Manipulating data files in Excel

Introduction. The purpose of this document is to show how you can, with a few simple macros, manipulate data files which you have created or been given. The files may be in Excel already or may be Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files. Most computers default to opening CSV files as a single worksheet in Excel so, apart from remembering to save them as an Excel workbook they can be treated the same. The layout of the file may contain all or some of the items shown in the diagram. We will only be concerned with the Data and its associated column headings. The data section will contain one or more columns and one or more rows. In some cases all the rows will have data, in some cases there will be blanks. Our macros will have to be able to deal with all possibilities. There will be times when the problem to be solved is very specific and times when there are several sets of data that need to be processed so it is important to be clear what your macro will do and what it wont. This document will contain several macros which you can copy, paste and modify. Types of problems. Extracting a subset of data. Merging two sets of data into one Splitting a data set into two or more parts. Performing calculations on each record in the data.

General Information

Column Headings Data

General Information

A Generic view of data processing programs The following diagram shows the layout of a typical Data Processing Program. Each part is simple or more complicated depending on the particular problem and the data given 1: Start up operations include such things as finding where the data starts, copying over column headings if required and handling the first record(s) if these require a different procedure from the rest 2: This type of process is repetitive so before we enter the loop we check whether we have a record to process. Although it may seem odd we check the first record as well so the macro will work even with an empty list. Deciding if there are any more records can be simple if there are no blanks in the list or there is a known last record. Otherwise some rule has to be devised. 3: Depending on the job not all records may be required, so we ignore any we arent interested in and skip to step 5 4: Processing may include joining fields or doing arithmetic on values. If appropriate, we write out the result of this processing remembering where we write each result as it may not be on the same line as the incoming data, or even the same sheet. 5: Getting the next record in this type of process is usually looking at the line below the current one. 6: When all the records have been processed then there may still be some more information to be written. Eg Number of records written or column totals. In the case of merging two lists when the end of one list is reached all the remaining records in the other can be copied en masse.

Start 1: Perform any start up operations and look for first record

2: Do I have any records to process

No

Yes

No

3: Do I want to process this record?

Yes
4: Perform any processing required Write the result in the next available space

5: Look for next record and loop back to step 2

6: Perform any finishing operations Stop

Excel Basics Opening and saving files. If your data has been sent to you as a CSV (Comma Separated Variable) File the if you double click on it in Windows Explorer it will automatically be opened up in Excel. To open it from within Excel, the in the File Open window, change the Files of Type option at the bottom of the window to Text Files. Having opened the CSV file it is best to save it as an Excel File or to move the sheet created into an Excel File. Moving and/or copying worksheets. At the bottom of the Excel screen there are a row of tabs, one for each sheet. Right Clicking on this tab brings up a sub menu which enables you to rename the sheet and or move or copy it to a new location. Thus if you data comes as several CSV files you can open an Excel Work book, then open the CSV files in turn and move them into your main work book. Creating a place for your Macros On then Menu line click on Tools then Macro (click the double arrow if Macro doesnt appear) then Visual Basic Editor. (Or hold down the <Alt> key and press the <F11> key) This opens a separate program linked to the workbook. From its menu line choose Insert and then Module. This brings up a sheet on which you can write your macros. Important rule of macros There is never just one solution to creation a macro

If it works its right if it doesnt its wrong

Writing a macro All Macros in this course will be based on the file data.xls. For the First Macro we will use the data on the names sheet Every macro has to have a single word name. Let us begin by writing a macro to count the number if items in a list.(There may be simpler ways of doing this but this is just an example of how macros work.) Well call the macro count. So in your module type sub count and press <Enter> Excel will respond by changing this to Sub count()

