Increment a For loop inside an If statement -VBA - excel

Question

I need to delete columns in a spreadsheet using a loop instead of manually hardcoding those columns in. However all I get is a very unhelpful Next without For error.
Sub test()
With Application
.ScreenUpdating = False
.EnableEvents = False
End With
Dim colNum2 As Integer
colNum2 = 1
For x = 1 To 32
If Range("A1").Value = "Order No." Then
Next colNum
ElseIf Range("B1").Value = "Line No." Then
Next colNum
ElseIf Range("C1").Value = "Order Qty." Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("D1").Value = "PO" Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("E1").Value = "Sched Date" Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("F1").Value = "Sched MFG Line" Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("G1").Value = "Item No." Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("H1").Value = "Item Width" Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("I1").Value = "Item Height" Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("J1").Value = "SL Color" Then
Next x
ElseIf Range("K1").Value = "Frame Option" Then
Next x
End If
'Checks if the cell matches a specific string required by the sorter
'if TRUE should skip through to the next increment of colNum
Columns(colNum2).EntireColumn.Delete
'uses the current number of colNum to delete the current column number
colNum2 = colNum2 + 1
Next x
'increments colNum by one
'Iterates next through the loop
I feel like this would work with say Java or Python so I'm really irritated VBA won't let me do this.
Can someone please explain what is going wrong with this code?

Answer 1

Just use var = var + 1 instead of Next. Next ends the For cycle.
Also you don't need to repeat the variable name on the Next line since it's already in the For line. (For i = 0 To 5 ... Next)
For x = 1 To 32
If Range("A1").Value = "Order No." Then
colNum = colNum +1
ElseIf Range("C1").Value = "Order Qty." Then
x = x + 1
End If
Next
Keep in mind what Scott Cranner said, the Next will also do x=x+1, so if you only want to increment once per cycle, use the Do While cycle instead
x = 1
Do While x <= 32
If Range("A1").Value = "Order No." Then
colNum = colNum +1
ElseIf Range("C1").Value = "Order Qty." Then
x = x + 1
End If
Loop

Answer 2

It seems to me that you want to delete all of the columns that do not match 'a specific string required by the sorter'. In that case, you could loop through all of the columns header labels, deleting the ones that do not match or use a custom left-to-right sort to put all of the non-matching columns to the right and delete then en masse.
Method 1 - Delete non-matching columns
Sub test1()
Dim c As Long, vCOLs As Variant
vCOLs = Array("Order No.", "Line No.", "Order Qty.", "PO", _
"Sched Date", "Sched MFG Line", "Item No.", _
"Item Width", "Item Height", "SL Color", "Frame Option")
With Application
'.ScreenUpdating = False
'.EnableEvents = False
End With
With Worksheets("sheet1")
With .Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion
'delete from right-to-left or risk missing one
For c = .Columns.Count To 1 Step -1
If IsError(Application.Match(.Cells(1, c).Value2, vCOLs, 0)) Then
.Columns(c).EntireColumn.Delete
End If
Next c
End With
End With
With Application
.ScreenUpdating = True
.EnableEvents = True
End With
End Sub
Method 2 - Custom sort, then offset and delete
Sub test2()
Dim vCOLs As Variant
vCOLs = Array("Order No.", "Line No.", "Order Qty.", "PO", _
"Sched Date", "Sched MFG Line", "Item No.", _
"Item Width", "Item Height", "SL Color", "Frame Option")
With Application
'.ScreenUpdating = False
'.EnableEvents = False
.AddCustomList ListArray:=vCOLs
End With
With Worksheets("sheet1")
With .Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion
'custom sort to bring the important fields to the left
.Cells.Sort Key1:=.Rows(1), Order1:=xlAscending, _
Orientation:=xlLeftToRight, Header:=xlNo, _
OrderCustom:=Application.GetCustomListNum(vCOLs)
'offset and delete the unwanted columns
With .Offset(0, Application.Match(vCOLs(UBound(vCOLs)), .Rows(1), 0))
.EntireColumn.Delete
End With
End With
End With
With Application
.DeleteCustomList .GetCustomListNum(vCOLs)
.ScreenUpdating = True
.EnableEvents = True
End With
End Sub
With either method you are simply listing the columns you want to keep and removing the rest.
There is a twist between .Cells.Sort.SortFields.Add and .Cells.Sort that usually generates some confusion. The .SortFields.Add method uses a CustomOrder:= parameter and the Range.Sort method uses a OrderCustom:= parameter. The two are most definitely NOT the same but often get used interchangeably with disastrous results.

Answer 3

I suspect you are trying to delete columns based on their text values in row 1. This will give you what you want, just put all the text references that you want to delete in the CASE statement.
Option Explicit
Sub DeleteColumns()
Dim colNum As Integer
colNum = 1
Do While Range(alphaCon(colNum) & 1).Value <> ""
Select Case Range(alphaCon(colNum) & 1).Value
Case "ColumnIDontWant", "AnotherColumnIDontWant"
Columns(colNum).EntireColumn.Delete
End Select
colNum = colNum + 1
Loop
End Sub
Public Function alphaCon(aNumber As Integer) As String
' Fixed version 27/10/2011
Dim letterArray As String
Dim iterations As Integer
letterArray = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
If aNumber <= 26 Then
alphaCon = (Mid$(letterArray, aNumber, 1))
Else
If aNumber Mod 26 = 0 Then
iterations = Int(aNumber / 26)
alphaCon = (Mid$(letterArray, iterations - 1, 1)) & (Mid$(letterArray, 26, 1))
Else
'we deliberately round down using 'Int' as anything with decimal places is not a full iteration.
iterations = Int(aNumber / 26)
alphaCon = (Mid$(letterArray, iterations, 1)) & (Mid$(letterArray, (aNumber - (26 * iterations)), 1))
End If
End If
End Function