value = sSourceEntityId
End If
Next rg
End Sub
If the part inside the Evaluate is not clear, paste
=XLOOKUP(A1&"WS",entity!A2:A20&LEFT(entity!B2:B20,2),entity!C2:C20,"",0,1)
somewhere inside your working sheet to see it more clearly.
Also, note that you used Instr, which would find "WS" anywhere in the string. I used LEFT(value, 2)="WS" to be sure that I matched only the first 2 characters.
I also had to use XLOOKUP instead of VLOOKUP to allow me to use the LEFT(value, 2). If you're using an old version of Excel, you won't have XLOOKUP, unfortunately.
Without VBA
Paste this formula into A2 on your working sheet:
=IFERROR(INDEX(entity!$C$2:$C$20,AGGREGATE(15,3,((entity!$A$2:$A$20&LEFT(entity!$B$2:$B$20,2)=A2&"WS")/(entity!$A$2:$A$20&LEFT(entity!$B$2:$B$20,2)=A2&"WS"))*ROW(entity!$A$2:$A$20)-ROW(entity!$A$1),1)),"")
Then copy that formula down to every row that you want to do a match on. Just to be clearer, it will look like this:
This is a little complex. I based it on an approach in this article, which explains step-by-step how to use INDEX(.. AGGREGATE(..)) for multiple matches. Although it's pretty neat how it works, you may prefer the VBA approach as it is probably easier to maintain.
UPDATE:
I forgot to mention that there is a possibility that the IFERROR() in the formula may slow your spreadsheet down if you have many matches and rows. I also created a version of the formula that doesn't use IFERROR. It uses an IF to first check if there are any TRUE matches first before executing the INDEX.. AGGREGATE. You may not need it, but I've pasted it below just in case it's useful:
=IF(MAX(INT(entity!$A$2:$A$20&LEFT(entity!$B$2:$B$20,2)=A2&"WS"))=1,INDEX(entity!$C$2:$C$20,AGGREGATE(15,3,((entity!$A$2:$A$20&LEFT(entity!$B$2:$B$20,2)=A2&"WS")/(entity!$A$2:$A$20&LEFT(entity!$B$2:$B$20,2)=A2&"WS"))*ROW(entity!$A$2:$A$20)-ROW(entity!$A$1),1)),"")
UPDATE 2:
The statement used in the VBA Evaluate will also work directly as a formula and is much simpler to understand. I realized this when I realized that a single valid match is okay (i.e. we don't need multiple matches):
=XLOOKUP(A2&"WS",entity!$A$2:$A$20&LEFT(entity!$B$2:$B$20,2),entity!$C$2:$C$20,"",0,1)