I'm writing an applescript to deal with a spreadsheet for XML, and it's almost finished, but I'm finding that whenever it retrieves the value from a cell, and that value is a number, it formats it with a decimal.
4 becomes 4.0
How can I force it to get only the whole number? Numbers are not the only value it will ever get.
Here's the relevant code:
-- Copy field from SS
tell application "Microsoft Excel"
activate
goto reference cellNum
set GotValue to value of active cell as string
delay 0.3
--tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using command down
delay 2
end tell
And I know I could process it through a function that delimits and keeps only the first part before the decimal, but like I said, more things than numbers go through this, paragraphs can too. So that wouldn't be good.
For anyone looking on, this was solved by making a function to check if the input is a Real, and if it is, converting it to an integer and then a string. Like this:
on isReal(x)
return ({class of x} is in {real})
end isReal
if isReal(GotValue) then
set GotValue to GotValue as integer
end if
set GotValue to GotValue as string
Related
I've use my Excel 2013 to record a macro in inserting a chart, a column-clustered chart in my case. In the view code option, it shows me a line of code as below:
ActiveSheet.Shapes.Addchart2(286,xl3DColumnClustered).Select
Please help me as I cannot understand what does the number 286 represent. I know the syntax of Addchart2 is:
expression.AddChart2(Style,XlChartType,Left,Top,Width,Height,NewLayout)
If I change the "286" to "285", the chart appears with a blue background. An error comes out if the number is 100.
Can anyone kindly tell me what does the number represent?
One can also provide only the ChartType and the application will use the default style.
Set oShp = ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddChart2(XlChartType:=xl3DColumnClustered)
oShp.Chart.SetSourceData Source:=RngDta
This picture shows the default ChartStyle for all ChartTypes (excluding StockHLC and StockVOHLC)
This won't directly answer your question, but it will help you figure out what is going on.
This is pure conjecture on my part, but I would guess it's an undocumented bitfield. As you may know a bit field is just a way to use a number. So image we have a Byte variable which can be 8 bits (or flags). So in a byte we can store up to 8 values.
Example: We have field called "DaysOpen" bits 1-7 mean the store is open on that day of the week. (We'll ignore the 8th bit.) So if the store is open M-F that would be binary 0111 1100.
Then you just convert that number to decimal and we see that it's 124.
That variable is a Variant so it could be anything from a Byte to Long meaning it could be storing up to 64 different flags.
As a side note (if you are interested) you can use bit fields like so:
Option Explicit
Public Enum DayFlags
'Notice these are power of 2.
dfSunday = 1
dfMonday = 2
dfTuesday = 4
dfWednesday = 8
dfThursday = 16
dfFriday = 32
dfSaturday = 64
End Enum
Sub Example()
Dim openHours As DayFlags
'Set the flags:
openHours = dfMonday Or dfTuesday Or dfThursday
'See the binary?
MsgBox Right$("00000000" & Excel.WorksheetFunction.Dec2Bin(openHours), 8)
'Notice the order is right to left. This is call endianness.
'You can check for a specific flag like this:
MsgBox IsOpenOnDay(openHours, dfMonday) & vbNewLine & IsOpenOnDay(openHours, dfFriday)
'You can add a flag like this:
openHours = openHours Or dfFriday
MsgBox IsOpenOnDay(openHours, dfMonday) & vbNewLine & IsOpenOnDay(openHours, dfFriday)
'You can remove a flag like this:
openHours = openHours Xor dfFriday
MsgBox IsOpenOnDay(openHours, dfMonday) & vbNewLine & IsOpenOnDay(openHours, dfFriday)
End Sub
Private Function IsOpenOnDay(ByVal openHours As DayFlags, ByVal day As DayFlags) As Boolean
IsOpenOnDay = ((openHours And day) = day)
End Function
Well , I had the same situation once, and those are basically chart styles. I tried to figure out the exact numbering but then i realized that recording was a much easier way of knowing the style numbers just as you have done here.
To answer you question, record macros to know which style you want to implement in your macros.
Just checking to see if 5 years later anyone has a better answer. I sure could use an enumeration of the chart styles; I don't like putting simple numbers in my code without some explanation as to what it means. Of course, I could use a comment, but if the numbers are documented, then that means they could change.