Start 1: Perform any start up operations and look for first record

End Sub Note that some words are in blue. These are special words which have meaning to Excel and these words can only be used for that purpose. Following the plan to the left we begin with step one, start up operations and getting the first record. Let us assume that the data is in column C starting at row 5. We will start at this location and go down column C looking at rows 6,7,8,.. until we find an empty cell counting as we go. To do this we need to remember two things, the row we are on and how many records we have seen so far. We give a name to each of these pieces of information, rw for the row and nr for the number of records. When we start we have seen no records so nr = 0 and we are at row 5 so rw = 5.We enter this information in our macro. Sub count() nr = 0 rw = 5 End Sub As we want to process (ie count) all records step 3 is omitted and step 4 will not need to write anything as we only write out the answer when we have finished. When we find another record we can increase the number of records (nr) by one using the statement nr = nr + 1 How do we know that we have found a record? A record exists if the cell on the worksheet that we are looking at is not empty. In this case if we do find an empty cell then we have reached the end of our list. To look at a cell on the worksheet we refer to it as Cells(rownumber,columnnumber) Note that we use column numbers rather than letters so our first record in cell C5 would be Cells(5,3) or as we remember which row we are in by using rw we can refer to this first record as Cells(rw,3)The column wont change so we just use its number. There is a special phrase we use to find out if a cell has a value or is empty: this is IsEmpty(Cells(row,column)) This returns an answer True or False. The program runs through stages 2,3,4,5, ,2,3,4,5, as long as there are records. Ie steps 2,3,4 & 5 are repeated. This is called a loop and the statements we use are as follows Do While some condition is True 2: Do I have any records to process

No

Yes

No

3: Do I want to process this record?

Yes
4: Perform any processing required Write the result in the next available space

5: Look for next record and loop back to step 2

6: Perform any finishing operations Stop

Loop or Do Until some condition becomes True

Loop Getting the next record is a matter of increasing the row number rw by one. Putting all this together we get. Sub count() nr = 0 rw = 5 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,3)) nr = nr+1 rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub We now need to perform the finishing operations which in this case is to write out the answer. In this example we write the words Number of Records in cell B3 and the Value in C3 giving the final macro as Sub count() nr = 0 rw = 5 Do While IsEmpty(Cells(rw,3)) nr = nr+1 rw = rw+1 Loop Cells(3,2).Value = Number of Records Cells(3,3).value = nr End Sub Question: What changes would you make to this macro if the data started in cell A1?

Problem 1: You have some data starting in cells A1 and B1 consisting of the header line Name and Grade . Below that there is a list of names (always present) and grades A to E or blank. You want to make the names of all people with an A grade Bold. Copy all the count macro and paste it into the module below where it is and rename it bolda as follows Sub bolda() nr = 0 rw = 5 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,3)) nr = nr+1 rw = rw+1 Loop Cells(3,2).Value = Number of Records Cells(3,3).value = nr End Sub Delete the unwanted lines referring to the number of records and the answers thus Sub bolda() rw = 5 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,3)) rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub We will be starting from row 2 (row one is the header) in column 1 (we cant use column 2 as it may contain blanks) Sub bolda() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub We now need to introduce a Section 2 Do I need to process this record? This is done with an IF statement as follows Sub bolda() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Cells(rw,2).Value = A Then End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub Finally we need to make the name Bold which is done as follows.

Sub bolda() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Cells(rw,2).Value = A Then Cells(rw,1).Font.Bold = True End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

Problem 2: Using the same data as in problem 1 create a list of A grade students in columns E and F. Call this macro alist. Proceed as before by copying, pasting, renaming and removing unwanted lines to give Sub alist() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Cells(rw,2).Value = A Then End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub In this problem we have some start up jobs, ie copy the headers to a new location and we will need to keep track of which row we are going to use to write the current A student. We could call this information arw Given that the headers are in row 1 then will be row 2 to begin with. Sub alist() rw = 2 arw = 2 Cells(1,5).Value = Cells(1,1).Value Cells(1,6).Value = Cells(1,2).Value Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Cells(rw,2).Value = A Then End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub When we do find an A student we want to copy the value to our new location and increase the value of arw by one as follows. Sub alist() rw = 2 arw = 2 Cells(1,5).Value = Cells(1,1).Value Cells(1,6).Value = Cells(1,2).Value Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Cells(rw,2).Value = A Then Cells(arw,5).Value = Cells(rw,1).Value Cells(arw,6).Value = Cells(rw,2).Value arw =arw+1 End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

How do you know how to make the font bold? What if you wanted to make it Red? When you want to achieve in your macro some effect which is fairly easy to do in Excel and you dont know how it is done, create a macro by recording your actions and adapting that. For example if we had wanted to make the As red rather than bold we could proceed as follows. From the menu line choose [Tools] [Macro] [Record New Macro] Accept the defaults by clicking [OK] A little tool bar will appear on the sheet. Select a cell change its colour to red and click on the [Stop Recording] button on the small toolbar. Go to the Visual Basic Editor, This new macro will be in a module of its own. Find this and you should see something like the code below.

