How to get the range of the visible rows after applying an advanced filter in Excel (VBA)

Question

Here is the code that applies an advanced filter to the column A on the Sheet1 worksheet (List range) by using the range of values on the Sheet2 (criteria range):

Range("A1:A100").AdvancedFilter Action:=xlFilterInPlace, CriteriaRange:= _
        Sheets("Sheet2").Range("A1:A10"), Unique:=False

After running this code, I need to do something with the rows that are currently visible on the screen.

Currently I use a code like this:

For i = 1 to maxRow
   If Not ActiveSheet.Row(i).Hidden then
     ...do something that I need to do with that rows
   EndIf
Next

Is there any simple property that can give me a range of rows visible after applying an advanced filter?

Answer 1

ActiveSheet.Range("A1:A100").Rows.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeVisible)

This yields a Range object.

Answer 2

Lance's solution will work in the majority of situations.

But if you deal with large/complex spreadsheets you might run into the "SpecialCells Problem". In a nutshell, if the range created causes greater than 8192 non-contiguous areas (and it can happen) then Excel will throw an error when you attempt to access SpecialCells and your code won't run. If your worksheets are complex enough you expect to encounter this problem, then it is recommended you stick with the looping approach.

It's worth noting that this problem is not with the SpecialCells property itself, rather it is with the Range object. This means that anytime that you attempt to obtain a range object that could be very complex you should either employee an error handler, or do as you already have done, which is to cause your program to work on each element of the range (split the range up).

Another possible approach would be to return an array of Range Objects and then loop through the array. I have posted some example code to play around with. However it should be noted that you really should only bother with this if you expect to have the problem described or you just want to feel assured your code is robust. Otherwise it's just needless complexity.

Option Explicit

Public Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32" () As Long

Public Sub GenerateProblem()
    'Run this to set up an example spreadsheet:
    Dim row As Long
    Excel.Application.EnableEvents = False
    Sheet1.AutoFilterMode = False
    Sheet1.UsedRange.Delete
    For row = 1 To (8192& * 4&) + 1&
        If row Mod 3& Then If Int(10& * Rnd)  7& Then Sheet1.Cells(row, 1&).value = "test"
    Next
    Sheet1.UsedRange.AutoFilter 1&, ""
    Excel.Application.EnableEvents = True
    MsgBox Sheet1.UsedRange.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeVisible).address
End Sub

Public Sub FixProblem()
    'Run this to see various solutions:
    Dim ranges() As Excel.Range
    Dim index As Long
    Dim address As String
    Dim startTime As Long
    Dim endTime As Long
    'Get range array.
    ranges = GetVisibleRows
    'Do something with individual range objects.
    For index = LBound(ranges) To UBound(ranges)
        ranges(index).Interior.ColorIndex = Int(56 * Rnd + 1)
    Next

    'Get total address if you want it:
    startTime = GetTickCount
    address = RangeArrayAddress(ranges)
    endTime = GetTickCount
    Debug.Print endTime - startTime, ; 'Outputs time elapsed in milliseconds.

    'Small demo of why I used a string builder. Straight concatenation is about
    '10 times slower:
    startTime = GetTickCount
    address = RangeArrayAddress2(ranges)
    endTime = GetTickCount
    Debug.Print endTime - startTime
End Sub

Public Function GetVisibleRows(Optional ByVal ws As Excel.Worksheet) As Excel.Range()
    Const increment As Long = 1000&
    Dim max As Long
    Dim row As Long
    Dim returnVal() As Excel.Range
    Dim startRow As Long
    Dim index As Long
    If ws Is Nothing Then Set ws = Excel.ActiveSheet
    max = increment
    ReDim returnVal(max) As Excel.Range
    For row = ws.UsedRange.row To ws.UsedRange.Rows.Count
        If Sheet1.Rows(row).Hidden Then
            If startRow  0& Then
                Set returnVal(index) = ws.Rows(startRow & ":" & (row - 1&))
                index = index + 1&
                If index > max Then
                    'Redimming in large increments is an optimization trick.
                    max = max + increment
                    ReDim Preserve returnVal(max) As Excel.Range
                End If
                startRow = 0&
            End If
        ElseIf startRow = 0& Then startRow = row
        End If
    Next
    ReDim Preserve returnVal(index - 1&) As Excel.Range
    GetVisibleRows = returnVal
End Function

Public Function RangeArrayAddress(ByRef value() As Excel.Range, Optional lowerindexRV As Variant, Optional upperindexRV As Variant) As String
    'Parameters left as variants to allow for "IsMissing" values.
    'Code uses bytearray string building methods to run faster.
    Const incrementChars As Long = 1000&
    Const unicodeWidth As Long = 2&
    Const comma As Long = 44&
    Dim increment As Long
    Dim max As Long
    Dim index As Long
    Dim returnVal() As Byte
    Dim address() As Byte
    Dim indexRV As Long
    Dim char As Long
    increment = incrementChars * unicodeWidth 'Double for unicode.
    max = increment - 1& 'Offset for array.
    ReDim returnVal(max) As Byte
    If IsMissing(lowerindexRV) Then lowerindexRV = LBound(value)
    If IsMissing(upperindexRV) Then upperindexRV = UBound(value)
    For index = lowerindexRV To upperindexRV
        address = value(index).address
        For char = 0& To UBound(address) Step unicodeWidth
            returnVal(indexRV) = address(char)
            indexRV = indexRV + unicodeWidth
            If indexRV > max Then
                max = max + increment
                ReDim Preserve returnVal(max) As Byte
            End If
        Next
        returnVal(indexRV) = comma
        indexRV = indexRV + unicodeWidth
        If indexRV > max Then
            max = max + increment
            ReDim Preserve returnVal(max) As Byte
        End If
    Next
    ReDim Preserve returnVal(indexRV - 1&) As Byte
    RangeArrayAddress = returnVal
End Function

Public Function RangeArrayAddress2(ByRef value() As Excel.Range, Optional lowerIndex As Variant, Optional upperIndex As Variant) As String
    'Parameters left as variants to allow for "IsMissing" values.
    'Code uses bytearray string building methods to run faster.
    Const incrementChars As Long = 1000&
    Const unicodeWidth As Long = 2&
    Dim increment As Long
    Dim max As Long
    Dim returnVal As String
    Dim index As Long
    increment = incrementChars * unicodeWidth 'Double for unicode.
    max = increment - 1& 'Offset for array.
    If IsMissing(lowerIndex) Then lowerIndex = LBound(value)
    If IsMissing(upperIndex) Then upperIndex = UBound(value)
    For index = lowerIndex To upperIndex
        returnVal = returnVal & (value(index).address & ",")
    Next
    RangeArrayAddress2 = returnVal
End Function