Forum Discussion
Concatenating column B values if left adjacent cell is empty
- Jul 16, 2019
I revised the macro to allow up to 200 more rows of results in case of overflow, as well as up to 165 characters in next pass through the concatenation loop. When an overflow situation is detected, the server name will be repeated as often as needed to get all software names listed on additional rows.
Sub Sequelize() Dim rg As Range Dim delimiter As String, s As String Dim i As Long, k As Long, n As Long, nData As Long Dim vData As Variant, vResults As Variant delimiter = ", " Set rg = Range("A2").CurrentRegion Set rg = rg.Offset(1, 0).Resize(rg.Rows.Count - 1, rg.Columns.Count) n = rg.Rows.Count nData = Application.CountA(rg.Columns(1)) nData = nData + 200 'Allow for servers whose software list exceeds 32,767 characters vData = rg.Value ReDim vResults(1 To nData, 1 To 2) For i = 1 To n If vData(i, 1) <> "" Then k = k + 1 vResults(k, 1) = vData(i, 1) If s <> "" Then If i > 1 Then vResults(k - 1, 2) = Left$(s, 32767) End If s = IIf(vData(i, 2) = "", "", vData(i, 2)) Else If vData(i, 2) <> "" Then If s = "" Then s = vData(i, 2) Else s = s & delimiter & vData(i, 2) End If End If End If 'Overflow occurs if you put more than 32,767 characters in a cell. This block allows up to 165 characters (plus delimiter) in next pass through loop. If Len(s) > 32600 Then If (i < n) And (vData(i + 1, 1) = "") Then vResults(k, 2) = s vResults(k + 1, 1) = vResults(k, 1) s = "" k = k + 1 End If End If Next If s <> "" Then vResults(k, 2) = Left$(s, 32767) rg.ClearContents rg.Resize(nData, 2).Value = vResults End Sub
The macro assumes your data starts in row 2 and that header labels are in row 1. It further assumes that you have no blank lines in your data, and that there are only two columns of data.
Your question said that you wanted to start with two columns of data in columns A and B, then end up with two columns of compacted results in columns A and B. That's what the macro does.
The third from the last statement in the macro deletes the existing data (except header labels). The next to last statement puts the compacted results starting in cell A2. If you want them moved elsewhere, that statement is easily changed.
I made 6270 copies of your data, filling the sheet past row 260000 and ran the macro. It completed work in less than a second.
- Brad YundtAug 25, 2022MVP"Subscript out of range" errors are commonly caused by code that references a range or worksheet by a specific name--and that nam e doesn't exist in your actual workbook. For example, code is looking for Worksheets("Sheet1") and you have one named "Sheet 1" with a space.
It really isn't possible to debug further without seeing a workbook that reproduces the error. I would then use the debugger to see which statement generates the error and what it is looking for. - srikanth75Aug 24, 2022Copper ContributorGetting runtime error '9'.
Subscript out of range - JayNixonJul 16, 2019Copper Contributor
Yeah, unfortunately I am working with such a large amount of data here that it doesn't want to cooperate by making it easy and convenient to read. There are thousands of servers and the software includes everything from Google Chrome to .net framework updates to security updates for various tools. But what I have now is the easiest to search through I believe. I can query the inventory for a server and then it will just show me the column(s) of data associated with it. From there I can just Ctrl+F to search more specifically. Thanks for trying to help me with my issue. I appreciate it. I have much to learn!!
- SergeiBaklanJul 16, 2019MVP
I see, thank you for the explanation. Perhaps servers in columns will be more compact and searchable, but it all depends on your concrete data.
- JayNixonJul 16, 2019Copper Contributor
I am importing this into a sharepoint webpage through the excel app and if I kept all the applications in columns then some of the servers would have 100+ columns. I am positive there is a better way to accomplish my task but am a new intern and I lack the knowledge to do so. :/
- SergeiBaklanJul 16, 2019MVP
If not a secret, what's the reason keep list of server software in so long strings instead of columns cell?
