The max number of characters you can use in string in a vba function is 255.
I am trying to run this function
Var1= 1
Var2= 2
.
.
.
Var256 =256
RunMacros= "'Tims_pet_Robot """ & Var1 & """ , """ & Var2 & """ , """ ... """ & Var256 """ '"
Runat=TimeValue("15:00:00")
Application.OnTime EarliestTime:=Runat, Procedure:=RunMacros & RunMacros2 ', schedule:=True
It runs a procedure at a certain time and passes a bunch of variables to it. but the string is too long.
Update:
Regrettably I am sure it is not the watch window.
Also, it isn't really the max size of a string that I'm dealing with. It's the max size of
a string in a vba function.
For example this function works.
Sub test()
Dim RunAt As Date
Dim RunWhat As String
RunAt = Now + 0.00001
RunWhat = "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" & _
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" & _
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" 'that makes 254 'a''s
Application.OnTime EarliestTime:=RunAt, Procedure:="'" & RunWhat & " 12'"
End Sub
Sub aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa(m As Integer)
MsgBox ("it works!" & m)
End Sub
But if you change the 12 to 123 it breaks
Example
Sub test2()
Dim RunAt As Date
Dim RunWhat As String
RunAt = Now + 0.00001
RunWhat = "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" & _
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" & _
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" 'that makes 254 'a''s
Application.OnTime EarliestTime:=RunAt, Procedure:="'" & RunWhat & " 123'"
End Sub
Sub aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa(m As Integer)
MsgBox ("it works!" & m)
End Sub
This code does not work, I'm pretty sure it's because a vba function cannot handle a string with more than 255 chars.
Even if you're in Excel and call a function and give it a string longer that 255 chars it doesn't work.
Try in cell A1 =vlookup("really long string", A1:Z10, 1) and then put the really long string somewhere in that range. The vlookup will fail (not fail to find it, but you won't actually be able to do it)
Also I am aware that there is a max length to a sub name, I'm just under it. Sorry that it look so ugly.
Update 2: so I just ended up printing the variable to a sheet and getting the function called by ontime to read them off the sheet. :(
I may have missed something here, but why can't you just declare your string with the desired size? For example, in my VBA code I often use something like:
Dim AString As String * 1024
which provides for a 1k string. Obviously, you can use whatever declaration you like within the larger limits of Excel and available memory etc.
This may be a little inefficient in some cases, and you will probably wish to use Trim(AString) like constructs to obviate any superfluous trailing blanks. Still, it easily exceeds 256 chars.
This works and shows more than 255 characters in the message box.
Sub TestStrLength()
Dim s As String
Dim i As Integer
s = ""
For i = 1 To 500
s = s & "1234567890"
Next i
MsgBox s
End Sub
The message box truncates the string to 1023 characters, but the string itself can be very large.
I would also recommend that instead of using fixed variables names with numbers (e.g. Var1, Var2, Var3, ... Var255) that you use an array. This is much shorter declaration and easier to use - loops.
Here's an example:
Sub StrArray()
Dim var(256) As Integer
Dim i As Integer
Dim s As String
For i = 1 To 256
var(i) = i
Next i
s = "Tims_pet_Robot"
For i = 1 To 256
s = s & " """ & var(i) & """"
Next i
SecondSub (s)
End Sub
Sub SecondSub(s As String)
MsgBox "String length = " & Len(s)
End Sub
Updated this to show that a string can be longer than 255 characters and used in a subroutine/function as a parameter that way. This shows that the string length is 1443 characters. The actual limit in VBA is 2GB per string.
Perhaps there is instead a problem with the API that you are using and that has a limit to the string (such as a fixed length string). The issue is not with VBA itself.
Ok, I see the problem is specifically with the Application.OnTime method itself. It is behaving like Excel functions in that they only accept strings that are up to 255 characters in length. VBA procedures and functions though do not have this limit as I have shown. Perhaps then this limit is imposed for any built-in Excel object method.
Update:
changed ...longer than 256 characters... to ...longer than 255 characters...
Are you sure? This forum thread suggests it might be your watch window. Try outputting the string to a MsgBox, which can display a maximum of 1024 characters:
MsgBox RunMacros
This test shows that the string in VBA can be at least 10^8 characters long. But if you change it to 10^9 you will fail.
Sub TestForStringLengthVBA()
Dim text As String
text = Space(10 ^ 8) & "Hello world"
Debug.Print Len(text)
text = Right(text, 5)
Debug.Print text
End Sub
So do not be mislead by Intermediate window editor or MsgBox output.
