Saving *.asc files as Excel files - excel

Question

I have *.asc files to open, reformat, and then save as an Excel file with the same name as the original (with the xls extension).
I used the Macro Recorder and code I found online to open individual files and reformat them as desired. That part of the code works.
I cannot save as an Excel file. It gives me the Run Time error of 1004 Method ‘SaveAs’ of object ‘_Workbook’ failed. I have tried lots of different code I found online (still in there, just commented out) but none work.
Two questions:
Can you offer suggestions to fix the SaveAs problem?
Can you offer suggestions of how to automate the opening and saving of all the files in one folder?
Here is the code I have:
Sub OpenFormatSave()
'
' OpenFormatSave Macro
'
Dim StrFileName As String
Dim NewStrFileName As String
ChDir _
"C:\Users\Owner\Documents\work_LLRS\GoM\NASA_data\Satellite_files_GoM_3Dec2012"
StrFileName = Application.GetOpenFilename("NASA Files (*.asc), *.asc")
If TypeName(StrFileName) <> "Boolean" Then
Workbooks.OpenText Filename:=StrFileName, _
Origin:=437, StartRow:=1, DataType:=xlDelimited, TextQualifier:= _
xlDoubleQuote, ConsecutiveDelimiter:=True, Tab:=True, Semicolon:=False, _
Comma:=False, Space:=True, Other:=False, FieldInfo:=Array(Array(1, 1), _
Array(2, 1), Array(3, 1), Array(4, 1), Array(5, 1), Array(6, 1), Array(7, 1), Array(8, 1), _
Array(9, 1), Array(10, 1)), TrailingMinusNumbers:=True
End If
Rows("1:1").Select
Selection.Insert Shift:=xlDown, CopyOrigin:=xlFormatFromLeftOrAbove
Range("A1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Year"
Range("B1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Day_of_Year"
Range("C1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Longitude"
Range("D1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Latitude"
Range("E1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Chla_mg_m-3"
Range("F1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "POC_mmolC_m-3"
Range("G1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "SPM_g_m-3"
Range("H1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "aCDOM355_m-1"
Range("I1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "DOC_mmolC_m-3"
Range("J1").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "L2_flags"
Columns("A:B").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0"
Columns("C:D").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.0000"
Columns("E:E").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.000"
Columns("F:F").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.0"
Columns("G:H").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.000"
Columns("I:I").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.0"
Columns("J:J").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.00E+00"
'Mid(StrFileName, 1, InStrRev(StrFileName, ".")) = "xlsm"
'With ActiveWorkbook
'NewStrFileName = Replace(.StrFileName, ".asc", ".xls")
' .SaveAs Filename:=FullName, FileFormat:=xlsx, AddToMRU:=False
' .Close SaveChanges:=True
'End With
StrFileName = ThisWorkbook.Name
GetName:
StrFileName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(NewStrFileName, _
fileFilter:="(*.xlsm), *.xlsm, (*.xlsx), *.xlsx,(*.xls), *.xls")
' FileMonth is the Workbook name, filter options to save a older version file
'If Dir(NewStrFileName) = "" Then
' ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs NewStrFileName
'Else
' If MsgBox("That file exists. Overwrite?", vbYesNo) = vbNo Then GoTo GetName
' Application.DisplayAlerts = False
' ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=NewStrFileName, FileFormat:=xlsx, AddToMRU:=False
'Application.DisplayAlerts = True
'End If
'ActiveWorkbook.Close SaveChanges:=True
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=NewStrFileName, FileFormat:=xlsx, CreateBackup:=False
'With ThisWorkbook
'FullName = Replace(.StrFileName, ".asc", ".xlsx")
'.Save
'.SaveAs StrFileName, FileFormat:=xlsx
'.Close
'SaveChanges:=True
'End With
'StrFileName = Split(ActiveWorkbook.FullName, ".xls")(0)
'ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:="...", FileFormat:=xlsx, AddToMRU:=False
'ActiveWorkbook.Close SaveChanges:=True
'ActiveWorkbook.Save
End Sub

Answer 1

Change the FileFormat portion of your SaveAs method to this:
FileFormat:=xlOpenXMLWorkbook, CreateBackup:=False

Answer 2

To iterate through all the files in a folder, you have two options.
Use the built-in VBA Dir function.
Use methods in FileSystemObject.
I'll give an example of Dir because it doesn't require adding a reference in your VBA project. Unfortunately the Dir interface is a lot less intuitive and less modern than FileSystemObject.
Dim path As String
path = Dir("C:\Users\example\Documents\AscFiles\*.asc")
Do
If path = vbNullString Then Exit Do
' do something with path here
Debug.Print path
path = Dir
Loop

Answer 3

You have two variables StrFileName (presumably intended as the current filename) and NewStrFileName (presumably intended to be the new filename).
In this piece of code:
StrFileName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(NewStrFileName, _
fileFilter:="(*.xlsm), *.xlsm, (*.xlsx), *.xlsx,(*.xls), *.xls")
you have used these variables the wrong way round. The suggested filename when the "Save As" dialog opens is based on NewStrFileName but this has never been given a value and is thus an empty string "". The value chosen by the user is then saved into StrFileName
When you come to save the file with this code:
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=NewStrFileName, FileFormat:=xlsx, _
CreateBackup:=False
the NewStrFileName variable still contains "" and thus you are trying to save a file without giving it a name which obviously produces an error.
For a simple fix, just swap the two variables in the call to GetSaveAsFilename:
NewStrFileName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(StrFileName, _
fileFilter:="(*.xlsm), *.xlsm, (*.xlsx), *.xlsx,(*.xls), *.xls")
This is not the best way to achieve what you want but it should at least work

Answer 4

here is a very simply code to convert a folder of ASC files to Excel files. It also works with CSV files. So all you have to do is change the .asc to .csv
Just make sure you set the delimiter to TAB wherever you are getting the data from.
Sub import_ascFile()
Dim file As FileDialog
Dim filePath As String
Dim text As String
Dim wsheet As String
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
Application.StatusBar = True
wsheet = ActiveWorkbook.Name
Set file = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
file.Title = "Folder Selection:"
If file.Show = -1 Then
filePath = file.SelectedItems(1)
Else
Exit Sub
End If
If Right(filePath, 1) <> "\" Then filePath = filePath + "\"
text = Dir(filePath & "*.asc")
Do While text <> ""
Application.StatusBar = "Converting: " & text
Workbooks.Open Filename:=filePath & text
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Replace(filePath & text, ".asc", ".xlsx", vbTextCompare), xlWorkbookDefault
ActiveWorkbook.Close
Windows(wsheet).Activate
text = Dir
Loop
Application.StatusBar = False
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
End Sub