- JayNixonJul 16, 2019Copper Contributor
You have done it! Thank you for your dedication to this issue of mine. This works perfectly. Brad_Yundt
- Brad_YundtJul 16, 2019MVP
I revised the macro to allow up to 200 more rows of results in case of overflow, as well as up to 165 characters in next pass through the concatenation loop. When an overflow situation is detected, the server name will be repeated as often as needed to get all software names listed on additional rows.
Sub Sequelize() Dim rg As Range Dim delimiter As String, s As String Dim i As Long, k As Long, n As Long, nData As Long Dim vData As Variant, vResults As Variant delimiter = ", " Set rg = Range("A2").CurrentRegion Set rg = rg.Offset(1, 0).Resize(rg.Rows.Count - 1, rg.Columns.Count) n = rg.Rows.Count nData = Application.CountA(rg.Columns(1)) nData = nData + 200 'Allow for servers whose software list exceeds 32,767 characters vData = rg.Value ReDim vResults(1 To nData, 1 To 2) For i = 1 To n If vData(i, 1) <> "" Then k = k + 1 vResults(k, 1) = vData(i, 1) If s <> "" Then If i > 1 Then vResults(k - 1, 2) = Left$(s, 32767) End If s = IIf(vData(i, 2) = "", "", vData(i, 2)) Else If vData(i, 2) <> "" Then If s = "" Then s = vData(i, 2) Else s = s & delimiter & vData(i, 2) End If End If End If 'Overflow occurs if you put more than 32,767 characters in a cell. This block allows up to 165 characters (plus delimiter) in next pass through loop. If Len(s) > 32600 Then If (i < n) And (vData(i + 1, 1) = "") Then vResults(k, 2) = s vResults(k + 1, 1) = vResults(k, 1) s = "" k = k + 1 End If End If Next If s <> "" Then vResults(k, 2) = Left$(s, 32767) rg.ClearContents rg.Resize(nData, 2).Value = vResults End Sub
- JayNixonJul 16, 2019Copper Contributor
It sounds like it will work. I will be able to try it in a couple hours or so and will report back.
As far as the overflow, additional rows are acceptable.Brad_Yundt
- Brad_YundtJul 16, 2019MVP
Thanks for sending me the file. I can reproduce the problem with my Excel 2016/Office 365 64-bit.
Excel cells can hold a maximum of 32,767 characters. Your problem server has 86,510 characters worth of software. I am guessing an overflow occurs that results in the loss of your data.
To test this hypothesis, I modified the code to truncate the software list to the first 32,767 characters. Now the macro seems to work.
Sub Sequelize() Dim rg As Range Dim delimiter As String, s As String Dim i As Long, k As Long, n As Long, nData As Long Dim vData As Variant, vResults As Variant delimiter = ", " Set rg = Range("A2").CurrentRegion Set rg = rg.Offset(1, 0).Resize(rg.Rows.Count - 1, rg.Columns.Count) n = rg.Rows.Count nData = Application.CountA(rg.Columns(1)) vData = rg.Value ReDim vResults(1 To nData, 1 To 2) For i = 1 To n If vData(i, 1) <> "" Then k = k + 1 vResults(k, 1) = vData(i, 1) If s <> "" Then If i > 1 Then vResults(k - 1, 2) = Left$(s, 32767) End If s = IIf(vData(i, 2) = "", "", vData(i, 2)) Else If vData(i, 2) <> "" Then If s = "" Then s = vData(i, 2) Else s = s & delimiter & vData(i, 2) End If End If End If Next If s <> "" Then vResults(k, 2) = Left$(s, 32767) rg.ClearContents rg.Resize(nData, 2).Value = vResults End Sub
Please try running the revised macro on your full dataset. If it works, we can then shift discussion to how best to handle the text in the overflow. Perhaps additional columns or rows?