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- Excel VBA - Basics (23)
- VBA User Forms (21)
- Excel VBA - pivot tables (8)
- Excel VBA - charts (6)
- VBA - advanced (13)
- VBA - working with files (10)
- VBA - linking applications (9)
- VBA - working with Outlook (13)
- Built-in VBA functions (9)
- VBA - working with data (24)
- VBA - scraping websites (17)
- VBA - working with shapes (3)
- VBA - classes and structures (6)
VBA - ADVANCED VIDEOS▼
- Flappy Owl in Excel VBA
- Excel VBA Part 15.2 - Find and FindNext
- Excel VBA Part 20a - Application Events
- Excel VBA Part 25 - Arrays
- Excel VBA Part 26 - Constants and Enumerations
- Excel VBA Part 33 - Creating Add Ins
- Excel VBA - Disable Screen Updates
- Excel VBA Part 43.1 - ByRef and ByVal
- Excel VBA Part 43.2 - ByRef and ByVal (When to use Parentheses)
- Excel VBA Part 44 - Making Excel Talk
- Excel VBA Part 45 - Finding the Last Used Row, Column and Cell
- How do I copy data without using copy and paste in Excel VBA?
- How do I split text into multiple rows using Excel VBA?
VIDEOS BY AUTHOR▼
Training videos for learning VBA - ADVANCED
We have 13 VBA - advanced videos listed below. You might also like to consider booking a place on one of our online or classroom VBA courses, where you will meet the owls behind the videos!
Posted by Andrew Gould on 11 April 2014
A quick introductory video showing off the Flappy Bird game, built entirely in Excel VBA!
Excel VBA Part 15.2 - Find and FindNext
Posted by Andrew Gould on 13 October 2014
You can use the Find and FindNext methods in Excel VBA to find values in a worksheet - exactly as the name suggests! This video explains how the methods work, including how to make the search case-sensitive, how to find full or partial matches and how to use Do While loops to find all the instances of something that you're searching for.
Excel VBA Part 20a - Application Events
Posted by Andrew Gould on 26 November 2015
In an earlier video in the series we've seen how to write event-handlers for workbooks and worksheets; this video teaches you how to access events of the Excel application itself! You'll learn the significance of the WithEvents keyword, a couple of the basic application events such as the new workbook event, and how to use a basic class module to keep your application event handlers neatly organised.
Posted by Andrew Gould on 12 March 2014
An array is a lot like a variable, only with an array you can store more than one value under the same variable name. This video explains how to work with arrays in VBA, including how to declare basic, fixed-size arrays, populate and read from an array and how to detect the lower and upper bounds of an array. The second half of the video demonstrates more sophisticated arrays including dynamic arrays and multi-dimensional arrays, as well as covering some techniques for speeding up calculations by using arrays. You'll also see how to resize arrays dynamically, and how to transpose an array.
Excel VBA Part 26 - Constants and Enumerations
Posted by Andrew Gould on 17 March 2014
Constants in VBA are values which don't change - there are lots of built-in examples and you can also create your own. This video teaches you how to declare and use constants in your VBA procedures. You'll also learn how to create collections of constants called Enumerations, how to reference them in your code and also how to use them as a new data type for variables and parameters of procedures.
Excel VBA Part 33 - Creating Add Ins
Posted by Andrew Gould on 13 October 2014
Creating an Excel VBA Add-In is a great way to make your custom functions available to other Excel workbooks and VBA projects. This video teaches you how to create an add-in from scratch, including how to write VBA functions, where to save your add-in, how to enable an add-in to make it available to other workbooks and how to reference an add-in from a VBA project.
Excel VBA - Disable Screen Updates
Posted by Andrew Gould on 26 November 2015
You can give your VBA code a quick performance boost by simply disabling screen updates while your code runs. This video explains how to achieve that, as well as how to create a basic timer system to test the results.
Excel VBA Part 43.1 - ByRef and ByVal
Posted by Andrew Gould on 17 October 2016
Passing values to other procedures is something you'll do commonly in VBA and the ByRef and ByVal keywords control exactly what happens to those values. This video explains the theory of passing information by reference and by value, as well as covering a couple of practical examples to demonstrate how to use the ByRef and ByVal keywords effectively.
