A common Forum question and one that Chandoo has written about a few times is, Does my data overlap with another range?
Last week, Pradhishnair, asked in the Chandoo.org Forums “I need to find if the values between range D2:E2 are overlapping in any of the following rages, if yes then where? (may be row number)”
I answered with an array formula:
{=”Overlap Row S.no. = ” &MIN(IF((D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, (A3:$A$41)))}
Which returns ether:
Overlap Row S.no. = x (If there is an overlap)
or
Overlap Row S.no. = 0 (If there is no overlap)
So today in Formula Forensics we will take a look at how the above formula works with a worked example.
Chainage
As always you can follow along with a worked example. This is a subset of Pradhishnair’s Data to simplify the length of the equations, but otherwise is the same as the original post: Download Here
Pradhishnair’s data consists of a list of chainages. Chainages are measurements of distances from a fixed point and relate to a segment of something. Chainage From is to the closest end of the segment and and Chainage To is to the furthest end of the segment and by default these are in order, that is To is always greater than From.
Using this we can check for overlapping data by simply checking if the From is less than the remaining To’s or the To value is greater than the remaining From’s
This is done for each row compared to the remaining rows of data by the array formula
=”Overlap Row S.no.: ” & MIN(IF((D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, (A3:$A$41))) Ctrl Shift enter
We can see that the above equation simply joins
“Overlap Row S.no.: “
To the result of
MIN(IF((D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, (A3:$A$41)))
Using the & operator
It will return:
Overlap Row S.no. = 0 if there is no overlap
Or
Overlap Row S.no. = x If there is an overlap.
So the function
MIN(IF((D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, (A3:$A$41)))
Is used to return the minimum value of an If() formula which is its only component
The If() statement usually has three components:
=If( Condition, Value if True, Value if False)
In our case, I will evaluate Row 2, Particularly Cell G2, against the remaining entries in the two lists.
=If((D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, (A3:$A$41))
Condition: (D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0
Value if True: (A3:$A$41), This is just the S.No. in Column A
Value if False: Note that the If statement has no Value if it is False, I could put any value there eg: -1 or 0, but Excel evaluates it to 0 anyway so it hasn’t been used.
The If Statement says If (D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, then return (A3:$A$41)
What the condition is saying is If the To Data in the Current Row, Row 2, is Greater than or equal to the other From Values or the From Data in the Current Row, Row 2, is Less than the other To Value, Then this is True
To check this, in Cell I2, enter =(D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) and evaluate it with F9 instead of Enter
Excel returns ={1;1;0;0;0;0;0;0;0}
Excel is showing us that the first and second entries have overlapping data.
Which we can see if we look at the data
The >0 at the end of the (D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, transforms the array of 0’s and 1’s to an array of Falses and Trues
To check this, in I3, enter =(D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2)>0 and evaluate it with F9 instead of Enter
Excel returns ={TRUE;TRUE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE}
Now the If Statement will be True for the first two entries in the array and so will evaluate the Value if True component of the If Formula: (A3:$A$41)
We can check this
In cell I4 enter
=IF((D3:$D$41<=E2) *(E3:$E$41>=D2) >0, (A3:$A$41)) and press F9 instead of Enter
Excel returns
={2;3;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE}
Which is the array of S.No’s which match our criteria
Now Min comes in
=MIN({2;3;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE})
Min returns the Minimum of these which is 2.
And that is appended to “Overlap Row S.No. = “
To return the answer: Overlap Row S.No. = 2
Which is the first overlapping row with Row 1
Custom Number Formats
You may have noticed that the numbers in Pradhishnair’s worksheet look a bit odd with a + in the middle: eg: D3 displays 142+000
Pradhishnair is using a Custom Number Format of #+000
Select a Cell, eg D2, Press Ctrl 1, Select the Number Tab
If you select these cells and Press F2 Excel will show that the cells value is 142000
But Excel is using the custom Number format of #+000 to display the number with 3 digits after the +
Links to Overlapping Data Posts
http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/06/01/date-overlap-formulas/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/03/09/ec1-machine-scheduling-in-excel/
Download
You can download a copy of the above file and follow along, Download Here.
Other Formula Forensics Posts
You can learn more about how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts
We Need Your Help
I received 3 ideas over the Xmas break from readers, and these will feature in coming weeks.
However I do need more ideas for the rest of 2012 and so I need your help.
If you have a neat formula that you would like to share and explain, try putting pen to paper and draft up a Post as Luke did in Formula Forensics 003. or like above.
If you have a formula that you would like explained but don’t want to write a post also send it in to Chandoo or Hui.
ps: I’m traveling to Esperance; Western Australia for a short holiday with the family but have left a neat Formula Forensic for you for next week.
38 Responses to “Time to showoff your VBA skills – Help me fix ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert snafu”
I tried your code with 2003, it works.
But, I know Addpicture does not take URLs anymore with 2007 onwards, perhaps its the same with picture.insert as well.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928983/en-us
The above link gives the solution as "picture fill in a shape such as a rectangle".
