asked on

Is there a way to only code to format once and have that apply to many cells?

I have some code that moves data from an access database to an excel spreadsheet. Right now I am moving the data and then going back to each cell based on their content and formatting them. It works, but it is really bulky and I am thinking that there must be a better way to do this.
This is the code that loops through the data in access and puts it into the spreadsheet:

Do Until rs.EOF

    If rs!to = TheTO Then
        If rs!STO = TheSTOname Then
            If TheStaffName = rs!TeamName Then
                If theActDesc = rs!ActDesc Then
                    rs.MoveNext
                Else
                    theRow = theRow + 1
                    oSheet.Cells(theRow, 3).Value = rs!ActDesc
                    rs.MoveNext
                End If
            Else
                'theRow = theRow + 1
                oSheet.Cells(theRow, 2).Value = rs!TeamName
                TheStaffName = rs!TeamName
                
                rs.MoveNext
            End If
        Else
            theRow = theRow + 1
            oSheet.Cells(theRow, 1).Value = rs!STO
            TheSTOname = rs!STO
            TheStaffName = ""
            
            rs.MoveNext
        End If
    Else
        theRow = theRow + 1
        oSheet.Cells(theRow, 1).Value = rs!to
        TheTO = rs!to
        rs.MoveNext
    End If
skip:
Loop

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I need all of the cells that were populated with TheTO to be formatted a particular way. Right now I have code that looks for the specific words in the cells and formats those cells. Here is an example:

With oSheet.Range("A1:" & Chr(iNumCols + 64) & rs.RecordCount + 1)
For Each C In oSheet.Range("A1:" & Chr(iNumCols + 64) & rs.RecordCount + 1).Cells
   If C.Value = "Thing number 1 it looks for" Then
    With C
        .Font.Name = "Arial"
        .Font.Bold = True
        .Font.Size = 12
        .Interior.ColorIndex = 15
        .Borders(xlEdgeTop).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeTop).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeTop).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlEdgeBottom).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeBottom).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeBottom).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlEdgeRight).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeRight).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeRight).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlEdgeLeft).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeLeft).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeLeft).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlInsideVertical).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlInsideVertical).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlInsideVertical).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlInsideHorizontal).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlInsideHorizontal).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlInsideHorizontal).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
            


     End With
    End If
Next C

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The problem is that, if I continue to find all of these cells individually based on their content, I will have to repeat it about 40 times.

I am willing to do that, but it seems like this is excessive. I would love to just tell it to format every cell that was populated with TheTO.

Is there a way to do this?

PatHartman

call the format procedure from the initial loop where you populate a cell. Pass in the cell reference so it is not hard-coded in the format procedure.

Phillip Burton

You could use a style. They are underused in Excel, but might work in this case"

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ASKER

Unfortunately, it all has to be done from Access and all has to be coded.

PatHartman: I am not sure if this is what you meant at all.

What have done now is set up a public procedure called "FormatTO"

It is this:

Public Sub FormatTO()
Dim C As Object
 With C
        .Font.Name = "Arial"
        .Font.Bold = True
        .Font.Size = 12
        .Interior.ColorIndex = 15
        .Borders(xlEdgeTop).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeTop).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeTop).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlEdgeBottom).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeBottom).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeBottom).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlEdgeRight).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeRight).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeRight).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlEdgeLeft).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlEdgeLeft).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlEdgeLeft).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlInsideVertical).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlInsideVertical).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlInsideVertical).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
        .Borders(xlInsideHorizontal).LineStyle = xlContinuous
        .Borders(xlInsideHorizontal).Weight = xlThin
        .Borders(xlInsideHorizontal).ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
     End With
     
    End Sub

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Then I added the name of that procedure here:

    Else
        theRow = theRow + 1
        oSheet.Cells(theRow, 1).Value = rs!to
        TheTO = rs!to
        FormatTO
        rs.MoveNext
    End If
skip:
Loop

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This isn't working at all. In fact, it stops everything so that the data doesn't transfer completely.

Please forgive my being so dense. I am still really new to vba.

PatHartman

I don't do Excel or I would show you how to do it. When you call FormatTo, you need to tell it what cell it is supposed to format so you need to add an argument that is a cell reference.

Call FormatTo(somecellreference)

Also,

Public Sub FormatTO(somecellreference)
in the code, format somecellreference

Norie

Have you considered using Excel's conditional formatting?

That can be used to format based on criteria, and it can be applied through code.

Helen Feddema

Your FormatTO procedure needs a Cell or Range argument -- then you can call it, giving it a cell or range to work with. That may be all you need.

Megin

ASKER

Imnorie: How would that work?

Megin

ASKER

Helen: The thing is that the cell will probably change every time the report is run. I need the cell to be formatted based either on the text in the cell, which would require I code the formatting about 40 different times, or attached to the loop that adds the data to the document (every cell that is populated with TheTO).

At least, those are what I think are my options.

PatHartman

If you will refer back to my first response, that is exactly what I told you to do. then in 40344725 I gave you pseudo code. If the formatting is different for each cell, they you will need 40 different procedures. If you can tell from the cell contents what the format should be, then you can determine it in the formatting procedure. If you have a general format such as for dates, numbers, text, then in the calling routine where you know what you are putting into the cell, you can pass an additional argument to the format routine.

Helen Feddema

Perhaps you could create a procedure with a Select Case statement to apply the appropriate formatting depending on the contents of the cell.

Megin

ASKER

I am sorry I am not catching on to any of this. I am not sure how to do what you all have suggested.
I would like my code to format those cells populated with TheTO. TheTO is going to be different every time. So I would like the code to format the cell when it puts that information in. I think that what I need is something to go in here:

            theRow = theRow + 1
            oSheet.Cells(theRow, 1).Value = rs!STO
            TheSTOname = rs!STO
            TheStaffName = ""
            
            rs.MoveNext

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That is where it will add TheTO data to a cell. If it can just format the cell every time TheTO is added to it, I think that would fix everything. But when I try to add that, it stops the code or errors.

Again, I apologize for not understanding how to the other things.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Megin

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Norie

That code looks fine to me, and I don't think you have any reason to apologise to anyone.

Megin

ASKER

I am choosing my answer because I got this solved outside of EE.