Excel VBA - Finding the beginning and end of coloured rows - excel

Question

I am trying to create a code in Excel VBA, to locate the beginning (Cell Address) and the end (Cell Address) of coloured rows in a table. The table is a timeline(Horizontal axis- Dates, Vertical axis - General Text). The coloured rows all do not start in the first column, but start in different columns.
Any help?

Answer 1

How's this?
Sub findColoredRows()
Dim startCol As Integer, endCol As Integer, o As Integer
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim i As Integer, k As Integer
Dim startRow As Long, endRow As Long
Dim cellColor As String, noColor As String
Dim cel As Range
noColor = -4142 ' this is the color index of NO coloring
k = 3
Set ws = ActiveSheet
With ws
startRow = .Cells(1, 3).End(xlDown).Row
startCol = .Cells(1, 3).Column
Do While startRow > 100 ' I assume your table starts before row 100. So, if there's no data before row 100, check next column
k = k + 1
startRow = .Cells(1, k).End(xlDown).Row
startCol = k
Loop
'Now, we have our starting row - get end row.
endRow = .Cells(startRow, k).End(xlDown).Row
endCol = .Cells(startRow, startCol).End(xlToRight).Column
Debug.Print "Start row: " & startRow & ", start column: " & startCol
' How many non colored cells is there in our range?
Dim noColorCells As Integer
For Each cel In .Range(.Cells(startRow, startCol), .Cells(endRow, endCol))
If cel.Interior.ColorIndex = noColor Then
noColorCells = noColorCells + 1
End If
Next cel
Debug.Print "There are " & noColorCells & " non colored cells."
.Cells(startRow - 1, endCol + 2).Value = "Start Date"
.Cells(startRow - 1, endCol + 3).Value = "End Date"
'reDim the array to fit the colored cells
ReDim tDates(1 To noColorCells + 1)
i = 1 'index starts at 1, so set this to 1
For k = startRow To endRow
For o = startCol To endCol
If .Cells(k, o).Interior.ColorIndex = noColor And .Cells(k, endCol + 2) = "" Then
.Cells(k, endCol + 2).Value = .Cells(k, o).Value
ElseIf .Cells(k, o).Interior.ColorIndex = noColor And .Cells(k, endCol + 2) Then
i = i + i
.Cells(k, endCol + 3).Value = .Cells(k, o).Value
End If
' i = i + 1
Next o
i = i + 1
Next k
End With
MsgBox ("Done!")
End Sub
This sub will find the addresses of any colored cells. If you can explain more what you mean by "locate the beginning and the end of coloured rows in a table." I can tweak this. Can you post an image of a sample table maybe?
Edit: Per discussion below, try this in case there's not always data in the table, but you want the columns of the colored cells:
Sub findColoredBGCells()
Dim startRow As Integer, endRow As Integer, i As Integer, k As Integer, startCol As Integer, endCol As Integer
Dim cellColor As String, noColor As String
Dim ws As Worksheet
Set ws = ActiveSheet
noColor = -4142
With ws
'Get the starting row
startRow = .Cells(1, 1).End(xlDown).Row
endRow = .Cells(startRow, 1).End(xlDown).Row
' Since we know where the names start and end (less ONE for the "Names" part), let's count how many names we have
Dim noNames As Integer
noNames = endRow - startRow
If Not IsEmpty(.Cells(1, 1)) Then ' Get the first used column with data
startCol = 1
ElseIf IsEmpty(.Cells(1, 1)) Then
startCol = .Cells(1, 1).End(xlToRight).Column
End If
endCol = .Cells(1, startCol).End(xlToRight).Column
'Now we have our range, let's use it to loop for blank cells, and add those to an array
Dim coloredCells() As Variant
ReDim coloredCells(1 To noNames, 2)
Dim rng As Range, cel As Range
Set rng = .Range(.Cells(startRow, startCol), .Cells(endRow, endCol))
'rng.Select
'Now, count how many cells are not blank background
Dim cnt As Integer, celRow As Integer, lastCelRow As Integer
i = 1
lastCelRow = 2
For Each cel In rng
cel.Select
celRow = cel.Row
If cel.Row <> lastCelRow Then 'This is so we can change the first dimension in the array
k = k + 1
coloredCells(k, 0) = .Cells(cel.Row, 1).Value
i = 1
' i = i + 1
End If
If cel.Interior.ColorIndex <> noColor Then
cnt = cnt + 1
If i > 2 Then i = 2 'Since it's only two dimensions we need, only go up to '1'
' ReDim Preserve coloredCells(noNames, i) 'resize the array to hold the new column
coloredCells(k, i) = .Cells(1, cel.Column).Value
i = i + 1
End If
lastCelRow = celRow
Next cel
For k = 1 To UBound(coloredCells)
Debug.Print coloredCells(k, 0) & " Start Date: " & coloredCells(k, 1) & ", end date: " & coloredCells(k, 2) & "."
.Cells(2 + k, 2).Value = coloredCells(k, 1)
.Cells(2 + k, 3).Value = coloredCells(k, 2)
Next k
End With
MsgBox ("Done!")
End Sub