I found a partial list: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/excel.xlcharttype
I'm sure these numbers, plus the bitfield variations as suggested by Pillgram above to control various other chart aspects, answer the question. The possible combinations are in the thousands, so a full list would be pretty useless. Recording is still your best bet.
I have a frustrating problem. I have a string containg other characters that are not in this list (check link). My string represents a SQL Query.
This is an example of what my string can contain: INSERT INTO test (description) VALUES ('≤ ≥ >= <=')
When I check the database, the row is inserted successfully, but the characters "≤" and "≥" are replaced with "=" character.
In the database the string in description column looks like "= = >= <=".
For the most characters I can get a character code. I googled a character code for those two symbols, but I didn't find one. My goal is to check if my string contains this two characters , and afterwards replace them with ">=" and "<="
===Later Edit===
I have tried to check every character in a for loop;
tmp = Mid$(str, i, 1)
tmp will have the value "=" when my for loop reaches the "≤" character, so Excel cannot read this "≤" character in a VB string, then when I'm checking for character code I get the code for "=" (Chr(61))
Are you able to figure out what the character codes for both "≤" and "≥" in your database character set are? if so then maybe try replacing both characters in your query string with chrw(character_code).
I have just tested something along the lines of what you are trying to do using Excel as my database - and it looks to work fine.
Edit: assuming you are still stuck and looking for assistance here - could you confirm what database you are working with, and any type information setting for the "description" field you are looking to insert your string into?
Edit2: I am not familiar with SQL server, but isn't your "description" field set up to be of a certain data type? if so what is it and does it support unicode characters? ncharvar, nchar seem to be examples of sql server data types that support Unicode.
It sounds like you may also want to try and add an "N" prefix to the value in your query string - see
Do I have use the prefix N in the "insert into" statement for unicode? &
how to insert unicode text to SQL Server from query window
Edit3: varchar won't qualify for proper rendering of Unicode - see here What is the difference between varchar and nvarchar?. Can you switch to nvarchar? as mentionned above, you may also want to prefix the values in your query string with 'N' for full effect
Edit4: I can't speak much more about sqlserver, but what you are looking at here is how VBA displays the character, not at how it actually stores it in memory - which is the bottom line. VBA won't display "≤" properly since it doesn't support the Unicode character set. However, it may - and it does - store the binary representation correctly.
For any evidence of this, just try and paste back the character to another cell in Excel from VBA, and you will retrieve the original character - or look at the binary representation in VBA:
Sub test()
Dim s As String
Dim B() As Byte
'8804 is "≤" character in Excel character set
s = ChrW(8804)
'Assign memory representation of s to byte array B
B = s
'This loop prints "100" and "34", respectively the low and high bytes of s coding in memory
'representing binary value 0010 0010 0110 0100 ie 8804
For i = LBound(B) To UBound(B)
Debug.Print B(i)
Next i
'This prints "=" because VBA can not render character code 8804 properly
Debug.Print s
End Sub
If I copy your text INSERT INTO test (description) VALUES ('≤ ≥ >= <=') and paste it into the VBA editor, it becomes INSERT INTO test (description) VALUES ('= = >= <=').
If I paste that text into a Excel cell or an Access table's text field, it pastes "correctly".
This seems to be a matter of character code supported, and I suggest you have a look at this SO question.
But where in you program does that string come from, since it cannot be typed in VBA ??
Edit: I jus gave it a try with the below code, and it works like a charm for transferring your exotic characters from the worksheet to a table !
Sub test1()
Dim db As Object, rs As Object, cn As Object
Set cn = CreateObject("DAO.DBEngine.120")
Set db = cn.OpenDatabase("P:\Database1.accdb")
Set rs = db.OpenRecordset("table1")
With rs
.addnew
.Fields(0) = Range("d5").Value
.Update
End With
End Sub
In VBA, I am trying to determine whether or not a cell contains an error value, e.g. due to an invalid function. My existing code uses the Excel.WorksheetFunction.IsError method, but I recently came across a case which caused a false positive. The cell does not contain an error value, but Excel.WorksheetFunction.IsError returns true. Another method, VBA.Information.IsError, does not exhibit this behavior; it correctly returns false.