Sub Macro1() ' ' Macro1 Macro ' Macro recorded 04/10/2007 by Jerry ' ' Range("A2").Select Selection.Font.ColorIndex = 3 End Sub Lines which begin with an apostrophe () are merely comments or notes and can be ignored. The other two lines are the actions you took, first to select a cell and then to change its colour to red. In our macro we had the line Cells(rw,1).Font.Bold = True If we had wanted it to change the colour to red it would have read Cells(rw,1).Font.ColorIndex = 3 To find out which colour has which value go to Visual Basic Help and search for PatternColorIndex

Problem 3: We have a list of names, each accompanied by two marks. We wish to add the marks together and grade the result according to the rule Below 80 E, 80 -89 D, 90-99 C, 100-110 B above 110 A. Using the work sheet NameMarks we can see the Data starts on row 2, the marks are in columns E and F (5 and 6) and the results are to go in columns G and H (7 and 8) on the same row as the data. So start by copying and pasting bolda renaming it grade and removing the lines about grade A and the font change. (Note we use bolda again rather than alist as alist was writing out the answers on different rows. Sub grade() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub The Processing part of the operation is to add together the two marks and write the result to column 7. This gives us Sub grade() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) Cells(rw,7).value = Cells(rw,5).value + cells(rw,6).value rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

Now we have to grade the result according to the rule above and to do this we use a new Visual Basic Statement Select as follows. Sub grade() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) Cells(rw,7).value = Cells(rw,5).value + cells(rw,6).value Select Case Cells(rw,7).value Case 0 to 79 Cells(rw,8).value = E Case 80 to 89 Cells(rw,8).value = D Case 90 to 99 Cells(rw,8).value = C Case 100 to 109 Cells(rw,8).value = B Case Else Cells(rw,8).value = A End Select rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

Alternative solution to Problem 3. You will have noticed that adding the two cells together could have been don in Excel without writing a macro IE by either entering a formula =E2+F2 (on row 2) and extending down or by using the Function SUM as in =SUM(E2:F2). The Grading part can also be done by using a function but a function that you write yourself. In your module write Function grade(x) Excel will respond by adding the end line as follows Function grade(x) End Function Using the lines from the Sub above with minor alterations the Function becomes Function grade(x) Select Case x Case 0 to 79 grade = E Case 80 to 89 grade = D Case 90 to 99 grade = C Case 100 to 109 grade = B Case Else grade = A End Select End Function Then in cell h2 enter =grade(g2) and extend down.

Problem 4. Sheet Subjects has a list of names each accompanied by two subjects. The aim is to create a class list for each subject on a separate sheet. There is a blank sheet for each of the four possible subjects. Again start with the basic Macro copied and adapted from bolda and called split. Sub split() rw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub We now look at the values in columns 3 and 4 in turn and write them out on the correct sheet in the correct place. As in the alist macro we need to remember where we can write the result but this time we need four counters one for each sheet. For convenience we name the counters after the courses. Sub split() rw = 2 cabc50=1 cabc65=1 cpqr51=1 cpqr73=1 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub Now using the Select statement again we look at course 1 (column 3) then Course 2 (Column 4) Note that you can copy and paste parts of the macro and then edit the small changes necessary. If you are using an electronic version of this document you can copy and paste the macro from Word to Excel)

Sub split() rw = 2 cabc50=1 cabc65=1 cpqr51=1 cpqr73=1 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) Select Case Cells(rw,3).value Case ABC50 Sheets(ABC50).Cells(cabc50,1).value Sheets(ABC50).Cells(cabc50,2).value Cabc50=cabc50+1 Case ABC65 Sheets(ABC65).Cells(cabc65,1).value Sheets(ABC65).Cells(cabc65,2).value Cabc65=cabc65+1 Case PQR51 Sheets(PQR51).Cells(cpqr51,1).value Sheets(PQR51).Cells(cpqr51,2).value cpqr51=cpqr51+1 Case PQR73 Sheets(PQR73).Cells(cpqr73,1).value Sheets(PQR73).Cells(cpqr73,2).value cpqr73=cpqr73+1 End Select Select Case Cells(rw,4).value Case ABC50 Sheets(ABC50).Cells(cabc50,1).value Sheets(ABC50).Cells(cabc50,2).value Cabc50=cabc50+1 Case ABC65 Sheets(ABC65).Cells(cabc65,1).value Sheets(ABC65).Cells(cabc65,2).value Cabc65=cabc65+1 Case PQR51 Sheets(PQR51).Cells(cpqr51,1).value Sheets(PQR51).Cells(cpqr51,2).value cpqr51=cpqr51+1 Case PQR73 Sheets(PQR73).Cells(cpqr73,1).value Sheets(PQR73).Cells(cpqr73,2).value cpqr73=cpqr73+1 End Select rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

= Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value

= Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value

Problem 5: Processing in two directions. Sheet Weather has some data showing the condition at four periods in a day for a month. The aim is to create a list of the times it was raining. Once again this is a problem of going down a list, processing each line but the processing involves looking a list of values in successive columns. As it involves writing out a list of answers we can start with the alist macro deleting those lines which are specific to that problem. Sub raining() rw = 2 arw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Then arw =arw+1 End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

The processing involves looking at the value in column 2, if it is rain the write out the date (column 1) and Morning, Then look at column 3 if it is rain the write out the date (column 1) and Afternoon, and so on. If we were only looking at col 2 the macro could look like this Sub raining () rw = 2 arw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) If Cells(rw,2).Value = Rain Then Cells(arw,7).Value = Cells(arw,1).Value Cells(arw,8).Value = Morning arw =arw+1 End If rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub We could then copy the lines from IF to End IF three times changing the column number and the output. But there is a simpler method. Remembering that Morning is in Cells(1,2), Afternoon in Cells (1,3) etc we write Sub raining () rw = 2 arw = 2 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) For cl = 2 To 5 If Cells(rw,cl).Value = Rain Then Cells(arw,7).Value = Cells(rw,1).Value Cells(arw,8).Value = Cells(1,cl).Value arw =arw+1 End If Next rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub The For Loop works by doing everything inside with CL set to 2, Then 3 and so on until 5 We could have used the For Loop in the previous example to give us looking at cols 3 then 4

Sub split2() rw = 2 cabc50=1 cabc65=1 cpqr51=1 cpqr73=1 Do Until IsEmpty(Cells(rw,1)) For cl = 3 to 4 Select Case Cells(rw,cl).value Case ABC50 Sheets(ABC50).Cells(cabc50,1).value Sheets(ABC50).Cells(cabc50,2).value cabc50=cabc50+1 Case ABC65 Sheets(ABC65).Cells(cabc65,1).value Sheets(ABC65).Cells(cabc65,2).value cabc65=cabc65+1 Case PQR51 Sheets(PQR51).Cells(cpqr51,1).value Sheets(PQR51).Cells(cpqr51,2).value cpqr51=cpqr51+1 Case PQR73 Sheets(PQR73).Cells(cpqr73,1).value Sheets(PQR73).Cells(cpqr73,2).value cpqr73=cpqr73+1 End Select Next rw = rw+1 Loop End Sub

= Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value = Cells(rw,1).value = Cells(rw,2).value

Problem 6: You wish to create a list of files and the folders they are in, retaining information about file size and date created. Whilst Windows Explorer can show you this information you cant easily print out a list of files in a given folder and its sub folders. Using the Dir at a command prompt (See Appendix 2) prints out a list as a text file which can be imported into Excel (See sheet doclist). We are going to write a macro which finds the files and the name of the folder they are in, combines the results and prints out a list with the required information. Rather than adapting an existing Macro I am going to go through the process from start to finish building up the macro stage by stage. Most of the code will be code that has been used before but where new commands are introduced Ill offer explanation. Note also that Directory and Folder are synonymous and Ill use both. The data looks some thing like this
Volume in drive C has no label. Volume Serial Number is 88DC-005F

Directory of C:\docs

02/11/2004 02/11/2004 18/12/2001 20/02/2002 06/06/2000 3 File(s)

09:18 09:18 12:29 14:11 07:01 3,657,216

<DIR> <DIR> 65,024 55,296 2,949,120

. .. afm.doc afm2.doc Win98 modems - jan00.doc bytes

Directory of C:\docs\books\access

15/10/2003 15/10/2003 11/09/2001 11/11/1999 10/11/1999 3 File(s)

07:51 07:51 07:55 10:24 13:46 3,151,671

<DIR> <DIR> 3,096,064 55,296 311

. .. access.doc Accessdata.xls Courses.txt bytes

And ends like this.

