Some examples of how to avoid select
Use Dim'd variables
Dim rng as Range
Set the variable to the required range. There are many ways to refer to a single-cell range:
Set rng = Range("A1")
Set rng = Cells(1, 1)
Set rng = Range("NamedRange")
Or a multi-cell range:
Set rng = Range("A1:B10")
Set rng = Range("A1", "B10")
Set rng = Range(Cells(1, 1), Cells(10, 2))
Set rng = Range("AnotherNamedRange")
Set rng = Range("A1").Resize(10, 2)
You can use the shortcut to the Evaluate method, but this is less efficient and should generally be avoided in production code.
Set rng = [A1]
Set rng = [A1:B10]
All the above examples refer to cells on the active sheet. Unless you specifically want to work only with the active sheet, it is better to Dim a Worksheet variable too:
Dim ws As Worksheet
Set ws = Worksheets("Sheet1")
Set rng = ws.Cells(1, 1)
With ws
Set rng = .Range(.Cells(1, 1), .Cells(2, 10))
End With
If you do want to work with the ActiveSheet, for clarity it's best to be explicit. But take care, as some Worksheet methods change the active sheet.
Set rng = ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
Again, this refers to the active workbook. Unless you specifically want to work only with the ActiveWorkbook or ThisWorkbook, it is better to Dim a Workbook variable too.
Dim wb As Workbook
Set wb = Application.Workbooks("Book1")
Set rng = wb.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
If you do want to work with the ActiveWorkbook, for clarity it's best to be explicit. But take care, as many WorkBook methods change the active book.
Set rng = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
You can also use the ThisWorkbook object to refer to the book containing the running code.
Set rng = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
A common (bad) piece of code is to open a book, get some data then close again
This is bad:
Sub foo()
Dim v as Variant
Workbooks("Book1.xlsx").Sheets(1).Range("A1").Clear
Workbooks.Open("C:\Path\To\SomeClosedBook.xlsx")
v = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Range("A1").Value
Workbooks("SomeAlreadyOpenBook.xlsx").Activate
ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("SomeSheet").Range("A1").Value = v
Workbooks(2).Activate
ActiveWorkbook.Close()
End Sub
And it would be better like:
Sub foo()
Dim v as Variant
Dim wb1 as Workbook
Dim wb2 as Workbook
Set wb1 = Workbooks("SomeAlreadyOpenBook.xlsx")
Set wb2 = Workbooks.Open("C:\Path\To\SomeClosedBook.xlsx")
v = wb2.Sheets("SomeSheet").Range("A1").Value
wb1.Sheets("SomeOtherSheet").Range("A1").Value = v
wb2.Close()
End Sub
Pass ranges to your Subs and Functions as Range variables:
Sub ClearRange(r as Range)
r.ClearContents
'....
End Sub
Sub MyMacro()
Dim rng as Range
Set rng = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SomeSheet").Range("A1:B10")
ClearRange rng
End Sub
You should also apply Methods (such as Find and Copy) to variables:
Dim rng1 As Range
Dim rng2 As Range
Set rng1 = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SomeSheet").Range("A1:A10")
Set rng2 = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SomeSheet").Range("B1:B10")
rng1.Copy rng2
If you are looping over a range of cells it is often better (faster) to copy the range values to a variant array first and loop over that:
Dim dat As Variant
Dim rng As Range
Dim i As Long
Set rng = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("SomeSheet").Range("A1:A10000")
dat = rng.Value ' dat is now array (1 to 10000, 1 to 1)
for i = LBound(dat, 1) to UBound(dat, 1)
dat(i,1) = dat(i, 1) * 10 ' Or whatever operation you need to perform
next
rng.Value = dat ' put new values back on sheet
This is a small taster for what's possible.
Best Answer
Yes it is possible. Here is some VBA code to create an Excel report from Visio. Just remember that Excel VBA and Visio VBA have properties with the same name so make sure you fully qualify the Excel reference. Otherwise VBA gets confused.
John... Visio MVP