Question

VBA module to find max characters for each row by column in Excel sheet

Asked by: b0lsc0tt

I am really asking this for feedback but do have a question or two that I will try to include. I had a CSV file that I imported into Excel to be able to read and review. The data will actually be going to a MYSQL DB but that probably doesn't matter. There are about 15 "fields" or columns (if you think about it as Excel shows it) and 170K records or rows.

To get ready to work with the data in the DB I wanted an idea of how many characters were in each field. Specifically I wanted to know the max length I would need for a DB field. Excel spaced the columns nicely but I wasn't sure how to find out how many characters each column needed or required. So I used the VB Editor and made a little routine. The code is below (see snippet). It actually appears to work so I am feeling pretty proud (VBA is something I don't like to use at all and find very frustrating to work in even though I like VB, or at least vbscript).

My main question is do you see any problems or a way to do it better? Specifically how I reference the cells, columns, rows and "range"? I think the logic is about as good as can be but working with the "object" of a sheet and all of its elements, properties, etc is where I just lack expertise (and MS' Help seems especially hard to use as reference).

I had to use "CurrentRegion" to get the part of the sheet that was used (i.e. ignore the blank or unused columns to the right and rows below) but I didn't think I had to use it before. I have only made couple but thought there was an easier way to select just the used cells and was frustrated until I found the CurrentRegion property(?). Is there another that is often used or is the only other option specifically using cell references to set the range?

The only "bug" that I found when running it was the max character amount was place on the second row down, not the very lowest row. Any idea why looking at my For loop and the line below?

Finally why couldn't I use For Each to loop through the Rows or Columns "collection"? Specifically the columns since I changed the For Each loop for the rows because I wanted a "counter." I was getting errors though and didn't understand why but they left when I changed to a "For i = 1" loop.

BTW, was I correct to start the loop at 1? I couldn't find that for sure but thought the count of columns/rows started at 1. Just was hoping to verify that.

Thanks! Let me know if there is a question about this or you need any more info.

bol

Attribute VB_Name = "Module1"
Sub getMaxLen()
    Dim col, i, line
    Dim myRange As Range
    Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate
    Set myRange = ActiveCell.CurrentRegion
    'MsgBox (myRange.Rows.Count & " - " & myRange.Columns.Count)
    'Exit Sub
    For col = 1 To myRange.Columns.Count
        If col > 16 Then Exit Sub
        'MsgBox (Cells(1, col).Value)
        'If Cells(1, col).Value = "" Then Exit Sub
        i = 0
        For line = 1 To myRange.Rows.Count
            If Len(Cells(line, col).Value) > i Then i = Len(Cells(line, col).Value)
        Next
        Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells((line + 1), col).Value = i
    Next
End Sub

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Asked On: 2009-10-08 at 16:07:44ID24797925
Tags: VBA
,; VB
,; Excel
,; VB for Applications
,; module
,; sub
Topics: Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software
,; Visual Basic Programming
,; VB Script
Participating Experts: 2
Points: 500
Comments: 10

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Answers

by: zorvekPosted on 2009-10-08 at 16:15:57ID: 25531201

Pretty good start. A few tweaks. I declare every variable on a separate line so I know what each is. You want to avoid Variant declarations (the default) whenever possible as they are inefficient. And you want to avoid selecting objects like sheets.

Sub getMaxLen()
Dim col As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim line As Long
Dim myRange As Range
With Worksheets("Sheet1")
Set myRange = .[A1].CurrentRegion
'MsgBox (myRange.Rows.Count & " - " & myRange.Columns.Count)
'Exit Sub
For col = 1 To myRange.Columns.Count
'MsgBox (Cells(1, col).Value)
'If Cells(1, col).Value = "" Then Exit Sub
i = 0
For line = 1 To myRange.Rows.Count
If Len(Cells(line, col).Value) > i Then i = Len(Cells(line, col).Value)
Next
.Cells((line + 1), col).Value = i
Next
End With
End Sub

Kevin

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-10-08 at 16:30:19ID: 25531289

Thanks!

>> You want to avoid Variant declarations (the default) whenever possible as they are inefficient. <<
I tried doing that but just added "As Long" to the first Dim line. E.g.

Dim col, i, line As Long

It seemed I removed it because I was getting some error. Is the syntax wrong to do them at once like I was trying or is it something else? Or should that have worked?

>> And you want to avoid selecting objects like sheets. <<

Are you refering to the line below when you say selecting an object?

Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate

I just wanted to clarify because I wasn't really sure what you meant there, although it makes sense. Or was it not using With as you did to work with the worksheet?

Thanks! Let me look closer and try the changes? Any thoughts about the "side" questions? If I got carried away I can open a new question for them if I need an answer. I was just thinking they may be on topic and a quick answer so I included them.

bol

by: leonstrykerPosted on 2009-10-08 at 19:56:29ID: 25532060

>Dim col, i, line As Long

This make the last variable as Long while the others are still Variant data types. It is also a good idea to standardize variable declaration:

Dim intCol As Integer
Dim lngLine As Long

>Or should that have worked?

If you were getting an error, it meant you where using that variable in a bad way. Hard to say exactly without seeing the error itself.

>Are you refering to the line below when you say selecting an object?

Yes he is.