Total Files Listed: 267 File(s) 71 Dir(s) 61,879,470 20,859,486,208 bytes bytes free

Things to note straight away is that there are blank lines in the data and some lines contain one sort of information and other lines contain different sorts of information. For Example: Looking at the data we see that we have the directory name in column 1 preceded by the words Directory of
Directory of C:\docs\books\access

and then on subsequent rows we have date and size information in column 1 with file name in column 2.
11/11/1999 10:24 55,296 Accessdata.xls

These are mixed in with some rows with the sub folder name in column2 and the word <DIR> appearing in column 1.
01/07/2004 11:01 <DIR> fax

When all files in a given folder have been listed there is a row of the form
3 File(s) 3,151,671 bytes

There are also some blank lines. Right at the end there is a line Total Files Listed
Total Files Listed:

What we have to do therefore is to Start at the top Look for a line beginning Directory of. Remember this name as until this type of line is repeated all subsequent lines with file names in them are in this folder. Search subsequent rows for files, when found combine directory name and file name, write the result somewhere and attach file information. Continue changing directory name as appropriate until we reach a line with Total Files in column 1. We have to decide where to put the results, so let us choose column 4 for the filename and column 5 for the file information. We need variables to store which row we are searching, which row we are using for the answer and what the current directory name is. We shall use rin, rout and direct for these To start with then we must set the two counters to 1 (the default is 0) and create a loop to look at all lines stopping when we reach on starting Total in column 1 Note any thing in Bold Italic is not code, but just a note to remind us that we have to write code in that place.

Sub filefind() rin = 1 rout = 1 Do Until (row starts with Total) Do something rin = rin + 1 Loop End Sub

There are many functions in Visual Basic (See Appendix 1 for some of these The function Left(string,number) will give the first number of characters of a string So the Macro would now read Sub filefind() rin = 1 rout = 1 Do Until Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,5) = Total Do something rin = rin + 1 Loop End Sub The single quote turns the rest of that line into a comment so the macro above could be entered into Excel and would work, albeit apparently doing nothing. Just to prove to ourselves that it is working we will add another line to tell us the row number where the process stops.

Sub filefind() rin = 1 rout = 1 Do Until Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,5) = Total Do something rin = rin + 1 Loop Msgbox rin End Sub The Function Msgbox prints out the message, in this case the value of rin and pauses until you click OK Copy the Macro below and run it from the doclist worksheet. Make a note of the value and check that that row is the one we were looking for. Now for the do something 1. If the line begins Directory of we want to remember the value ie change the value of direct and the go on to next line If column 1 contains the word <DIR>, File, Volume or is blank we wish to ignore that line Other wise we wish to copy the relevant info into columns 4 and 5

2. 3.

First stage is to pick up the lines with Directory of in them Sub filefind() rin = 1 rout = 1 Do Until Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,5) = Total If Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,9) = Directory Then direct = Mid(Cells(rin,1).Value,14) Msgbox direct Else Do something End if rin = rin + 1 Loop Msgbox rin End Sub

This Version contains two new things. The Function Mid(string,value) which returns all the characters of a string starting and the position given by value, in our case 14. Ie it ignores the 13 characters Directory of (spaces count as characters) and returns every thing else. We have added and Else clause into the If statement. This is what happens if the condition is not True Run this Macro and study the output of the Msgboxes. You should notice that it seems to repeat the folder name C:\docs\misc\chris\nextye several times. This must be an error as each Folder name should be unique. So we need to examine the data to see what is happening. If you look at row 234 you will notice that the directory name is too long for column 1 and has spilt over into column 2. This is a result of the way the data was read in. We need therefore to add on to the value of direct anything that is in column 2 of that row. As Follows Note we use & to join together two string values

Sub filefind() rin = 1 rout = 1 Do Until Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,5) = Total If Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,9) = Directory Then direct = Mid(Cells(rin,1).Value,14) & Cells(rin,2).Value Msgbox direct Else Do something End if rin = rin + 1 Loop Msgbox rin End Sub

