VBA Excel 2-Dimensional Arrays

Question

I was trying to find out how to declare a 2-Dimensional array but all of the examples I have found so far are declared with set integers. I'm trying to create a program that will utilize two 2-Dimensional arrays and then perform simple operations on those arrays (such as finding difference or percent). The arrays are populated by numbers in Excel sheets (one set of numbers is on Sheet1 and another set is on Sheet2, both sets have the same number of rows and columns).

Since I don't know how many rows or columns there are I was going to use variables.

Dim s1excel As Worksheet
Dim s2excel As Worksheet
Dim s3excel As Worksheet
Dim firstSheetName As String
Dim secondSheetName As String
Dim totalRow As Integer
Dim totalCol As Integer
Dim iRow As Integer
Dim iCol As Integer

Set s1excel = ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet

' Open the "Raw_Data" workbook
Set wbs = Workbooks.Open(file_path & data_title)
wbs.Activate
ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(firstSheetName).Select
Set s2excel = wbs.ActiveSheet

' Find totalRow, totalColumn (assumes there's values in Column A and Row 1 with no blanks)
totalRow = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").End(xlDown).Row
totalCol = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").End(xlToRight).Column

Dim s2Array(totalRow, totalCol)
Dim s3Array(totalRow, totalCol)

For iRow = 1 To totalRow
    For iCol = 1 To totalCol
        s2Array(iRow, iCol) = Cells(iRow, iCol)
    Next iCol
Next iRow

ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(secondSheetName).Select
Set s3excel = wbs.ActiveSheet

For iRow = 1 To totalRow
    For iCol = 1 To totalCol
        s3Array(iRow, iCol) = Cells(iRow, iCol)
    Next iCol
Next iRow

When I attempt to run this I get a compile-time error at the Dim s2Array(totalRow, totalCol) saying that a constant expression is required. The same error occurs if I change it to Dim s2Array(1 To totalRow, 1 To totalCol). Since I don't know what the dimensions are from the get go I can't declare it like Dim s2Array(1, 1) because then I'll get an out-of-bounds exception.

Thank you,

Jesse Smothermon

Answer 1

In fact I would not use any REDIM, nor a loop for transferring data from sheet to array:

dim arOne()
arOne = range("A2:F1000")

or even

arOne = range("A2").CurrentRegion

and that's it, your array is filled much faster then with a loop, no redim.

Answer 2

Here's A generic VBA Array To Range function that writes an array to the sheet in a single 'hit' to the sheet. This is much faster than writing the data into the sheet one cell at a time in loops for the rows and columns... However, there's some housekeeping to do, as you must specify the size of the target range correctly.

This 'housekeeping' looks like a lot of work and it's probably rather slow: but this is 'last mile' code to write to the sheet, and everything is faster than writing to the worksheet. Or at least, so much faster that it's effectively instantaneous, compared with a read or write to the worksheet, even in VBA, and you should do everything you possibly can in code before you hit the sheet.

A major component of this is error-trapping that I used to see turning up everywhere . I hate repetitive coding: I've coded it all here, and - hopefully - you'll never have to write it again.

A VBA 'Array to Range' function

Public Sub ArrayToRange(rngTarget As Excel.Range, InputArray As Variant)
' Write an array to an Excel range in a single 'hit' to the sheet
' InputArray must be a 2-Dimensional structure of the form Variant(Rows, Columns)

' The target range is resized automatically to the dimensions of the array, with
' the top left cell used as the start point.

' This subroutine saves repetitive coding for a common VBA and Excel task.

' If you think you won't need the code that works around common errors (long strings
' and objects in the array, etc) then feel free to comment them out.

