Excel VBA: How to write column name with commercial at "#" in it - excel

I am trying to find out how I should deal with a named column in myTable which contains a commercial at (#) in its name, e.g. active # mail. This code is supposed to print the column number in the Immediate output window:
Sub teststring()
Dim s As String
s = ActiveSheet.Range("myTable[active # mail]").Column
Debug.Print s
End Sub
but it fails. Using .Range("myTable[active" & Chr(64) "& mail]") fails as well.

You can do it like this:
s = ActiveSheet.listobjects("myTable").listcolumns("active # mail").Range.Column
See also https://support.office.com/en-us/article/using-structured-references-with-excel-tables-f5ed2452-2337-4f71-bed3-c8ae6d2b276e for how to escape special characters
So:
s = ActiveSheet.Range("myTable[active '# mail]").Column
will also work.
# has a special meaning in structured references, so you can't use it in a column name without escaping it with ' (a single quote)

Related

Filter phone numbers from open text field - Power BI, excel, VBA

I have a text field in a table where I need to substitute phone numbers where applicable.
For example the text field could have:
Call me on 08588812885 immediately
Call me on 07525812845
I need assistance please contact me
Good service
Sometimes a phone number will be in the text but not always and the phone number entered will always be different.
Is there a measure to use to replace the phone numbers with no text.
Ideally the solution would be Power BI, but can also be done in the raw data using excel or VBA
Regular expression in VBA (excel) or Python (Power BI) is a straightforward solution.
I have never used PowerBI with Python before but manage to make following python script.
In PowerBI transformation steps I created a new column that would copy [message] columns and named it [noPhoneNumber], then next step ran this python script
import re
def removePhone(x):
return re.sub('\d{10,11}', "**number removed**", x)
length = len(dataset["noPhoneNumber"])
for iRow in range(length):
dataset["noPhoneNumber"][iRow] = removePhone(dataset["noPhoneNumber"][iRow])
so column "noPhoneNumber"
Call me on 08588812885 immediately
Call me on 07525812845
I need assistance please contact me
Good service
becomes
Call me on **number removed** immediately
Call me on **number removed**
I need assistance please contact me
Good service
In VBA Preferable create UDF (user defined function) and don't create a subroutine, that would be too error prone for this kind of problem.
[Added]
If you need to make a Excel based solution, you can create a UDF function like so:
(remember early binding to import of VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp in excel)
Function removePhoneNumber(text As String, Optional replacement As String = "**number removed**") As String
Dim regex As New RegExp
regex.Pattern = "\d{10,11}"
removePhoneNumber = regex.Replace(text, replacement)
End Function
...and then use excel function like so:
=removePhoneNumber(A2),
=removePhoneNumber(A3)
and so on...
A simple VBA function alternative
Function removePhone(s As String) As String
Const DELIM As String = " "
Dim i As Long, tokens As Variant
tokens = Split(s, DELIM)
For i = LBound(tokens) To UBound(tokens)
If IsNumeric(tokens(i)) Then
tokens(i) = "*Removed*" ' << change to your needs
Exit For ' assuming a single phone number per string
End If
Next
removePhone = Join(tokens, DELIM)
End Function
You can do this in Power Query. Create a custom column with this below code. I have considered the column name is Comments but please adjust this with your column name.
if Text.Length(Text.Select([comments], {"0".."9"})) = 11
then
Text.Replace(
[comments],
Text.Select([comments], {"0".."9"}),
""
)
else [comments]
Here is the output below. You can also replace phone numbers with other text like #### to make is anonymous.
NOTE
This will only work if there are only 1 number in the string with length 11 (You can adjust the length in code as per requirement).
This will Not work if there are more than one Numbers in the string.
If there are 1 number in the string but length not equal 11, this will keep the whole string as original.