Couldn't you just have another sub that acts as a caller using module level variable(s) for the arguments you want to pass. For example...
Option Explicit
Public strMsg As String
Sub Scheduler()
strMsg = "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
Application.OnTime Now + TimeValue("00:00:01"), "'Caller'"
End Sub
Sub Caller()
Call aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa("It Works! " & strMsg)
End Sub
Sub aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa(strMessage As String)
MsgBox strMessage
End Sub
Excel only shows 255 characters but in fact if more than 255 characters are saved, to see the complete string, consult it in the immediate window
Press Crl + G and type ?RunWhat in the immediate window and press Enter
One of the main causes of this problem that I’ve run into is the fact that the entire procedure-plus-arguments string is limited to 255 characters, including the procedure's containing Excel file specification (automatically added by Excel), which is aggravated by Excel’s brain-dead default specification of the file's full-path\name. So, if you have very deep folder structures (like I do) combined with long-ish, descriptive file names and descriptive folder names (like I often use), then that factor can be a frequent problem when using OnTime.
WORKAROUND: I always (!) explicitly include the containing workbook’s name, which apparently alleviates Excel from having to automatically do so (in its nonsensical manner):
Sub CallOnTime()
Application.OnTime Now + TimeSerial(0, 0, 1), _
"'" & ThisWorkbook.Name & "'!'TargetMacro 37,""Some really long String parameter…""'"
End Sub
Sub TargetMacro(I As Integer, S As String)
MsgBox "I=" & I & ", S=" & S
End Sub
That buys me a lot of string-length real estate to use for the called procedure's arguments.
IMPORTANT: note the inclusion and position of the single-quoted bang delimiter ('!') in the above example.
My guess is that the original designer chose to include the full file-path along with the procedure's containing file name to avoid identification ambiguity with other workbooks running under the same instance of the Excel application. But that's a nonsensical rationale because Excel doesn't allow multiple workbooks with the same name to be opened under a single instance, even if they exist under different folder paths (which, of course, they would have to).
Some additional space-saving tips:
If the parameters include a worksheet specification, use its numeric
sheet Index property instead of its name.
Eliminate any space characters around the comma delimiters.
Related
how can I extract a few words separated by symbols in a string so that nothing is extracted if the symbols change?
for example I wrote this code:
function split(str)
result = {};
for match in string.gmatch(str, "[^%<%|:%,%FS:%>,%s]+" ) do
table.insert(result, match);
end
return result
end
--------------------------Example--------------------------------------------
str = "<busy|MPos:-750.222,900.853,1450.808|FS:2,10>"
my_status={}
status=split(str)
for key, value in pairs(status) do
table.insert(my_status,value)
end
print(my_status[1]) --
print(my_status[2]) --
print(my_status[3]) --
print(my_status[4]) --
print(my_status[5]) --
print(my_status[6]) --
print(my_status[7]) --
output :
busy
MPos
-750.222
900.853
1450.808
2
10
This code works fine, but if the characters and text in the str string change, the extraction is still done, which I do not want to be.
If the string change to
str = "Hello stack overFlow"
Output:
Hello
stack
over
low
nil
nil
nil
In other words, I only want to extract if the string is in this format: "<busy|MPos:-750.222,900.853,1450.808|FS:2,10>"
In lua patterns, you can use captures, which are perfect for things like this. I use something like the following:
--------------------------Example--------------------------------------------
str = "<busy|MPos:-750.222,900.853,1450.808|FS:2,10>"
local status, mpos1, mpos2, mpos3, fs1, fs2 = string.match(str, "%<(%w+)%|MPos:(%--%d+%.%d+),(%--%d+%.%d+),(%--%d+%.%d+)%|FS:(%d+),(%d+)%>")
print(status, mpos1, mpos2, mpos3, fs1, fs2)
I use string.match, not string.gmatch here, because we don't have an arbitrary number of entries (if that is the case, you have to have a different approach). Let's break down the pattern: All captures are surrounded by parantheses () and get returned, so there are as many return values as captures. The individual captures are:
the status flag (or whatever that is): busy is a simple word, so we can use the %w character class (alphanumeric characters, maybe %a, only letters would also do). Then apply the + operator (you already know that one). The + is within the capture
the three numbers for the MPos entry each get (%--%d+%.%d+), which looks weird at first. I use % in front of any non-alphanumeric character, since it turns all magic characters (such as + into normal ones). - is a magic character, so it is required here to match a literal -, but lua allows to put that in front of any non-alphanumerical character, which I do. So the minus is optional, so the capture starts with %-- which is one or zero repetitions (- operator) of a literal - (%-). Then I just match two integers separated by a dot (%d is a digit, %. matches a literal dot). We do this three times, separated by a comma (which I don't escape since I'm sure it is not a magical character).