On Error Resume Next

'
' Author: Nigel Heffernan
' HTTP://Excellerando.blogspot.com
'
' This code is in te public domain: take care to mark it clearly, and segregate
' it from proprietary code if you intend to assert intellectual property rights
' or impose commercial confidentiality restrictions on that proprietary code

Dim rngOutput As Excel.Range

Dim iRowCount   As Long
Dim iColCount   As Long
Dim iRow        As Long
Dim iCol        As Long
Dim arrTemp     As Variant
Dim iDimensions As Integer

Dim iRowOffset  As Long
Dim iColOffset  As Long
Dim iStart      As Long


Application.EnableEvents = False
If rngTarget.Cells.Count > 1 Then
    rngTarget.ClearContents
End If
Application.EnableEvents = True

If IsEmpty(InputArray) Then
    Exit Sub
End If


If TypeName(InputArray) = "Range" Then
    InputArray = InputArray.Value
End If

' Is it actually an array? IsArray is sadly broken so...
If Not InStr(TypeName(InputArray), "(") Then
    rngTarget.Cells(1, 1).Value2 = InputArray
    Exit Sub
End If


iDimensions = ArrayDimensions(InputArray)

If iDimensions < 1 Then

    rngTarget.Value = CStr(InputArray)

ElseIf iDimensions = 1 Then

    iRowCount = UBound(InputArray) - LBound(InputArray)
    iStart = LBound(InputArray)
    iColCount = 1

    If iRowCount > (655354 - rngTarget.Row) Then
        iRowCount = 655354 + iStart - rngTarget.Row
        ReDim Preserve InputArray(iStart To iRowCount)
    End If

    iRowCount = UBound(InputArray) - LBound(InputArray)
    iColCount = 1

    ' It's a vector. Yes, I asked for a 2-Dimensional array. But I'm feeling generous.
    ' By convention, a vector is presented in Excel as an arry of 1 to n rows and 1 column.
    ReDim arrTemp(LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1), 1 To 1)
    For iRow = LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1)
        arrTemp(iRow, 1) = InputArray(iRow)
    Next

    With rngTarget.Worksheet
        Set rngOutput = .Range(rngTarget.Cells(1, 1), rngTarget.Cells(iRowCount + 1, iColCount))
        rngOutput.Value2 = arrTemp
        Set rngTarget = rngOutput
    End With

    Erase arrTemp

ElseIf iDimensions = 2 Then

    iRowCount = UBound(InputArray, 1) - LBound(InputArray, 1)
    iColCount = UBound(InputArray, 2) - LBound(InputArray, 2)

    iStart = LBound(InputArray, 1)

    If iRowCount > (65534 - rngTarget.Row) Then
        iRowCount = 65534 - rngTarget.Row
        InputArray = ArrayTranspose(InputArray)
        ReDim Preserve InputArray(LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1), iStart To iRowCount)
        InputArray = ArrayTranspose(InputArray)
    End If


    iStart = LBound(InputArray, 2)
    If iColCount > (254 - rngTarget.Column) Then
        ReDim Preserve InputArray(LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1), iStart To iColCount)
    End If



    With rngTarget.Worksheet

        Set rngOutput = .Range(rngTarget.Cells(1, 1), rngTarget.Cells(iRowCount + 1, iColCount + 1))

        Err.Clear
        Application.EnableEvents = False
        rngOutput.Value2 = InputArray
        Application.EnableEvents = True

        If Err.Number <> 0 Then
            For iRow = LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1)
                For iCol = LBound(InputArray, 2) To UBound(InputArray, 2)
                    If IsNumeric(InputArray(iRow, iCol)) Then
                        ' no action
                    Else
                        InputArray(iRow, iCol) = "" & InputArray(iRow, iCol)
                        InputArray(iRow, iCol) = Trim(InputArray(iRow, iCol))
                    End If
                Next iCol
            Next iRow
            Err.Clear
            rngOutput.Formula = InputArray
        End If 'err<>0

        If Err <> 0 Then
            For iRow = LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1)
                For iCol = LBound(InputArray, 2) To UBound(InputArray, 2)
                    If IsNumeric(InputArray(iRow, iCol)) Then
                        ' no action
                    Else
                        If Left(InputArray(iRow, iCol), 1) = "=" Then
                            InputArray(iRow, iCol) = "'" & InputArray(iRow, iCol)
                        End If
                        If Left(InputArray(iRow, iCol), 1) = "+" Then
                            InputArray(iRow, iCol) = "'" & InputArray(iRow, iCol)
                        End If
                        If Left(InputArray(iRow, iCol), 1) = "*" Then
                            InputArray(iRow, iCol) = "'" & InputArray(iRow, iCol)
                        End If
                    End If
                Next iCol
            Next iRow
            Err.Clear
            rngOutput.Value2 = InputArray
        End If 'err<>0