Excel find and replace function correct formula

I wish to use the find and replace function in excel to remove example sentences from cells similar to this:
text <br>〔「text」text,「text」text〕<br>(1)text「sentence―sentence/sentence」<br>(2)text「sentence―sentence」
Sentences are in between 「」brackets and will include a ― and / character somewhere inside the brackets.
I have tried 「*―*/*」 however this will delete everything from the right of the〔
Is there any way to target and delete these specific sentence brackets, with the find and replace tool?
Desired outcome:
text <br>〔「text」text,「text」text〕<br>(1)text<br>(2)text「sentence―sentence」
Quite a long formula but in Excel O365 you could use:
=SUBSTITUTE(CONCAT(FILTERXML("<t><s>"&SUBSTITUTE(CONCAT(IF(MID(A1,SEQUENCE(LEN(A1)),1)="「","</s><s>「",IF(MID(A1,SEQUENCE(LEN(A1)),1)="」","」</s><s>",MID(A1,SEQUENCE(LEN(A1)),1)))),"<br>","|$|")&"</s></t>","//s[not(contains(., '「') and contains(., '―') and contains(., '/') and contains(., '」'))][node()]")),"|$|","<br>")
As long as you have access to CONCAT you could also do this in Excel 2019 but you'll have to swap SEQUENCE(LEN(A1)) for ROW(A$1:INDEX(A:A,LEN(A1)))
This formula won't work in many cases, but if the string has matching rules as in your example, then try this:
=SUBSTITUTE(C5,"「" & INDEX(TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(","&SUBSTITUTE(C5,"」","「"),"「",REPT(" ",99)),(ROW(A1:INDEX(A1:A100,LEN(C5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(C5,"」",""))))*2-1)*99,99)),MATCH("*―*/*",TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(","&SUBSTITUTE(C5,"」","「"),"「",REPT(" ",99)),(ROW(A1:INDEX(A1:A100,LEN(C5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(C5,"」",""))))*2-1)*99,99)),0)) & "」","")
explain how it works:
split the string between the characters "「 "and "」" into an array
use match("*―*/*",,0) to find the string position (note that it will only return one value if it exists, if you have multiple strings, you can replace match("*―*/*",) with search ("*―*/*",..) and use it as an extra column to get matches string)
Use the index(array,match("*―*/*",..)) to get the string needs replacing (result)
Replace the original string with the results found =substitute(txt,result,"")
Or,
In B1 enter formula :
=SUBSTITUTE(A1,"「"&TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(A1,FIND("」",A1,FIND("/",A1))),"「",REPT(" ",99)),99)),"")
You did not tag [VBA], but if you are not averse, you could write a User Defined Function that would do what you want using Regular Expressions.
To enter this User Defined Function (UDF), alt-F11 opens the Visual Basic Editor.
Ensure your project is highlighted in the Project Explorer window.
Then, from the top menu, select Insert/Module and
paste the code below into the window that opens.
To use this User Defined Function (UDF), enter a formula like =replStr(A1) in some cell.
Option Explicit
Function replStr(str As String) As String
Dim RE As Object
Const sPat As String = "\u300C(?:(?=[^\u300D]*\u002F)(?=[^\u300D]*\u2015)[^\u300D]*)\u300D"
Set RE = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With RE
.Global = True
.Pattern = sPat
replStr = .Replace(str, "")
End With
End Function

How to get data from Excel and merge it into Word using MailMerge?

Trying to get data from Excel and merge it into Word using MailMerge (just like how it is done in this video).
However, fields aren't getting updated after running this code. VBA isn't throwing any error so looks like code is fine. Can you please help?
Sub getdata()
Dim numRecord As Integer
Dim myName As String
myName = InputBox("Enter the field name and relax!")
Set dsMain = ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource
If dsMain.FindRecord(FindText:=myName, Field:="Fields") = True Then
numRecord = dsMain.ActiveRecord
End If
End Sub
Note: Data in Excel looks like this:
Fields First Layer Second Layer
CC 5 3
So when someone enters CC in Input box I want first_layer and Second_layer fields in word to get updated to 5 and 3 respectiely.
If you're running the mailmerge from Word, you don't actually need any VBA for this - it can all be done with a SKIPIF field. For example the following field code does the same as the macro in the video is supposed to:
{SKIPIF{FILLIN "Name to merge" \o}<> {MERGEFIELD Name}}
or:
{SKIPIF{FILLIN "Name to merge" \o}<> «Name»}
Note: The field brace pairs (i.e. '{ }') for the above example are all created in the document itself, via Ctrl-F9 (Cmd-F9 on a Mac or, if you’re using a laptop, you might need to use Ctrl-Fn-F9); you can't simply type them or copy & paste them from this message. Nor is it practical to add them via any of the standard Word dialogues. Likewise, the chevrons (i.e. '« »') are part of the actual mergefields - which you can insert from the 'Insert Merge Field' dropdown (i.e. you can't type or copy & paste them from this message, either). The spaces represented in the field constructions are all required.

