importing from an external souce where source filename changes - excel

Question

Forgive me if this is an easy problem, Im still learning..
I have an excel file, that takes data and performs analytics to compose graphs. right now method to update is manual copying and pasting from 2 other data sources. I can easily create a macro to import the first source as the data location/file name is always the same. The second source is trickier, as the file has some standardized naming convention, but a date is added, as it is refreshed once a week, every Monday or tuesday. is there a way to automate pulling the data from the external source (sharepoint library) and telling it to find the most current version? either by understanding the date convention added in the file name, or by another means of modified date or other criteria? the file is kept with previous archived copies. I do not own the report, sharepoint site, or library it is kept in, so I cant influence those factors :(. any help appreciated, and I can provide better details and explanation.

Answer 1

There are two basic approaches that I know of, either allow the user to choose the file through a dialog box, or use the "Dir" function to find the file with the most recent date.
First approach (code I use frequently):
Public Function ChooseOpenFile() As String
Dim strSlash As String
If InStr(1, ActiveWorkbook.Path, "/") > 0 Then
strSlash = "/"
Else
strSlash = "\"
End If
With Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen)
.Title = "Select the first file to open in series:"
.InitialFileName = Replace(ActiveWorkbook.Path, "http:", "", 1) & strSlash
Call .Filters.Clear
Call .Filters.Add("Excel Files Only", "*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsb")
'only allow the user to select one file
.AllowMultiSelect = False
'make the file dialog visible to the user
intChoice = .Show
'determine what choice the user made
If intChoice <> 0 Then
'get the file path selected by the user
ChooseOpenFile = .SelectedItems(1)
End If
End With
End Function
As for the second approach, as long as you can already access the folder programmatically, you build a loop to cycle through the files, extract the date from each file, test for being more recent than previous versions and store the filename of the most recent version to pass out of the loop.
Function MostRecentFile() As String
Dim dateTest As Date
Dim dateRecent As Date
Dim strMyFile As String
Dim strMyFolder As String
Dim strCurrentFile As String
Dim strSlash As String
strMyFolder = ThisWorkbook.Path
If InStr(1, strMyFolder, "/") > 0 Then
strSlash = "/"
Else
strSlash = "\"
End If
strMyFile = Dir(Replace(strMyFolder, "http:", "") & strSlash & "*.xls*")
Do While strMyFile <> ""
'Modify this line (number of characters and extension to replace) as needed.
dateTest = CDate(Replace(Right(strMyFile, 15), ".xls*", ""))
If dateTest > dateRecent Then
dateRecent = dateTest
strCurrentFile = strMyFile
End If
Stop
Dir
Loop
MostRecentFile = strCurrentFile
End Function

Answer 2

You can browse to the file.
Sub GetOpenFile()
Dim fileStr As String
fileStr = Application.GetOpenFilename()
If fileStr = "False" Then Exit Sub
Workbooks.Open fileStr
End Sub
If you want some kind of automated solution, based on your system date, like the next Monday ot Tuesday, you can get the machine to figure it out, and pass the result to the appropriate string in the file path.
Sub NameAsNextMon()
Dim K As Integer
Dim dteMon As Date
Dim tempName As Variant
K = Weekday(Now)
dteMon = Now() + (9 - K)
tempName = Year(dteMon) & "-" & Month(dteMon) & "-" & Day(dteMon) & ".xls"
Do
fName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(tempName)
Loop Until fName <> False
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=fName
End Sub