Excel VBA Part 43.2 - ByRef and ByVal (When to use Parentheses)
Posted by Andrew Gould on 24 October 2016
When to use parentheses (round brackets) is one of the apparently annoyingly inconsistent features of VBA. There are some clearly defined rules which dictate when you should and shouldn't use parentheses and this video attempts to explain them!
Excel VBA Part 44 - Making Excel Talk
Posted by Andrew Gould on 17 October 2016
One of Excel's more unusual features is its ability to speak to you! Not intelligently, of course, but you can make Excel vocalise a specific phrase or the contents of cells, or any other expression you can think of. This video shows you how to access the speech feature in Excel and use it to create a couple of small but fun examples.
Excel VBA Part 45 - Finding the Last Used Row, Column and Cell
Posted by Andrew Gould on 25 October 2016
There are several techniques you can use in VBA to find the last row, column or cell in a worksheet. This video shows you a range of options including using the End and Offset properties; the CurrentRegion property of a Range and the UsedRange property of a Worksheet; the LastCell option of the SpecialCells method and, finally, the trusty Find method.
How do I copy data without using copy and paste in Excel VBA?
Posted by Andrew Gould on 06 April 2021
Copying and pasting data is the standard way to move information between cells in Excel but did you know that you can transfer data without using copy and paste in Excel VBA? This video explains how to perform this feat by assigning the values of a range to another range. As a bonus, the video shows you how to loop through the worksheets collection, copying the data from each one to build a master list.
How do I split text into multiple rows using Excel VBA?
Posted by Andrew Gould on 19 April 2021
This video shows you how to use the Split function in VBA to divide a string into multiple substrings based on a delimiter character. You'll also see how to capture the result of the Split function in an array and write the contents of the array into cells in a worksheet after inserting new rows to make space for the new values.
I came across this by accident and wondered if other readers have experienced it as well. I thought hovering the mouse over a variable only shows the value of the variable but not change it.
This is in a standard module:
Option Explicit
Sub Start()
Dim abc As Class1
Set abc = New Class1
Dim a As Long
a = 1
Debug.Print abc.MyProperty(a)
End Sub
This is Class1:
Option Explicit
Public Property Get MyProperty(ByRef b As Long) As Long
b = b + 1
MyProperty = b
End Property
If I run the code but put a break point here:
Debug.Print abc.MyProperty(a)
and hover the mouse over abc.MyProperty(a), I see:
abc.MyProperty(a) = 2
If I move my mouse away then back over abc.MyProperty(a), I see the value increment by 1 each time. Why is this? II thought hovering doesn't change anything.
Thanks.
Andrew,
We know "usually" the default for passing arguments is by reference, so if the keyword ByRef / ByVal is omitted, the argument will be passed by reference.
In a standard module, this can (and has been) easily proved.
However, I have yet to see an example to prove the case fro a Get / Let / Set Property.
Do these properties also behave in the same way, ie the default is by reference? The reason for my query is if you create a Let Property using Insert -> Procedure -> Property, the keyworb, ByVal, is automatically added.
Does that mean for a Let Property (and I assume also for a Set Property), the default, perhaps the ONLY way to pass arguments is by value?
Is it possible to prove this by way of an example?
Also what about Get Properties? Do they pass by reference by default or by value?
Thanks
Good question! And yes, you're right: passing arguments to Property Let and Property Set procedures passes ByVal, even if you specify ByRef http://excelmatters.com/2016/03/15/when-is-byref-not-byref/
You can test this using the VarPtr function https://bytecomb.com/vba-internals-getting-pointers/
You can start with an example using simple subroutines in a regular module:
Sub AssignNumber()
Dim a As Long
a = 1
Debug.Print "a = ", a, VarPtr(a)
IncreaseNumber a
Debug.Print "a = ", a, VarPtr(a)
End Sub
Sub IncreaseNumber(ByVal b As Long)
b = b + 1
Debug.Print "b = ", b, VarPtr(b)
End Sub
When passing the argument ByVal, your output in the Immediate window will resemble this:
a = 1 11923696
b = 2 11923688
a = 1 11923696
The return value of the VarPtr function will be different for a and b.
