Editing a string in Excel VBA userform using special characters - excel

Question

I'm trying to write a program for a userform in excel for editing chart title and other things. I want write a code that uses special characters i.e. {like this} and changes the text inside the cutely brackets to subscript and I want to able to do this multiple times:
The following code this but only for the first occurrence.
Public Font_Name As String, Font_Style As String, Half_Height As Integer
Sub CommandButton1_Click()
'********************Define Standardized Plot Settings******************
Font_Name = "Arial"
Font_Style = "Normal"
Title_Font_Size = 28
Axes_Label_Font_Size = 22
Tick_Lable_Font_Size = 20
PlotArea_Border_Color_R = 0
PlotArea_Border_Color_G = 0
PlotArea_Border_Color_B = 0
PlotArea_Border_Weight = 3
PlotArea_Border_Weight_Pass = PlotArea_Border_Weight
Grid_Color_R = 150
Grid_Color_G = 150
Grid_Color_B = 150
Grid_Weight = 2
Grid_Weight_Pass = Grid_Weight
'*****************End Define Standardized Plot Settings*****************
'****************************Format the plot********************************
'----------------------------Format the Title-------------------------------
'*****Searches Char Title for {} and replaces everything indside as subscript***
With ActiveChart
.HasTitle = True
.ChartTitle.Text = Me.Chart_Title.Text
.ChartTitle.Characters.Font.Name = Font_Name
.ChartTitle.Characters.Font.FontStyle = Font_Style
.ChartTitle.Characters.Font.Size = Title_Font_Size 'works
If Me.FontOveride <> "" Then
.ChartTitle.Characters.Font.Size = Me.FontOveride
Else
.ChartTitle.Characters.Font.Size = Title_Font_Size 'works
End If
searchString = Me.Chart_Title.Text
Char1 = "{"
Char2 = "}"
For i = 1 To Len(searchString)
If Mid(searchString, i, 1) = Char1 Then
startPos = i
Exit For
Else:
End If
Next i
For j = 1 To Len(searchString)
If Mid(searchString, j, 1) = Char2 Then
endPos = j
Exit For
Else:
End If
Next j
If startPos >= 1 Or endPos >= 1 Then
.ChartTitle.Characters(startPos, endPos - startPos).Font.Subscript = True
.ChartTitle.Characters(startPos, 1).Delete
.ChartTitle.Characters(endPos - 1, 1).Delete
Else:
End If
End With
'***************************************************************************
'***************************************************************************
'----------------------------Format the X Axis-------------------------------
With ActiveChart.Axes(xlCategory)
.HasTitle = True
.AxisTitle.Characters.Text = Me.X_Axis_Title
.AxisTitle.Characters.Font.Name = Font_Name
.AxisTitle.Characters.Font.FontStyle = Font_Style
.AxisTitle.Characters.Font.Size = Axes_Label_Font_Size
.TickLabels.Font.Name = Font_Name
.TickLabels.Font.FontStyle = Font_Style
.TickLabels.Font.Size = Tick_Lable_Font_Size
.MajorTickMark = xlTickMarkNone
.MinimumScale = Me.X_Axis_Start
.MaximumScale = Me.X_Axis_Stop
.MajorUnit = Me.X_Axis_Step
.CrossesAt = Me.X_Axis_Start
.HasMajorGridlines = True
.MajorGridlines.Border.Color = RGB(Grid_Color_R, Grid_Color_G, Grid_Color_B)
.MajorGridlines.Border.Weight = Grid_Weight_Pass
.Border.Color = vbBlack
'*****Searches X-Axis for {} and replaces everything indside as subscript*******
searchString = Me.X_Axis_Title
Char1 = "{"
Char2 = "}"
For i = 1 To Len(searchString)
If Mid(searchString, i, 1) = Char1 Then
Pos1 = i
Exit For
Else:
'End If
End If
Next i
For j = 1 To Len(searchString)
If Mid(searchString, j, 1) = Char2 Then
Pos2 = j
Exit For
Else:
'End If
End If
Next j
If Pos1 >= 1 And Pos2 >= 1 Then
.AxisTitle.Characters(Pos1, Pos2 - Pos1).Font.Subscript = True
.AxisTitle.Characters(Pos1, 1).Delete
.AxisTitle.Characters(Pos2 - 1, 1).Delete
Else:
End If
End With
'----------------------------Format the Y Axis-------------------------------
With ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue)
.HasTitle = True
.AxisTitle.Characters.Text = Me.Y_Axis_Title
.AxisTitle.Characters.Font.Name = Font_Name
.AxisTitle.Characters.Font.FontStyle = Font_Style
.AxisTitle.Characters.Font.Size = Axes_Label_Font_Size
.TickLabels.Font.Name = Font_Name
.TickLabels.Font.FontStyle = Font_Style
.TickLabels.Font.Size = Tick_Lable_Font_Size
On Error GoTo Skip
Decimal_Position = Len(Me.Y_Axis_Step.Text) - WorksheetFunction.Search(".", Me.Y_Axis_Step.Text)
Format_String = "#,##0." & WorksheetFunction.Rept("0", Decimal_Position)
.TickLabels.NumberFormat = Format_String
GoTo Skip2
Skip:
On Error GoTo 0
.TickLabels.NumberFormat = "#,##0"
Skip2:
.MajorTickMark = xlTickMarkNone
.MinimumScale = Me.Y_Axis_Start
.MaximumScale = Me.Y_Axis_Stop
.MajorUnit = Me.Y_Axis_Step
.CrossesAt = Me.Y_Axis_Start
.HasMajorGridlines = True
.MajorGridlines.Border.Color = RGB(Grid_Color_R, Grid_Color_G, Grid_Color_B)
.MajorGridlines.Border.Weight = Grid_Weight_Pass
.Border.Color = vbBlack
'*****Searches Y Axis for {} and replaces everything indside as subscript*******
searchString = Me.Y_Axis_Title
Char1 = "{"
Char2 = "}"
For i = 1 To Len(searchString)
If Mid(searchString, i, 1) = Char1 Then
Pos3 = i
Exit For
Else:
'End If
End If
Next i
For j = 1 To Len(searchString)
If Mid(searchString, j, 1) = Char2 Then
Pos4 = j
Exit For
Else:
'End If
End If
Next j
If Pos3 >= 1 And Pos4 >= 1 Then
.AxisTitle.Characters(Pos3, Pos4 - Pos3).Font.Subscript = True
.AxisTitle.Characters(Pos3, 1).Delete
.AxisTitle.Characters(Pos4 - 1, 1).Delete
Else:
End If
End With
'****************************End Format the Plot*******************************

Answer 1

You can use regular expressions with the pattern {[\w]*}.
If you want to use early binding, then it requires reference to Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5.
RegEx will give you, in addition to other information the start position & length of each substring, which you can then use to apply the subscript or other formatting as required.
Sub regTest()
Dim R As Object 'New RegExp
Dim matches As Object 'MatchCollection
Dim m As Variant
Dim str As String
Set R = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
str = "hello {world} this is my {title}"
R.Pattern = "{[\w]*}"
R.Global = True
R.IgnoreCase = True
If R.test(str) Then
Set matches = R.Execute(str)
For Each m In matches
Debug.Print m.Value
Debug.Print "Starts at: " & m.FirstIndex
Debug.Print "Lenght: " & m.Length
Next
End If
End Sub