Tried to recreate this, but it worked fine for me. I just took the image of the error you showed in the post. Is there more info that can narrow this down a bit?
Don't know if this helps?
http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=47101
Hi
Not sure if this is what you're after, but I just tried this
Sub Macro1()
ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif").Select
End Sub
Tied a button to it on the sheet and it seems to work; hope this helps a little
Ian
@All.. the issue is in Excel 2007. In 2003 ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert seems to work fine. Unfortunately, I have design this in Excel 2007.. that is why I posted it here..
v2
Sub Macro1()
Set n = ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif")
With Range("c12")
t = .Top
l = .Left
End With
With n
.Top = t
.Left = l
End With
End Sub
Ian
That didn't come out very well. This positions at c12, so can change easily:
Sub Macro1()
Set n = ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif")
With Range("c12")
t = .Top
l = .Left
End With
With n
.Top = t
.Left = l
End With
End Sub
Works OK in 2007
Ian
The above codes work fines to my EXCEL 2007. Thanks.
Chandoo:
Try 'ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert'
With ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("C:\Example.png")
.Left = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Left
.Top = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Top
End With
activesheet.pictures.insert "C:\Documents and Settings\Jon Peltier\Desktop\2007 stuff\insert_charts_2007.png"
Works for me in 2003 SP3 and in 2007 SP2.
Check the URL, and make sure you have internet connectivity.
What also works, and is newer (pictures.insert was supposedly deprecated in '97):
activesheet.shapes.addpicture "C:\Documents and Settings\Jon Peltier\Desktop\2007 stuff\insert_charts_2007.png", false, true, 200,200,100,100
Unfortunately you must specify dimensions (the last four arguments) and you don't necessarily know them. But the picture size is still related back to the original picture size, so you could use scaleheight and scalewidth to fix this.
Chandoo: I just re-read your post.
The code I posted works for me. However, I'm using a local picture. If you try to add a picture from the web, this won't work.
I remember solving this problem before by adding a rectangle shape first, then using the Shapes.AddPicture method to get a picture from the web.
I'll find that code and post it here.
Some more updates... The code "ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert (path)" works fine in Excel 2007 at home. Strange it failed miserably on my work laptop. Do you think this has got something to do with SP2 of MS Office 2007 or something like that?
@Ian, Jon: Thanks for the code snippets. I guess I will use my home installation of excel to do this.
Chandoo:
Try this on your work laptop:
Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle, 50, 50, 100, 200
ActiveSheet.Shapes(1).Fill.UserPicture _
"http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/images/dpwithPig6.png"
End Sub
FYI:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928983/en-us
I didn't mean to post code with a local file, because both approaches worked with an internet image as well. This is in Excel 2007 SP2.
activesheet.pictures.insert "http://peltiertech.com/images/2009-07/col_area_noblanks.png"
Jon: Looks like I have SP1 on my client machine! I wasn't paying attention.
Just checked my home computer where I have SP2, and you're right...looks like they fixed it.
I didn't even bother testing in SP1, though I could if anyone cares enough.
I'm afraid I don't have a solution, but I find it remarkable that after attaining a certain status in the Excel world, Chandoo does not need to post on an Excel discussion forum to get help for an Excel problem. Instead, he posts on his blog and all the gurus come rushing to his help.
Isn't Web 2.0 great?
Teylyn - I saw Chandoo's tweet first, and followed the link back to his blog.
@Mike.. thank you. I have seen the fill rectangle solution before posting the query here. For that matter, I have also tried the solution of embedding a browser control on a spreadsheet. both of these seemed a bit extreme. That is why I have asked it here.
But I guess I will end up using it if I had to build this in work laptop.
@Teylyn: I have thought of posting this in a forum. (Unfortunately I have not been to any excel group in the last 5 years. Last time I was active was when I built a jave based excel sheet construction solution using POI.HSSF classes of Apache... ) After searching for a few hours, I found several forum posts where others had same problem and the solution recommended (using .left and .top parameters) is not working for me. Incidentally most of these solutions are from a certain Jon Peltier 😛
I thought may be the problem is interesting for fellow blog readers. So I posted it here.
Hi,
Adapting the code in the question,
[code]
Sub InsPicture()
pPath = "http://chandoo.org/images/pointy-haired-dilbert-excel-charts-tips.png"
With ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath)
.Left = Range("a1").Left
.Top = Range("a1").Top
End With
End Sub
[/code]
Seems to work fine
Looks like it was a problem in 2007 up to SP1, which was corrected in SP2.
@Jon.. seems like the case. I just checked the version at work laptop. it is 12.0.6331.5000 (SP1).
Thank you so much every one. I really appreciate your time and suggestions in solving this.
Glad to help. I couldn't understand why something so straightforward wasn't working.
Hi All
Is there a way of inserting a motion clip eg animated gif or swf or flv?
Thks
You can insert animated GIFs by inserting them in a browser control through VBA. For other types of movies, I can guess you can insert them as clip art.