I was able to determine that the issue only occurs when the cell contains a value exceeding 255 characters in length. Here is a routine to verify the behavior:
Sub IsErrorBehavior()
Dim i As Long
Dim str As String
Dim r1 As Range, r2 As Range
Dim xlWSFuncCheck1 As Boolean, xlWSFuncCheck2 As Boolean
Dim vbaInfCheck1 As Boolean, vbaInfCheck2 As Boolean
str = WorksheetFunction.Rept("A", 255)
Set r1 = Range("A1")
r1.Value = str
xlWSFuncCheck1 = Excel.WorksheetFunction.IsError(r1)
vbaInfCheck1 = VBA.Information.IsError(r1)
str = str & "A"
Set r2 = Range("A2")
r2.Value = str
xlWSFuncCheck2 = Excel.WorksheetFunction.IsError(r2)
vbaInfCheck2 = VBA.Information.IsError(r2)
End Sub
The above routine was written in Excel 2010 and verified in Excel 2007. The target application is currently running under Excel 2007.
Question 1: Is this a bug or is there a reasonable explanation for the behavior of Excel.WorksheetFunction.IsError in this case?
I will be switching to the VBA.Information.IsError method, but now I'm a bit concerned that I may encounter bugs with it as well. Which leads me to...
Question 2: Is there a more reliable way to check for errors in a specific cell?
Not a complete response for Excel 2007, but might give some ideas for other peers to follow up.
Question 1: Is this a bug or is there a reasonable explanation for the behavior of Excel.WorksheetFunction.IsError in this case?
There used to be an old known bug with the 255 character limit that was supposed to be fixed in newer versions. Your issue is of very similar nature so it could be the same source, although it is not possible to say for sure.
It seems that setting a Value of a Range equal to a String of more than 255 characters corrupts the Range itself, and makes the IsError check on the Range false.
Question 2: Is there a more reliable way to check for errors in a specific cell?
I would do it as in CPearson's website, namely checking r2.Value instead of r2, and using the IsError function (which is the VBA IsError) that has more stable performance. In general, checking a Range object for error might be tricky. In this question a while ago I was getting funny results because of type casting that goes on in the background. I guess this might be the case here as well. In any case, being explicit helps (your example works as expected if r2.value is used instead).
I encountered this error, too, and in our case it was independent of the use or omission of ".value".
Suppose, in cell A1, you enter
=1-BINOM.DIST(35, 76, 0.1, TRUE)
The resulting probability is minuscule, so Excel will return 0.000000 as the cell value.
However, when you then use VBA to test
IsError(ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Value)
VBA will return TRUE. Probably this is due to some internal rounding error checking where Excel realizes that the return value of the formula is to close to zero to be correctly calculated.
This is an unfortunate situation since Excel will display the return value as a cell value without any error or warning, while at the same time VBA will return TRUE on IsError(). I don't know whether this bug is present in other Excel functions as well, such as
=1-NORM.S.VERT(42, TRUE)
but would advise caution when working with IsError().
I need help in writing a macro for LibreOffice Calc 3.6.2.2
What I'm trying to do is pass a cell number to function, the function then analyzes the cell's contents (a text string) and return a value based on its content.
My current code:
Function mColor2(mCellAdd)
Dim l(5) as String 'declare list of variables
l(0)="red"
l(1)="blue"
l(2)="yellow"
l(3)="green"
for i=LBound(l) To UBound(l) 'cycle from start to end of list
If InStr(mCellAdd,l(i))<>0 Then
mColor2=l(i)
Else
mColor2="not known"
End If
Next
End Function
But I get only "not known" returned.
I think it's because I don't handle values returned from InStr() properly.
Actually I'm not sure I'm using the right function since I only need to check if the cell's content includes my substring or not...
A screenshot of the results:
Let's say the input string (assuming it is passed as a string?) is "my blue dog". Then your function will run through the loop 5 times (should that be 4?). First it looks for "red", which isn't found, so mColor2 is set to "not known". Then it looks for "blue", which is found, so mColor2 is set to "blue". Then it looks for "yellow", and mColor2 is set back to "not known". Same for "green", and then I don't know what it will look for when i is 4.