If you change the signature of the IncreaseNumber procedure to pass ByRef:
Sub IncreaseNumber(ByRef b As Long)
The output will reseble this:
a = 1 11923696
b = 2 11923696
a = 2 11923696
The return value of the VarPtr function will be the same for a and b.
You can try the same test with a Property Let procedure (the example below uses a class module called MyClass although you can write the property in a normal module if you prefer):
Public Property Let MyProperty(ByVal d As Long)
d = d + 1
Debug.Print "d = ", d, VarPtr(d)
End Property
Add another procedure in a regular module which assigns a value to this property:
Sub TestMyClass()
Dim mc As New MyClass
Dim c As Long
c = 1
Debug.Print "c = ", c, VarPtr(c)
mc.MyProperty = c
Debug.Print "c = ", c, VarPtr(c)
End Sub
With ByVal or ByRef, the VarPtr function will always show a different result for c and d:
c = 1 11923692
d = 2 11923688
c = 1 11923692
Sorry for the long answer. Hope it helps!
Hi Andrew,
Further to your conclusion that Let and Set properties pass ByVal regardless, why does this article add ByRef?
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1346864
Here's the code:
Option Explicit
Public Enum anlCellType
anlCellTypeEmpty
anlCellTypeLabel
anlCellTypeConstant
anlCellTypeFormula
End Enum
Private muCellType As anlCellType
Private mrngCell As Excel.Range
Property Set Cell(ByRef rngCell As Excel.Range)
Set mrngCell = rngCell
End Property
Property Get Cell() As Excel.Range
Set Cell = mrngCell
End Property
Property Get CellType() As anlCellType
CellType = muCellType
End Property
Property Get DescriptiveCellType() As String
Select Case muCellType
Case anlCellTypeEmpty
DescriptiveCellType = "Empty"
Case anlCellTypeFormula
DescriptiveCellType = "Formula"
Case anlCellTypeConstant
DescriptiveCellType = "Constant"
Case anlCellTypeLabel
DescriptiveCellType = "Label"
End Select
End Property
Public Sub Analyze()
If IsEmpty(mrngCell) Then
muCellType = anlCellTypeEmpty
ElseIf mrngCell.HasFormula Then
muCellType = anlCellTypeFormula
ElseIf IsNumeric(mrngCell.Formula) Then
muCellType = anlCellTypeConstant
Else
muCellType = anlCellTypeLabel
End If
End Sub
Thanks
Who knows! Perhaps the authors weren't familiar with this behaviour in VBA, I'm not sure. If you're ever unsure with this sort of thing you can always add your own code to perform a test. For example, you could modify the Property Set Cell procedure to resemble this:
Property Set Cell(ByRef rngCell As Excel.Range)
'Add these two lines
Set rngCell = Range("B2")
Debug.Print "Within property " & rngCell.Address
Set mrngCell = rngCell
End Property
You can then add a test procedure in a normal module to check the behaviour:
Sub TestClassModule()
Dim c As Class1
Dim r As Range
Set c = New Class1
Set r = Range("A1")
Debug.Print "Before passing to property " & r.Address
Set c.Cell = r
Debug.Print "After passing to property " & r.Address
End Sub
After running the test procedure using ByRef, the output will resemble this:
Before passing to property $A$1
Within property $B$2
After passing to property $A$1
After changing the property to use ByVal the output is the same:
Before passing to property $A$1
Within property $B$2
After passing to property $A$1
Compare this to using a pair of basic subroutines instead of a Property Set procedure:
Sub TestSub()
Dim r As Range
Set r = Range("A1")
Debug.Print "Before passing to sub " & r.Address
MyCell r
Debug.Print "After passing to sub " & r.Address
End Sub
Sub MyCell(ByRef CellToUse As Range)
Set CellToUse = Range("B2")
Debug.Print "Within sub " & CellToUse.Address
End Sub
Using ByRef, the output resembles this:
Before passing to sub $A$1
Within sub $B$2
After passing to sub $B$2
And using ByVal produces a different result:
Before passing to sub $A$1
Within sub $B$2
After passing to sub $A$1
I'm not sure whether that makes things any clearer but it does demonstrate that values passed using ByRef behave differently in Property Set (and Let) procedures compared to other types of procedure.