I WANT THE INSERT PICTURE BY USING COADING
so currently i was struggling same as you, chandoo, with the insert picture method in excel 2007/10 from an url and came along your thread here.
so i re-designed the code on the addshape method as mike was suggesting it and all of the sudden it works just fine.
thanks alot to you guys, you were a great help
a big salut from switzerland
Hi guys,
I need help copying and pasting an image with the path in a cell.
I leave the code.
And thank you very much!
Sub Copiarimg()
Dim pic As Picture
With ActiveSheet
Set pic = .Pictures.Insert(Range("f2").Value)
With .Range("e9:g22")
pic.Top = .Top
pic.Left = .Left
pic.Width = .Width
pic.Height = .Height
End With
End Sub
I've played around with the approaches in these comments, and the code below is what I've come up with. The ImagePath can be a local file or a URL. As Jon mentioned above, the trick is to set an arbitrary value for the width and height, then call the ScaleWidth and ScaleHeight methods afterward to reset the picture to its original size. Once the LockAspectRatio property is set, you can change the picture width and the height will automatically scale (or vice-versa).
Sub AddPictureToRange(TopLeftCellAddress As String, ImagePath As String)
Dim pic As Shape
Dim l As Single, t As Single
Dim temp As Single
l = Me.Range(TopLeftCellAddress).Left
t = Me.Range(TopLeftCellAddress).Top
temp = 10# ' arbitrary value
Set pic = Me.Shapes.AddPicture(ImagePath, msoFalse, msoTrue, l, t, temp, temp)
pic.ScaleHeight 1#, msoTrue
pic.ScaleWidth 1#, msoTrue
pic.LockAspectRatio = msoTrue
End Sub
I need some help with inserting pictures. I have an excel file with a column of item numbers next to this row I want to insert a picture of this item. The pictures are coded with the item number so I tried to insert it with one of the codes above:
Sub InsPicture()
pPath = "http://img.bricklink.com/P/80/55236.gif"
With ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath)
End With
End Sub
That worked but I need to do that for every row separtly.
So I tried in the code
pPath = "http://img.bricklink.com/P/80/"&Text(a1;"#")&".gif"
But that gives errors.
Anybody ideas?
Hi Nicholas, I used your solution in a related problem in Excel 2003 and it worked flawlessly..thank you!
Hi Mike Alexander,
Your solution with some changes was helpful in my problem in XL 2007, thanks.
Hi,
thanks all. In addition, I had a problem with multiple pictures inserting (every new picture replaced the prior one). I've changed it a bit, may be helpful..
Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle, 50 , 50, 100, 200
ActiveSheet.Shapes(1).Fill.UserPicture _
"http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/images/dpwithPig6.png"
ActiveSheet.Shapes(1).Copy
ActiveSheet.Paste
End Sub
Try this instead:
Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle, 50 , 50, 100, 200
ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture _
"http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/images/dpwithPig6.png"
End Sub
Thanks to everyone, this thread has been very helpful. However, image inserting still doesn't work quite as expect for me.
While I can get a picture inserted into an Excel 2010 worksheet using either:
1) ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture...
2) ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath), and
3) Shapes.AddPicture...
unfortunately the images all insert with a display size determined not by the actual pixel dimensions of the image but by the dpi resolution.
So for example, if I insert two copies of the exact same 600x600 pixel image, one with a 300dpi resolution and the other with 72dpi, they display at vastly different sizes on screen.
While this might be intended behaviour for Excel in order to maintain a WSYWIG printing layout, I actually need a way to insert the image based on the the actual pixel dimesnsions and ignoring the dpi resolution.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Kez
Not doing an intentional bump, but realised I posted in rely to one of the repsonses here instead of to the main thread, so reposting.
=====
Thanks to everyone, this thread has been very helpful. However, image inserting still doesn’t work quite as expected for me.
While I can get a picture inserted into an Excel 2010 worksheet using any of the below methods:
1) ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture....
2) ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath), and
3) Shapes.AddPicture....
unfortunately the images all insert with a display size determined not by the actual pixel dimensions of the image but by the dpi resolution.
So for example, if I insert two copies of the exact same 600×600 pixel image, one with a 300dpi resolution and the other with 72dpi, they display at vastly different sizes in Excel on screen.
While this might be intended behaviour for Excel in order to maintain a WYSIWYG printing layout, I actually need a way to insert the images based on the the actual pixel dimesnsions and ignoring the dpi resolution.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Kez
Well, answered my own question 🙂
For those who might be interested, you can use this function:
Public Function GetPicDims(strFilePath As String, strFileName As String) As String
GetPicDims = CreateObject("Shell.Application").Namespace((strFilePath)). _
ParseName(strFileName).ExtendedProperty("Dimensions")
End Function
to get the dimensions of the image you want to insert. Then you can parse the return string and use the width and height values to add a rectangle shape of the appropraite size, like:
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle 50, 50, iWidth, iHeight
which you then fill with the picture:
ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture "c:\temp\test.jpg"
This way the picture gets inserted using the pixel dimensions and the (print) resolution gets ignored.
If desired, the GetPicDims function can be made more generic to get other ExtendedProperties.
Regards
Kez