the last entry (FS) works practically the same as the MPos entry
all entries are separated by |, which I simply match with %|
So putting it together:
start of string: %<
status field: (%w+)
separator: %|
MPos (three numbers): MPos:(%--%d+%.%d+),(%--%d+%.%d+),(%--%d+%.%d+)
separator: %|
FS entry (two integers): FS:(%d+),(%d+)
end of string: %>
With this approach you have the data in local variables with sensible names, which you can then put into a table (for example).
If the match failes (for instance, when you use "Hello stack overFlow"), nil` is returned, which can simply be checked for (you could check any of the local variables, but it is common to check the first one.
I have a problem with mysql and certain characters. If a user enters "hello ●", I obtain this error:
Mysql2::Error: Incorrect string value: '\\xE2\\x97\\x8F he...' for column 'subject'
I would like to exclude all characters whose bytesize is greater than two, i.e., keep French characters like é, à, ç, and remove emojis or characters like ●.
Given string = "hèllö>●!", I would like to obtain "hèllö>!". In order to do so, I wrote this:
def bytesize(var)
var.each_char do |char|
puts char.bytesize
end
end
bytesize(string)
1
2
1
1
2
1
3
1
# => "hèllö>●!"
which is not what I expected. What is the best way to remove from all characters whose the bytesize is greater than two from a string?
I don't do that in the model because I can manage this with a gem, but my problem appears when a job wants to put the string in the logs of Amazon SES.
Elaborating on OP's efforts, not using regular expressions:
string = "hèllö>●!"
cleaned = string.each_char.with_object("") do |char, str|
str << char unless char.bytesize > 2
end
p cleaned
I suspect that you are getting that error message because you have the wrong column text encoding. If you are using Unicode in your system, and this day and age you should be, your column type should be utf8mb4. See this on how to change your column types.
Taking your comment into account the following will remove any characters outside the BMP
sentence.gsub(/[\u{10000}-\u{10FFFF}]/,'')
I'm writing a VBA macro to update ONLY SEQ fields in Word 2013 documents. I designed it to use GoTo to visit each SEQ field one at a time from start to end of the document (NOT Update All) to ensure that I skip other field types. I'm struggling to make it loop for each SEQ field until the end of the document is reached. I want it to work in any document, regardless of bookmarks or other end markers.
Here's the code I have so far (With comments):
ActiveWindow.View.FieldShading = wdFieldShadingAlways
'go to top of document
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
'Go To the first SEQ field
Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToField, Which:=wdGoToNext, Count:=1, Name:="SEQ"
' Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
'as long as there are more field codes, update this one and go to the next one
Do While Selection.GoToNext.wdGoToField = True
Selection.Fields.Update
Loop
It's a bit late, but your question came up when I was looking for the same answer. :-)
For flexibility, the actual work is done as a function, where the field code is received as a string. That way I can call the function with any desired field code, not necessarily a specific SEQ or any field code at all.
Function UpdateSpecificFields(MyFieldCode As String)
Dim MyField As Field
For Each MyField In ActiveDocument.Fields
' Debug.Print """" & MyField.Code & """" & MyField.Result
If InStr(1, MyField.Code, MyFieldCode) <> 0 Then
MyField.Update
End If
Next MyField
End Function
We're looping through all the fields within the active document. You could include a test of whether MyField.Type = wdFieldSequence to reduce the unnecessary work.
The InStr is there in case of odd spacing; sometimes the field creator might include an extra space before or after the code itself, so I didn't want to be too literal. (I suppose there should have been a trim() to get rid of said spaces but I was getting a little lazy.)
Usage: Call the function from a sub.
Sub UpdateSEQQs()
UpdateSpecificFields ("SEQ Qs")
End Sub
I have a SEQ called Qs, so you can see how it was called above. Hope this helps someone!
I have placed the following in cell A1:
"a lot of text marker: xxx some more text"
I would like to copy the xxx value into cell A2.
Any suggestions on how this could be done?
Thanks
=MID(A1, FIND("marker:",A1) + LEN("marker:"), 4)
I am assuming that the xxx (per your example) is 3 characters long and a space is present between "marker:" and "xxx".