We now need to identify the rows that we wish to process. In fact it is easier in this case to identify the rows we wish to ignore. These are Lines containing in column 1 the words Volume, DIR or File or lines which are blank. Blank lines can be found using the IsEmpty function we have used before To see if a string contains another string we can use the Instr function which returns a value of 0 if the second string doesnt exist of the value of the starting point if it does See Appendix 1 So we start with a variable called process which we set to True, then make the four tests, and set the value of process to false if any of the tests fail as follows.
Process = True If IsEmpty(Cells(rin,1)) Then process = false If Instr(Cells(rin,1).Value, Vol) > 0 Then process = false If Instr(Cells(rin,1).Value, DIR) > 0 Then process = false If Instr(Cells(rin,1).Value, File) > 0 Then process = false

If after those lines process is still True we can write out the values
Sub filefind() rin = 1 rout = 1 Do Until Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,5) = Total If Left(Cells(rin,1).Value,9) = Directory Then direct = Mid(Cells(rin,1).Value,14) & Cells(rin,2).Value Else Process = True If IsEmpty(Cells(rin,1)) Then process = false If Instr(Cells(rin,1).Value, Vol) > 0 Then process = false If Instr(Cells(rin,1).Value, DIR) > 0 Then process = false If Instr(Cells(rin,1).Value, File) > 0 Then process = false If process = True then Cells(rout,4).value = direct & \ & Cells(rin,2).Value Rout =rout + 1 End if End if rin = rin + 1 Loop End Sub

APPENDIX

Code Examples Arithmetic

Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division To the power of Some Arithmetic functions. Function INT(A) A MOD B ABS(A) RND() Action Returns nearest whole number less than A Returns the integer remainder when A is divided by B Returns the absolute value of A Returns a random number between 0 and 1. Combined with the INT function you can generate random integers between 1 and N Example INT(5.34) = 5 INT(-5.34) = -6 7 MOD 2 = 1 50 MOD 5 = 0 ABS(5) = 5 ABS(-5) = 5 INT(N * RND() + 1) a+b ab a*b a/b a^b

Actions based on conditions

If...Then...Else Used when you want the program to do different things depending on certain conditions. Example if a = 5 then form.print a is 5 else form.print a is not 5 end if The If Statement can have 3 basic forms 1 Single Line If c < 0 Then c = 0 2 Actions only if condition is true If c > 0 then c=c-1 x = True End If 3 Full version as example above Select Case Runs one of several series of instructions according to the value of Expression. Expression is compared with each CaseExpression in turn. When a match is found, the instructions following that Case CaseExpression are run, and then control passes to the instruction following End Select. If there is no match, the instructions following Case Else are run. Example Select Case left(text,1) Case 0 To 9 form.print Digit Case a,e,i,o,u form.print Vowel Case Else form.print Consonant End Select Select Case Expression Case CaseExpression Series of instructions [Case Else Series of instructions] End Select Syntax If Condition1 Then Series of instructions [Else Series of instructions] End If

Repeated actions
For...Next Repeats the series of instructions between For and Next while increasing CounterVariable by 1 (default) or the value of Increment until CounterVariable is greater than End. If Start is greater than End, then Increment must be a negative value in which case CounterVariable decreases by Increment until it is less than End. For i = 1 to 10 step 2 form.print i Next For CounterVariable = Start To End [Step Increment] Series of instructions Next [CounterVariable]

Do Loop x=1 Do Until x = 9 form.print x x = x + 2 Loop The condition can be either with the Do command in which case it is checked before entering the loop or with the Loop command in which case the loop is executed at least once before reaching the condition. The optional Exit Do statement enables you to break out of the loop even if the condition has not been reached. A similar older version is below

Do {While | Until} condition statements [Exit Do] statements Loop Or Do statements [Exit Do] statements Loop {While | Until} condition

While...Wend Repeats a series of instructions between While and Wend while the specified condition is true. x=1 While x < 11 form.print x x = x + 2 Wend While Condition Series of instructions Wend