I would also avoid using single line If statements as they become very easy to misread if there are multiple decisions to be made.

by: zorvekPosted on 2009-10-08 at 20:55:20ID: 25532208

Don't use Integer. It is still legal syntax but is stored as a long anyway. Extra code is generated to check for overflows.

Always define each variable separately. Good programming practice. Also note that the VB runtime initializes all variables to zero, false, or an empty string.

Don't select anything in the Excel object model: workbooks, worksheets, cells, etc. You can (almost) always refer to them through the Excel object model and you should never have to use "active" object references unless you are interacting with the user. There are two reasons for this: it slows your code down and it changes the user's selection.

Single line If statements are common and I use them frequently but only when there is one conditional statement and no Else clause. I find that single line If statements make the code a little easier to read.

You can use UsedRange instead of CurrentRegion but UsedRange will return the smallest rectangle encompassing all of the used cells on the worksheet. CurrentRegion is a good way to find the range of used cells given one cell in that range, assuming, of course, that there are no other regions touching the one you want.

All row and column indices start at 1.

Here is a more tight version of your macro:

Sub GetMaxLen()

Dim Column As Range
Dim Cell As Range
Dim SummaryRow As Range
Dim MaxLength As Long

With Worksheets("Sheet1")
Set SummaryRow = .UsedRange.Rows(.UsedRange.Rows.Count + 1)
For Each Column In .UsedRange.Columns
MaxLength = 0
For Each Cell In Column.Cells
If Len(Cell.Text) > MaxLength Then MaxLength = Len(Cell.Text)
Next Cell
Intersect(Column.EntireColumn, SummaryRow) = MaxLength
Next Column
End With

End Sub

Kevin

by: leonstrykerPosted on 2009-10-09 at 06:18:32ID: 25534623

>I find that single line If statements make the code a little easier to read.

I find them much harder to read especially if you have nested If statements, and it was considered bad coding practice in several companies I worked for. IIf functions in code were also considered a 'no no', mainly because both portions are evaluated in any case and in certain situations this would through an error.

Leon

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-10-09 at 13:54:02ID: 25538799

I need to work on a complete response but am very pleased with the replies. Thanks especially Kevin!

leonstryker,
I appreciate your comment about the If statement. I completely agree with cases where Else is used and other complicated cases. I also understand company practices may prohibit it but I was using it and thinking like Kevin described. For a situation where it is If with the one condition and one line to be used. Basically it saves me two lines and the unneeded End If. Point taken though and I appreciate the feedback.

All,
I hadn't realized but there were some issues with what I was doing. I started to see what you both meant when I ran the Sub with my cursor in a cell all the way at the bottom of the data (actually 2 rows below). The Sub only looked at the first line it seemed and total just that row. Using [A1] and the other changes seemed to make the difference. Thanks!

Interesting about UsedRange and thanks for that other code. I couldn't understand how Intersect worked. Is it the method that can also be used after an "expression" (according to the Help)? Is it basically just finding the cell in the SummaryRow?

The newer version seemed to take about 3 times as long in the sheet. Any ideas why? I made the changes and never got an error adding the declarations so I must've messed something else up when I tried to do them before. The code works great with either version and I appreciate the corrections. I will review this closer but I think everything has been answered very well. Just curious about the difference in running time, especially since the slower is the most compact code (the last code posted) and the difference is noticeable.

Thanks! I will have time in a few hours to look at this again.

bol

by: zorvekPosted on 2009-10-09 at 14:36:50ID: 25539092

Intersect returns the intersection of two ranges.

Not sure why the second version is slower. See if this is faster:

Sub GetMaxLen()

Dim Column As Range
Dim Cell As Range
Dim SummaryRow As Range
Dim MaxLength As Long

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
With Worksheets("Sheet1")
Set SummaryRow = .UsedRange.Rows(.UsedRange.Rows.Count + 1)
For Each Column In .UsedRange.Columns
MaxLength = 0
For Each Cell In Column.Cells
If Len(Cell.Text) > MaxLength Then MaxLength = Len(Cell.Text)
Next Cell
Intersect(Column.EntireColumn, SummaryRow) = MaxLength
Next Column
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Sub

Kevin

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-10-12 at 19:00:15ID: 25556464

It did not seem to make a difference to add the lines for ScreenUpdating. If there was one it was minor.

I did find out something interesting though. There did seem to be a difference when I changed my old routine (with your modifications) to use .Text instead of .Value. Just the line for the If but it noticeably slowed it down.

Does that make sense? How would you explain the difference between the 2 properties? I did notice the totals were different in 3 columns depending on what I used. I am not sure but it seemed .Text was more accurate.

I do have my answer though so I can finalize this if it has reached that point. I am very please with what I have and not sure I care to investigate this much more. If any are interested then I won't mind but I also will be very please if this is closed now.

If there is a question with what I have said then let me know. Thanks for everything!

bol

by: zorvekPosted on 2009-10-12 at 21:27:11ID: 25556954

The Text property returns a string containing the formatted value. The Value property returns the cell value in it's internal form. So it makes sense that the Text property consumes more time than the Value property.

Kevin

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-10-13 at 11:43:58ID: 31639053

Thanks for the great help and info!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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VBA module to find max characters for each row by column in Excel sheet

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