Remove text appearing between two characters - multiple instances - Excel

In Microsoft Excel file, I have a text in rows that appears like this:
1. Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 2. Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Qxc8 {} 3. Qe7# 1-0
I need to remove any text appearing within the flower brackets { and }, including the brackets themselves.
In the above example, there are three instances of such flower brackets. But some rows might have more than that.
I tried =MID(LEFT(A2,FIND("}",A2)-1),FIND("{",A2)+1,LEN(A2))
This outputs to: {[%emt 0:00:05]}. As you see this is the very first instance of text between those flower brackets.
And if we use this to within SUBSTITUTE like this: =SUBSTITUTE(A2,MID(LEFT(A2,FIND("}",A2)),FIND("{",A2),LEN(A2)),"")
I get an output like this:
1. Rc8 Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 2. Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Qxc8 {} 3. Qe7# 1-0
If you have noticed, only one instance is removed. How do I make it work for all instances? thanks.
Highlight everything
Go to replace
enter {*} in text to replace
leave replace with blank
This should replace all flower brackets and anything in between them
It is not that easy without VBA, but there is still a way.
Either (as suggested by yu_ominae) just use a formula like this and auto-fill it:
=IFERROR(SUBSTITUTE(A2,MID(LEFT(A2,FIND("}",A2)),FIND("{",A2),LEN(A2)),""),A2)
Another way would be iterative calculations (go to options -> formulas -> check the "enable iterative calculations" button)
To do it now in one cell, you need 1 helper-cell (for my example we will use C1) and the use a formula like this in B2 and auto-fill down:
=IF($C$1,A2,IFERROR(SUBSTITUTE(B2,MID(LEFT(B2,FIND("}",B2)),FIND("{",B2),LEN(B2)),""),B2))
Put "1" in C1 and all formulas in B:B will show the values of A:A. Now go to C1 and hit the del-key several times (you will see the "{}"-parts disappearing) till all looks like you want it.
EDIT: To do it via VBA but without regex you can simply put this into a module:
Public Function DELBRC(ByVal str As String) As String
While InStr(str, "{") > 0 And InStr(str, "}") > InStr(str, "{")
str = Left(str, InStr(str, "{") - 1) & Mid(str, InStr(str, "}") + 1)
Wend
DELBRC = Trim(str)
End Function
and then in the worksheet directly use:
=DELBRC(A2)
If you still have any questions, just ask ;)
Try a user defined function. In VBA create a reference to "Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5. Then add this code in a module.
Function RemoveTags(ByVal Value As String) As String
Dim rx As New RegExp
rx.Global = True
rx.Pattern = " ?{.*?}"
RemoveTags = Trim(rx.Replace(Value, ""))
End Function
On the worksheet in the cell enter: =RemoveTags(A1) or whatever the address is where you want to remove text.
If you want to test it in VBA:
Sub test()
Dim a As String
a = "Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:01]}"
Debug.Print RemoveTags(a)
End Sub
Outputs "Rc8 Rxc8"

VBA Special characters U+2264 and U+2265

I have a frustrating problem. I have a string containg other characters that are not in this list (check link). My string represents a SQL Query.
This is an example of what my string can contain: INSERT INTO test (description) VALUES ('≤ ≥ >= <=')
When I check the database, the row is inserted successfully, but the characters "≤" and "≥" are replaced with "=" character.
In the database the string in description column looks like "= = >= <=".
For the most characters I can get a character code. I googled a character code for those two symbols, but I didn't find one. My goal is to check if my string contains this two characters , and afterwards replace them with ">=" and "<="
===Later Edit===
I have tried to check every character in a for loop;
tmp = Mid$(str, i, 1)
tmp will have the value "=" when my for loop reaches the "≤" character, so Excel cannot read this "≤" character in a VB string, then when I'm checking for character code I get the code for "=" (Chr(61))
Are you able to figure out what the character codes for both "≤" and "≥" in your database character set are? if so then maybe try replacing both characters in your query string with chrw(character_code).
I have just tested something along the lines of what you are trying to do using Excel as my database - and it looks to work fine.
Edit: assuming you are still stuck and looking for assistance here - could you confirm what database you are working with, and any type information setting for the "description" field you are looking to insert your string into?
Edit2: I am not familiar with SQL server, but isn't your "description" field set up to be of a certain data type? if so what is it and does it support unicode characters? ncharvar, nchar seem to be examples of sql server data types that support Unicode.
It sounds like you may also want to try and add an "N" prefix to the value in your query string - see
Do I have use the prefix N in the "insert into" statement for unicode? &
how to insert unicode text to SQL Server from query window
Edit3: varchar won't qualify for proper rendering of Unicode - see here What is the difference between varchar and nvarchar?. Can you switch to nvarchar? as mentionned above, you may also want to prefix the values in your query string with 'N' for full effect
Edit4: I can't speak much more about sqlserver, but what you are looking at here is how VBA displays the character, not at how it actually stores it in memory - which is the bottom line. VBA won't display "≤" properly since it doesn't support the Unicode character set. However, it may - and it does - store the binary representation correctly.
For any evidence of this, just try and paste back the character to another cell in Excel from VBA, and you will retrieve the original character - or look at the binary representation in VBA:
Sub test()
Dim s As String
Dim B() As Byte
'8804 is "≤" character in Excel character set
s = ChrW(8804)
'Assign memory representation of s to byte array B
B = s
'This loop prints "100" and "34", respectively the low and high bytes of s coding in memory
'representing binary value 0010 0010 0110 0100 ie 8804
For i = LBound(B) To UBound(B)
Debug.Print B(i)
Next i
'This prints "=" because VBA can not render character code 8804 properly
Debug.Print s
End Sub
If I copy your text INSERT INTO test (description) VALUES ('≤ ≥ >= <=') and paste it into the VBA editor, it becomes INSERT INTO test (description) VALUES ('= = >= <=').
If I paste that text into a Excel cell or an Access table's text field, it pastes "correctly".
This seems to be a matter of character code supported, and I suggest you have a look at this SO question.
But where in you program does that string come from, since it cannot be typed in VBA ??
Edit: I jus gave it a try with the below code, and it works like a charm for transferring your exotic characters from the worksheet to a table !
Sub test1()
Dim db As Object, rs As Object, cn As Object
Set cn = CreateObject("DAO.DBEngine.120")
Set db = cn.OpenDatabase("P:\Database1.accdb")
Set rs = db.OpenRecordset("table1")
With rs
.addnew
.Fields(0) = Range("d5").Value
.Update
End With
End Sub

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