Strings and Numbers

Asc() Str () Asc(string) Returns the character code of the first character in string. Str (n) Returns the string representation of the value n. If n is a positive number, Str(n) returns a string with a leading space. To remove the leading space, use LTrim(). Chr (CharCode) Returns the character whose ANSI character code is CharCode. Character codes in the range 0 (zero) to 31, inclusive, match the nonprinting characters of the standard ASCII code. For example, Chr(13) is a carriage return character and Chr(9) is a tab character. The following table lists a few of the special characters you can produce using Chr(). Value Character returned Chr(9) Tab character Chr(11) Newline character (SHIFT+ENTER) Chr(13) Carriage return Chr(32) Space character Chr(34) Quotation mark Val(string) Returns the numeric value of string. A common use of Val() is to convert strings containing digit characters to numbers so they may be used in mathematical formulas. If string does not begin with a digit character, Val() returns 0 (zero). Len(string) Returns the number of characters in string. InStr([Index,] Source, Search) Returns the character position in Source at which Search begins, where 1 corresponds to the first character, 2 to the second character, and so on. If Source does not contain Search, InStr() returns 0 (zero). Argument Explanation Index The character position in Source at which to begin the search. Optional the default is 1 Source The text to be searched. Search The text to search for. Left(Source, Count) Returns the leftmost Count characters of Source. Mid(Source, Start [, Count]) Returns a portion of Source starting at a given character position. Argument Explanation Source The original string. Start The character position in Source where the string you want to return begins. Count The number of characters in the string you want to return. If you do not specify Count, the number of characters to the end of the string is assumed. Right(Source, Count) Returns the rightmost Count characters of Source. Lcase(Source) Returns a string in which all letters of Source have been converted to lowercase. ditto uppercase

Chr ()

Val()

Len() InStr()

Left() Mid()

Right() Lcase() Ucase()

Communication
InputBox () InputBox(Prompt [, Title] [, Default]) Displays a dialog box requesting a single piece of information and returns the text entered in the dialog box when the user chooses the OK button. If the user chooses the Cancel button, an error occurs. You can use the On Error statement to trap the error. Argument Explanation Prompt Text displayed in the dialog box indicating the kind of information requested. Title Text displayed in the title bar of the dialog box (if omitted, Word uses the title "Microsoft Word"). Default Text that initially appears in the text box of the dialog box. This value is returned if the user types nothing before choosing OK.

MsgBox, MsgBox()

MsgBox Message[, Type] [, Title] MsgBox(Message [, Type] [, Title]) The MsgBox statement displays a message in a message box. You can also display a message with the MsgBox() function, which returns a value according to the command button the user chooses in the message box. Use MsgBox() if you need your application to take action based on the user's response. Argument Explanation Message The message to be displayed in the message box. If Message is longer than 255 characters, an error occurs. Type A value representing the symbol and buttons displayed in the box Title The title of the message box. If omitted, "Microsoft Word" is the default title. . Type is the sum of three values, one from each of the following groups. Group Value Meaning Button 0 (zero) OK button (default) 1 OK and Cancel buttons 2 Abort, Retry, and Ignore buttons 3 Yes, No, and Cancel buttons 4 Yes and No buttons 5 Retry and Cancel buttons Symbol 0 (zero) No symbol (default) 16 Stop symbol 32 Question symbol 48 Attention symbol 64 Information symbol Button action 0 (zero) First button is the default 256 Second button is the default 512 Third button is the default

Because the MsgBox statement does not return a value, the use of button values other than 0 (zero) is not recommended. To make use of buttons other than the OK button, use the MsgBox() function. MsgBox() returns the following values. Return value Button chosen Button text -1 First (leftmost) button OK Yes Abort 0 (zero) Second button Cancel No Retry 1 Third button Cancel Ignore

Appendix 2 Creating a list of files Click on Start Run Type in cmd and press Enter, A command window will appear.

Depending on the set up of the machine this may be pointing to the M: drive, so select the drive you require by typing a command such as C: and press enter. Change to required folder by typing a command such as cd docs The type the command dir /s/n > c:\temp\filelist.txt (This creates a list of files in the given folder and all sub folders and writes the output to a file called filelist.txt in the temp folder. Obviously you could change the name and location to wherever you like.) Start up Excel in the normal way and open this file. You will have to tell Excel that you are looking for a text file.

A window like the one to the Right should appear After selecting Fixed Width press Next

Double click on all break lines to remove them, then scroll down the list to find a file name

Click just to the left of the file name to add a column break

Click Finish When the data has loaded, select the first two columns and change the font to Courier new and widen the columns to see the data Save as an excel spreadsheet.