In any case, you don't want to reset mColor2 to "not known", just get rid of your Else.
Have you decided what to do if the input string contains more than one of the strings you're looking for? Do you want to exit as soon as you find "red", or continue and remember the last one found?
I have created a VSTO plugin with my own RTD implementation that I am calling from my Excel sheets. To avoid having to use the full-fledged RTD syntax in the cells, I have created a UDF that hides that API from the sheet.
The RTD server I created can be enabled and disabled through a button in a custom Ribbon component.
The behavior I want to achieve is as follows:
If the server is disabled and a reference to my function is entered in a cell, I want the cell to display Disabled.
If the server is disabled, but the function had been entered in a cell when it was enabled (and the cell thus displays a value), I want the cell to keep displaying that value.
If the server is enabled, I want the cell to display Loading.
Sounds easy enough. Here is an example of the - non functional - code:
Public Function RetrieveData(id as Long)
Dim result as String
// This returns either 'Disabled' or 'Loading'
result = Application.Worksheet.Function.RTD("SERVERNAME", "", id)
RetrieveData = result
If(result = "Disabled") Then
// Obviously, this recurses (and fails), so that's not an option
If(Not IsEmpty(Application.Caller.Value2)) Then
// So does this
RetrieveData = Application.Caller.Value2
End If
End If
End Function
The function will be called in thousands of cells, so storing the 'original' values in another data structure would be a major overhead and I would like to avoid it. Also, the RTD server does not know the values, since it also does not keep a history of it, more or less for the same reason.
I was thinking that there might be some way to exit the function which would force it to not change the displayed value, but so far I have been unable to find anything like that.
EDIT:
Due to popular demand, some additional info on why I want to do all this:
As I said, the function will be called in thousands of cells and the RTD server needs to retrieve quite a bit of information. This can be quite hard on both network and CPU. To allow the user to decide for himself whether he wants this load on his machine, they can disable the updates from the server. In that case, they should still be able to calculate the sheets with the values currently in the fields, yet no updates are pushed into them. Once new data is required, the server can be enabled and the fields will be updated.
Again, since we are talking about quite a bit of data here, I would rather not store it somewhere in the sheet. Plus, the data should be usable even if the workbook is closed and loaded again.
Different tack=new answer.
A few things I've discovered the hard way, that you might find useful:
1.
In a UDF, returning the RTD call like this
' excel equivalent: =RTD("GeodesiX.RTD",,"status","Tokyo")
result = excel.WorksheetFunction.rtd( _
"GeodesiX.RTD", _
Nothing, _
"geocode", _
request, _
location)
behaves as if you'd inserted the commented function in the cell, and NOT the value returned by the RTD. In other words, "result" is an object of type "RTD-function-call" and not the RTD's answer. Conversely, doing this:
' excel equivalent: =RTD("GeodesiX.RTD",,"status","Tokyo")
result = excel.WorksheetFunction.rtd( _
"GeodesiX.RTD", _
Nothing, _
"geocode", _
request, _
location).ToDouble ' or ToString or whetever
returns the actual value, equivalent to typing "3.1418" in the cell. This is an important difference; in the first case the cell continues to participate in RTD feeding, in the second case it just gets a constant value. This might be a solution for you.
2.
MS VSTO makes it look as though writing an Office Addin is a piece of cake... until you actually try to build an industrial, distributable solution. Getting all the privileges and authorities right for a Setup is a nightmare, and it gets exponentially worse if you have the bright idea of supporting more than one version of Excel. I've been using Addin Express for some years. It hides all this MS nastiness and let's me focus on coding my addin. Their support is first-rate too, worth a look. (No, I am not affiliated or anything like that).
3.
Be aware that Excel can and will call Connect / RefreshData / RTD at any time, even when you're in the middle of something - there's some subtle multi-tasking going on behind the scenes. You'll need to decorate your code with the appropriate Synclock blocks to protect your data structures.
4.
When you receive data (presumably asynchronously on a separate thread) you absolutely MUST callback Excel on the thread on which you were intially called (by Excel). If you don't, it'll work fine for a while and then you'll start getting mysterious, unsolvable crashes and worse, orphan Excels in the background. Here's an example of the relevant code to do this:
Imports System.Threading
...