I hope that helps!
Andrew,
Thanks for your detailed reply.
I can't say I am familiar with the VarPtr function but the values that the vaiables c and d returned (1, 2, 1) and (1, 2, 1), whether you pass ByVal or ByRef, was enough to convince me that no matter what you write, Let Properties always pass by value.
Can you confirm that for the Get Property too with an example?
Thanks
Property Get procedures do actually honour your ByRef/ByVal setting. You can demonstrate this in a similar way. Here's a simple property in a class module called MyClass:
Public Property Get MyProperty(ByVal b As Long) As Long
b = b + 1
Debug.Print "b = ", b, VarPtr(b)
MyProperty = b
End Property
Here's a test procedure in a normal module:
Sub TestMyClass()
Dim mc As New MyClass
Dim a As Long
a = 1
Debug.Print "a = ", a, VarPtr(a)
Debug.Print "mc.MyProperty = ", mc.MyProperty(a)
Debug.Print "a = ", a, VarPtr(a)
End Sub
Running the test procedure using ByVal returns something resembling this:
a = 1 45478828
b = 2 45478816
mc.MyProperty = 2
a = 1 45478828
And with ByRef:
a = 1 45478828
b = 2 45478828
mc.MyProperty = 2
a = 2 45478828
I hope that helps!
No problem, happy that it helped!
Hi there,
I tried to do the same as what you have here on your tutorial. I just cannot find out why on the calculation of time lengths for the movies, the last row of result is showing #N/A error for me.
The file is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl6yonheorqocm6/VBA%20Arrays%20sample%20with%20calculation.xlsm?dl=0
Can you please check my code?
Option Explicit
Sub CalculateWithArray()
Dim FilmLengths() As Variant
Dim Answers() As Variant
Dim Dimension1 As Long, Counter As Long
Sheet1.Activate
Range("f3", Range("g3").End(xlDown)).ClearContents
' Assign values of range D to the array FilmLengths
FilmLengths = Range("d3", Range("d3").End(xlDown))
' Assign the number of values of array FilmLengths to the variable Dimension1
Dimension1 = UBound(FilmLengths, 1)
' Resize the dimensions of array Answers according to the number of values of Array FilmLenghts and add 2nd column or dimension
ReDim Answers(1 To Dimension1, 1 To 2)
' Loop over the FilmLengths and return Answers as number of hours and remainder in minutes
For Counter = 1 To Dimension1
Answers(Counter, 1) = Int(FilmLengths(Counter, 1) / 60)
Answers(Counter, 2) = FilmLengths(Counter, 1) Mod 60
Next Counter
' Populate columns F and G with the Answers
Range("f3", Range("f3").Offset(Counter - 1, 1)) = Answers
Erase FilmLengths
Erase Answers
End Sub
Thank you and regards,
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
The problem is caused by this line near the end of your code:
Range("f3", Range("f3").Offset(Counter - 1, 1)) = Answers
Try changing it to this:
Range("f3", Range("f3").Offset(Dimension1 - 1, 1)) = Answers
The reason you're encountering the problem is because the variable you use to iterate through a For Next loop has a final value that is one greater than the To value you provide. So, if your loop looks like this:
For Counter = 1 To 3
'do something
Next Counter
Counter will have a value of 4 when the loop has finished.
I hope that helps!
I have found the error. I was using the wrong variable.
Thanks.
Ahh you beat me to it as I was writing a reply! Oh well, it's always more satisfying when you solve a problem by yourself!
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the help. I was not very good at VBA yet, so I had to dig in more and more, and as I examine the codes 2 or 3 times then I found errors or sometimes a more efficient way.
Thanks again.
Regards,
Ryan