Excel: Concatenate last non empty cells in a column - excel

Question

Since my previous post was closed, but the problem remains, I'll rephrase it here. I've came up with the following:
Function JoinLastInColIfEmpty(range_ As Range, delim_ As String)
Dim cell As Range, result As String, current As String
For Each cell In range_
current = LastNonEmptyInCol(cell)
If current <> "" Then
result = result & current & delim_
End If
Next
If Not IsEmpty(result) Then
result = Left(result, Len(result) - Len(delim_))
End If
JoinLastInColIfEmpty = result
End Function
Function LastNonEmptyInCol(cell_ As Range)
Dim tmp As Range
tmp = cell_ '<< The problem occurs here
Do Until Not IsEmpty(tmp) Or tmp.Row = 1
tmp = tmp.Offset(-1, 0)
Loop
LastNonEmptyInCol = tmp.Value
End Function
The problem is that the function never ends, so my questions are:
What is wrong with my script?
What should I do to solve my problem?

Answer 1

To answer your direct question, there are a couple of errors in LastNonEmptyInCol
Function LastNonEmptyInCol(cell_ As Range)
On Error Resume Next
Dim tmp As Range
Set tmp = cell_ '<< The problem occurs here ' <<<<< use Set
Do Until Not IsEmpty(tmp) Or tmp.Row = 1 ' <<<<< use tmp not cell_
Set tmp = tmp.Offset(-1, 0) ' <<<<< use Set
Loop
LastNonEmptyInCol = tmp.Value
End Function
That said, I think it is a very inefficient solution, and does not quite solve your stated problem
results will be
A | B | C | D | Concat
-----+-----+-----+-----+---------
1 | 2 | X | 5 | 12X5
| | f | 3 | 12f3
| 5 | R | 12 | 15R12
Z | 3 | T | | Z3T12
| G | | | ZGT12
Here's another version which might be better
Function MyJoinLastInColIfEmpty(range_ As Range, delim_ As String)
Dim vData As Variant
Dim cl As Range
Dim i As Long
Dim result As Variant
vData = range_
For i = 1 To UBound(vData, 2)
If vData(1, i) = "" Then
Set cl = range_.Cells(1, i).End(xlUp)
If cl <> "" Then
vData(1, i) = cl.Value
End If
Else
Exit For
End If
Next
For i = 1 To UBound(vData, 2)
result = result & vData(1, i) & delim_
Next
MyJoinLastInColIfEmpty = Left(result, Len(result) - Len(delim_))
End Function

Answer 2

I did not really try to understand the whole thing, but since tmp is an (range) object, you must use
Set tmp = ....

Answer 3

With help rows/columns this can be achieved with formulas:
-Placed in cell F1 array entered (Ctrl+Shift+Enter) then scrolled to however many cells you have:
{=INDEX(A$1:A1,MAX(IF(ISBLANK(A$1:A1),0,ROW(A$1:A1))))}
-Placed in cell K1, refers to first cell in F1, no need for array here.
=IF(ISBLANK(A1),IF(SUM(NOT(ISBLANK(INDEX($A1:A1,0)))+0)>0,"",F1),F1)
-Placed wherever you want the results. MCONCAT is a UDF function found in a free Add-in written in C++, CONCATENATE is Excel's built in formula.
=MConCat(K1:N1) or =CONCATENATE(K1,L1,M1,N1)
My personal preference would be the VBA way though. I'm sure someone smarter than me could come up with some better formulas.