Is there a way to reassign a Range variable to a different range? - excel

Question

I am very new to VBA, having started programming it yesterday. I am writing a data processing program which requires keeping track of two cells, one on each spreadsheet. The code which reproduces the errors I am experiencing is below. When I call the sub moveCell() in sub Processor(), nothing happens to DIRow and DIColumn, and the code spits out error 1004 at the line indicated. I have tried using DICell = DICell.Offset(), but it returns the same error.
How can I redefine a Range variable to be a different cell?
'<<Main Processor Code>>'
Sub Processor()
Dim PDRow As Integer
Dim PDColumn As Integer
Dim DIRow As Integer
Dim DIColumn As Integer
PDRow = 1
PDColumn = 1
DIRow = 1
DIColumn = 1
Dim PDCell As Range
Dim DICell As Range
Set PDCell = Worksheets("Processed Data").Cells(PDRow, PDColumn)
Set DICell = Worksheets("Data Input").Cells(DIRow, DIColumn)
Call moveCell(2, 0, "Data Input")
End Sub
'<<Function which moves the cell which defines the range>>'
Sub moveCell(r As Integer, c As Integer, sheet As String)
If sheet = "Processed Data" Then
PDRow = PDRow + r
PDColumn = PDColumn + c
Set PDCell = Worksheets("Data Input").Cells(PDRow, PDColumn)
ElseIf sheet = "Data Input" Then
DIRow = DIRow + r '<<<<<<This line does nothing to DIRow's value
DIColumn = DIColumn + c
Set DICell = Worksheets("Data Input").Cells(DIRow, DIColumn) '<<<<<<This line causes error 1004
End If
End Sub

Answer 1

As far as I can tell, you could instead use a quick Function instead. There doesn't seem to be any difference in your If statement results in the moveCell() function, except which worksheet you're using.
We can make this simpler by referring to the Range you're passing to moveCell.
Option Explicit ' forces you to declare all variables
Sub something()
Dim PDCell As Range
Set PDCell = Worksheets("Processed Data").Cells(1, 1)
Dim DICell As Range
Set DICell = Worksheets("Data Input").Cells(1, 1)
PDCell.Select ' can remove
Set PDCell = moveCell(2, 0, PDCell, PDCell.Worksheet.Name)
PDCell.Select ' can remove
Worksheets(DICell.Worksheet.Name).Activate ' can remove
DICell.Select ' can remove
Set DICell = moveCell(5, 0, DICell, DICell.Worksheet.Name)
DICell.Select ' can remove
End Sub
Function moveCell(rowsToMove As Long, colsToMove As Long, cel As Range, ws As String) As Range
Set moveCell = Worksheets(ws).Cells(cel.Row + rowsToMove, cel.Column + colsToMove)
End Function
I've included some rows you don't need (which I've marked with a comment afterwards), but that will show you how the routine works. You can step through with F8 to help see it step-by-step.
Edit: Although, you don't need a separate function at all. Just use OFFSET().
Set PDCell = ...whatever originally
Set PDCell = PDCell.Offset([rows],[cols])