Just my two cents. Find() is case sensitive so if the text in A1 is
"a lot of text Marker: xxx some more text"
Then Find will give you an error.
You can use Search() in lieu of FIND()
=MID(A1, SEARCH("marker: ",A1) + LEN("marker: "), 3)
Also depending upon your regional settings you might have to use ";" instead of ","
If you wanted a VBA solution, this worked for me using your sample input:
Function GetValue(rng As Excel.Range) As String
Dim tempValue As String
Dim arrValues() As String
' get value from source range
tempValue = rng.value
' split by ":" character
arrValues = Split(tempValue, ":")
' split by spaces and take the second array element
' because there is a space between ":" and "xxx"
GetXXXValue = Trim$(Split(arrValues(1), " ")(1))
End Function
To use, put this code into the sheet module (see Where do I paste the code that I want to use in my workbook for placement assistance) and then put the following into cell A2:
=GetValue(A1)
I've been given a large file with a funny CSV format to parse into a database.
The separator character is a semicolon (;). If one of the fields contains a semicolon it is "escaped" by wrapping it in doublequotes, like this ";".
I have been assured that there will never be two adjacent fields with trailing/ leading doublequotes, so this format should technically be ok.
Now, for parsing it in VBScript I was thinking of
Replacing each instance of ";" with a GUID,
Splitting the line into an array by semicolon,
Running back through the array, replacing the GUIDs with ";"
It seems to be the quickest way. Is there a better way? I guess I could use substrings but this method seems to be acceptable...
Your method sounds fine with the caveat that there's absolutely no possibility that your GUID will occur in the text itself.
On approach I've used for this type of data before is to just split on the semi-colons regardless then, if two adjacent fields end and start with a quote, combine them.
For example:
Pax;is;a;good;guy";" so;says;his;wife.
becomes:
0 Pax
1 is
2 a
3 good
4 guy"
5 " so
6 says
7 his
8 wife.
Then, when you discover that fields 4 and 5 end and start (respectively) with a quote, you combine them by replacing the field 4 closing quote with a semicolon and removing the field 5 opening quote (and joining them of course).
0 Pax
1 is
2 a
3 good
4 guy; so
5 says
6 his
7 wife.
In pseudo-code, given:
input: A string, first character is input[0]; last
character is input[length]. Further, assume one dummy
character, input[length+1]. It can be anything except
; and ". This string is one line of the "CSV" file.
length: positive integer, number of characters in input
Do this:
set start = 0
if input[0] = ';':
you have a blank field in the beginning; do whatever with it
set start = 2
endif
for each c between 1 and length:
next iteration unless string[c] = ';'
if input[c-1] ≠ '"' or input[c+1] ≠ '"': // test for escape sequence ";"
found field consting of half-open range [start,c); do whatever
with it. Note that in the case of empty fields, start≥c, leaving
an empty range
set start = c+1
endif
end foreach
Untested, of course. Debugging code like this is always fun….
The special case of input[0] is to make sure we don't ever look at input[-1]. If you can make input[-1] safe, then you can get rid of that special case. You can also put a dummy character in input[0] and then start your data—and your parsing—from input[1].
One option would be to find instances of the regex:
[^"];[^"]
and then break the string apart with substring:
List<string> ret = new List<string>();
Regex r = new Regex(#"[^""];[^""]");
Match m;
while((m = r.Match(line)).Success)
{
ret.Add(line.Substring(0,m.Index + 1);
line = line.Substring(m.Index + 2);
}
(Sorry about the C#, I don't known VBScript)
Using quotes is normal for .csv files. If you have quotes in the field then you may see opening and closing and the embedded quote all strung together two or three in a row.
If you're using SQL Server you could try using T-SQL to handle everything for you.
SELECT * INTO MyTable FROM OPENDATASOURCE('Microsoft.JET.OLEDB.4.0',
'Data Source=F:\MyDirectory;Extended Properties="text;HDR=No"')...
[MyCsvFile#csv]
That will create and populate "MyTable". Read more on this subject here on SO.
I would recommend using RegEx to break up the strings.
Find every ';' that is not a part of
";" and change it to something else
that does not appear in your fields.
Then go through and replace ";" with ;
Now you have your fields with the correct data.
Most importers can swap out separator characters pretty easily.
This is basically your GUID idea. Just make sure the GUID is unique to your file before you start and you will be fine. I tend to start using 'Z'. After enough 'Z's, you will be unique (sometimes as few as 1-3 will do).
Jacob