        If Err <> 0 Then
            For iRow = LBound(InputArray, 1) To UBound(InputArray, 1)
                For iCol = LBound(InputArray, 2) To UBound(InputArray, 2)

                    If IsObject(InputArray(iRow, iCol)) Then
                        InputArray(iRow, iCol) = "[OBJECT] " & TypeName(InputArray(iRow, iCol))
                    ElseIf IsArray(InputArray(iRow, iCol)) Then
                        InputArray(iRow, iCol) = Split(InputArray(iRow, iCol), ",")
                    ElseIf IsNumeric(InputArray(iRow, iCol)) Then
                        ' no action
                    Else
                        InputArray(iRow, iCol) = "" & InputArray(iRow, iCol)
                        If Len(InputArray(iRow, iCol)) > 255 Then
                            ' Block-write operations fail on strings exceeding 255 chars. You *have*
                            ' to go back and check, and write this masterpiece one cell at a time...
                            InputArray(iRow, iCol) = Left(Trim(InputArray(iRow, iCol)), 255)
                        End If
                    End If
                Next iCol
            Next iRow
            Err.Clear
            rngOutput.Text = InputArray
        End If 'err<>0

        If Err <> 0 Then
            Application.ScreenUpdating = False
            Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
            iRowOffset = LBound(InputArray, 1) - 1
            iColOffset = LBound(InputArray, 2) - 1
            For iRow = 1 To iRowCount
                If iRow Mod 100 = 0 Then
                    Application.StatusBar = "Filling range... " & CInt(100# * iRow / iRowCount) & "%"
                End If
                For iCol = 1 To iColCount
                    rngOutput.Cells(iRow, iCol) = InputArray(iRow + iRowOffset, iCol + iColOffset)
                Next iCol
            Next iRow
            Application.StatusBar = False
            Application.ScreenUpdating = True


        End If 'err<>0


        Set rngTarget = rngOutput   ' resizes the range This is useful, *most* of the time

    End With

End If

End Sub

You will need the source for ArrayDimensions:

This API declaration is required in the module header:

Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" _
                   (Destination As Any, _
                    Source As Any, _
                    ByVal Length As Long)

...And here's the function itself:

Private Function ArrayDimensions(arr As Variant) As Integer
  '-----------------------------------------------------------------
  ' will return:
  ' -1 if not an array
  ' 0  if an un-dimmed array
  ' 1  or more indicating the number of dimensions of a dimmed array
  '-----------------------------------------------------------------


  ' Retrieved from Chris Rae's VBA Code Archive - http://chrisrae.com/vba
  ' Code written by Chris Rae, 25/5/00

  ' Originally published by R. B. Smissaert.
  ' Additional credits to Bob Phillips, Rick Rothstein, and Thomas Eyde on VB2TheMax

  Dim ptr As Long
  Dim vType As Integer

  Const VT_BYREF = &H4000&

  'get the real VarType of the argument
  'this is similar to VarType(), but returns also the VT_BYREF bit
  CopyMemory vType, arr, 2

  'exit if not an array
  If (vType And vbArray) = 0 Then
    ArrayDimensions = -1
    Exit Function
  End If

  'get the address of the SAFEARRAY descriptor
  'this is stored in the second half of the
  'Variant parameter that has received the array
  CopyMemory ptr, ByVal VarPtr(arr) + 8, 4

  'see whether the routine was passed a Variant
  'that contains an array, rather than directly an array
  'in the former case ptr already points to the SA structure.
  'Thanks to Monte Hansen for this fix

  If (vType And VT_BYREF) Then
    ' ptr is a pointer to a pointer
    CopyMemory ptr, ByVal ptr, 4
  End If

  'get the address of the SAFEARRAY structure
  'this is stored in the descriptor

  'get the first word of the SAFEARRAY structure
  'which holds the number of dimensions
  '...but first check that saAddr is non-zero, otherwise
  'this routine bombs when the array is uninitialized

  If ptr Then
    CopyMemory ArrayDimensions, ByVal ptr, 2
  End If

End Function

Also: I would advise you to keep that declaration private. If you must make it a public Sub in another module, insert the Option Private Module statement in the module header. You really don't want your users calling any function with CopyMemoryoperations and pointer arithmetic.