Using INDEX MATCH in VBA with Variable Lookup Locations - excel

Question

I am having trouble using variables within the lookup criteria in Index Match. Some background: I use the following code to set a variable's value to the row # of whatever cell contains "Current" within column B:
Dim rowHeaderNum As Integer
rowHeaderNum = 0
On Error Resume Next
rowHeaderNum = Application.Match("Current", ActiveSheet.Range("B:B"), 0)
On Error GoTo 0
Then I use the below to store the column # of the cell within the row 'rowHeaderNum' that contains the value "CurrentActual" to another variable:
Dim currActColNum As Integer
currActColNum = 0
currActColNum = Application.Match("CurrentActual", Rows(rowHeaderNum & ":" & rowHeaderNum), 0)
Below is the Index Match line that I can't get to work:
Dim currActRev As Double
currActRev = Application.Index(Columns(currActColNum), Application.Match("Gross Operating Profit", Columns("N:N"), 0))
currActRev will store a dollar amount. The Match function will always use column N as the lookup array. When I run the Index Match line I get a
type mismatch
error in the debugger.

Answer 1

Using WorksheetFunction …
Application.Match and On Error Resume Next does not work, because Application.Match does not throw exceptions you need to use WorksheetFunction.Match instead.
According to the documentation the WorksheetFunction.Match method it returns a Double so you need to Dim RowHeaderNum As Double.
Dim RowHeaderNum As Double
'RowHeaderNum = 0 'not needed it is always 0 after dim
On Error Resume Next
RowHeaderNum = Application.WorksheetFunction.Match("Current", ActiveSheet.Range("B:B"), False)
On Error GoTo 0
Furthermore you need to check if RowHeaderNum is 0 and stop proceeding otherwise the following code will fail because row 0 does not exist.
If RowHeaderNum = 0 Then
MsgBox "'Current' not found."
Exit Sub
End If
You need to do exactly the same here
Dim CurrActColNum As Double
On Error Resume Next
CurrActColNum = Application.WorksheetFunction.Match("CurrentActual", Rows(RowHeaderNum), False)
On Error GoTo 0
If CurrActColNum = 0 Then
MsgBox "'CurrentActual' not found."
Exit Sub
End If
Finally the WorksheetFunction.Index method returns a Variant not a Double and you need error handling here too.
Dim currActRev As Variant
On Error Resume Next
currActRev = Application.WorksheetFunction.Index(Columns(CurrActColNum), Application.WorksheetFunction.Match("Gross Operating Profit", Columns("N:N"), False))
On Error GoTo 0
Debug.Print currActRev 'print result in immediate window
Using Application …
Note that you can also use the Application.Match and Application.Index (without WorksheetFunction) but then you cannot use On Error … and you have to check for errors using IsError(). Also your variables need to be declared as Variant then because Application.Match can either return a typo Double or a type Error.
Dim RowHeaderNum As Variant
RowHeaderNum = Application.Match("Current", ActiveSheet.Range("B:B"), False)
If IsError(RowHeaderNum) Then
MsgBox "'Current' not found."
Exit Sub
End If
Dim CurrActColNum As Variant
CurrActColNum = Application.Match("CurrentActual", Rows(RowHeaderNum), False)
If IsError(CurrActColNum) Then
MsgBox "'CurrentActual' not found."
Exit Sub
End If
Dim currActRev As Variant, currMatch As Variant
currMatch = Application.Match("Gross Operating Profit", Columns("N:N"), False)
If Not IsError(currMatch) Then
currActRev = Application.Index(Columns(CurrActColNum), currMatch)
End If
Debug.Print currActRev 'print result in immediate window