Private _Context As SynchronizationContext = Nothing
...
Sub New
_Context = SynchronizationContext.Current
If _Context Is Nothing Then
_Context = New SynchronizationContext ' try valiantly to continue
End If
...
Private Delegate Sub CallBackDelegate(ByVal GeodesicCompleted)
Private Sub GeodesicComplete(ByVal query As Query) _
Handles geodesic.Completed ' Called by asynchronous thread
Dim cbd As New CallBackDelegate(AddressOf GeodesicCompleted)
_Context.Post(Function() cbd.DynamicInvoke(query), Nothing)
End Sub
Private Sub GeodesicCompleted(ByVal query As Query)
SyncLock query
If query.Status = "OK" Then
Select Case query.Type
Case Geodesics.Query.QueryType.Directions
GeodesicCompletedTravel(query)
Case Geodesics.Query.QueryType.Geocode
GeodesicCompletedGeocode(query)
End Select
End If
' If it's not resolved, it stays "queued",
' so as never to enter the queue again in this session
query.Queued = Not query.Resolved
End SyncLock
For Each topic As AddinExpress.RTD.ADXRTDTopic In query.Topics
AddinExpress.RTD.ADXRTDServerModule.CurrentInstance.UpdateTopic(topic)
Next
End Sub
5.
I've done something apparently akin to what you're asking in this addin. There, I asynchronously fetch geocode data from Google and serve it up with an RTD shadowed by a UDF. As the call to GoogleMaps is very expensive, I tried 101 ways and several month's of evenings to keep the value in the cell, like what you're attempting, without success. I haven't timed anything, but my gut feeling is that a call to Excel like "Application.Caller.Value" is an order of magnitude slower than a dictionary lookup.
In the end I created a cache component which saves and re-loads values already obtained from a very-hidden spreadsheet which I create on the fly in Workbook OnSave. The data is stored in a Dictionary(of string, myQuery), where each myQuery holds all the relevant info.
It works well, fulfils the requirement for working offline and even for 20'000+ formulas it appears instantaneous.
HTH.
Edit: Out of curiosity, I tested my hunch that calling Excel is much more expensive than doing a dictionary lookup. It turns out that not only was the hunch correct, but frighteningly so.
Public Sub TimeTest()
Dim sw As New Stopwatch
Dim row As Integer
Dim val As Object
Dim sheet As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet
Dim dict As New Dictionary(Of Integer, Integer)
Const iterations As Integer = 100000
Const elements As Integer = 10000
For i = 1 To elements + 1
dict.Add(i, i)
Next
sheet = _ExcelWorkbook.ActiveSheet
sw.Reset()
sw.Start()
For i As Integer = 1 To iterations
row = 1 + Rnd() * elements
Next
sw.Stop()
Debug.WriteLine("Empty loop " & (sw.ElapsedMilliseconds * 1000) / iterations & " uS")
sw.Reset()
sw.Start()
For i As Integer = 1 To iterations
row = 1 + Rnd() * elements
val = sheet.Cells(row, 1).value
Next
sw.Stop()
Debug.WriteLine("Get cell value " & (sw.ElapsedMilliseconds * 1000) / iterations & " uS")
sw.Reset()
sw.Start()
For i As Integer = 1 To iterations
row = 1 + Rnd() * elements
val = dict(row)
Next
sw.Stop()
Debug.WriteLine("Get dict value " & (sw.ElapsedMilliseconds * 1000) / iterations & " uS")
End Sub
Results:
Empty loop 0.07 uS
Get cell value 899.77 uS
Get dict value 0.15 uS
Looking up a value in a 10'000 element Dictionary(Of Integer, Integer) is over 11'000 times faster than fetching a cell value from Excel.
Q.E.D.
Maybe... Try making your UDF wrapper function non-volatile, that way it won't get called unless one of its arguments changes.
This might be a problem when you enable the server, you'll have to trick Excel into calling your UDF again, it depends on what you're trying to do.
Perhaps explain the complete function you're trying to implement?
You could try Application.Caller.Text This has the drawback of returning the formatted value from the rendering layer as text, but seems to avoid the circular reference problem.Note: I have not tested this hack under all possible circumstances ...