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vbaexcel
David
David

Reputation: 6162

What is the TYPE of an Excel R1C1 reference?

I have created some VBA functions to use with an Excel spreadsheet. Right now, the parameters to the functions have type String so I have to pass my column reference as a string.

However, I much prefer the R1C1 notation (been using that since Multiplan) but I can't figure out how to pass a column reference to a VBA function with that notation. In other words, I want to define a function so I can call it in the following way

=foo(C[-2])

so I'm looking for right type for the following function

function foo(ColRef as WhatTypeGoesHere) ...

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1151

Answers (2)

AMissico
AMissico

Reputation: 21684

In your case, use a Range.

You can specify any data type and Excel will implicitly convert as needed. It really depends on what the function does. For instance, if the function works with a group of cells or single cell, then use Range, if the function strips out characters, use a String.

Upvotes: 1

Siddharth Rout
Siddharth Rout

Reputation: 149305

This will explain which one to use :)

Dim ws As Worksheet

Sub Sample()
    Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1")

    Debug.Print foo1("B")         '<~~ Col Name
    Debug.Print foo2(Range("B1")) '<~~ Range
    Debug.Print foo3(2)           '<~~ Col Number
    Debug.Print foo4("R1C2")      '<~~ RC Notation
End Sub

Function foo1(ColRef As String) As Long
    foo1 = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, ColRef).End(xlUp).Row
End Function

Function foo2(ColRef As Range) As Long
    foo2 = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, ColRef.Column).End(xlUp).Row
End Function

Function foo3(ColRef As Integer) As Long
    foo3 = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, ColRef).End(xlUp).Row
End Function

Function foo4(ColRef As String) As Long
    Dim MYAr
    MYAr = Split(ColRef, "C", , vbTextCompare)
    foo4 = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, Val(MYAr(UBound(MYAr)))).End(xlUp).Row
End Function

Screenshot

enter image description here

EDIT:

What is to be noted is that "C[-2]" is not Column B it is an offset from the current cell. Here is another example which can handle different RC notations. Note, I am not doing any error handling but I am sure you can handle that. The objective of this code is to show how to find the last row using RC notation

Dim ws As Worksheet

Sub Sample()
    Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1")
    Debug.Print foo4("C[-2]")      
    Debug.Print foo4("RC[-2]")
    Debug.Print foo4("R[-1]C[-2]")
End Sub

Function foo4(ColRef As String) As Long
    Dim MYAr, sTmp As String
    Dim colNo As Integer
    Dim rng As Range

    '~~> I am assuming that you will pass a `C`. If not then
    '~~> Add an error handling here
    MYAr = Split(ColRef, "C", , vbTextCompare)

    If InStr(1, MYAr(UBound(MYAr)), "[") Then
        tmpAr = Split(MYAr(UBound(MYAr)), "[")(1)
        tmpAr = Split(tmpAr, "]")(0)
        colNo = Val(Trim(tmpAr))
    Else
        colNo = MYAr(UBound(MYAr))
    End If

    Set rng = ActiveCell.Offset(, colNo)

    foo4 = ws.Cells(ws.Rows.Count, rng.Column).End(xlUp).Row
End Function

Upvotes: 3

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