Last night I asked members of our Chandoo.org facebook page to share an Excel problem you are struggling with. Francis asked,
How to save a file as .txt in vba without quotes? When I save as .txt, the file has got quotes inside of it. I used the code Print, but it didnt work because the file loses its delimitation.
Does anyone know how to solve this?
Let’s understand how to save a range as text and overcome the double quote problem.
Saving a range as Text – the easy way
Say you have a file like this:
The easy option is to save your worksheet as text file using below macro.
Sub saveText()
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs filename:= _
ThisWorkBook.Path & "\textfile-" & Format(Now, "ddmmyy-hhmmss") & ".txt", FileFormat:=xlText, _
CreateBackup:=False
End Sub
While this works, it has 2 problems.
- It exports the entire current worksheet.
- It adds double quotes “” to text values or formatted cells.
So you get this.
Saving a range as Text – the proper way
We can create a blank text file using VBA and write the range data values in to that file. This way we will have full control over what goes in to the file and how it’s formatted.
Here is the code:
Sub saveText2()
Dim filename As String, lineText As String
Dim myrng As Range, i, j
filename = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\textfile-" & Format(Now, "ddmmyy-hhmmss") & ".txt"
Open filename For Output As #1
Set myrng = Range("data")
For i = 1 To myrng.Rows.Count
For j = 1 To myrng.Columns.Count
lineText = IIf(j = 1, "", lineText & ",") & myrng.Cells(i, j)
Next j
Print #1, lineText
Next i
Close #1
End Sub
Let’s understand the code…
Create a file name
We take the current workbook path and set up textfile-time stamp.txt in that directory.
Note, the time stamp portion is dynamic and changes every time you run the code.
We then open the file using Open filename For Output As #1 line.
This sets up a new file and opens it for us to write anything we want.
Loop thru range data and write values to the file
We loop thru each and every cell of the range("data"). We need to take all the values in a row and concatenate them with delimiter comma (,).
This is done in nested for loops (related: Introduction to For loop- Excel VBA)
We loop thru each column in a row and construct lineText.
We then print this lineText to file #1 using,
Print #1, lineText
Finally we close the file.
The end result
This is what we get.
Download Save Text example macro
Click here to download the example workbook. Examine the savetext macro to learn more.
How do you create text files using VBA?
Do you create text / CSV / TSV files from Excel data? How do you automate the process? Please share your tips and ideas in the comments section.
Learn more powerful ways to use VBA:
13 Responses to “Gantt Box Chart Tutorial & Template – Download and Try today”
Hi Chandoo
As one of your students I have followed your detailed example through with great success. However, Excel is acting in an unexpected way and I wonder if you could take a look?
http://cid-95d070c79aef808e.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Gantt%20Box%20Chart.xlsm
On my version, I have to type 40239 (Which equates to 2 Mar 2010) to get the chart to display 31 May 2010 (which should be 40329)!!??
Have I done something wrong or is Excel acting up?
Thx
Oli
PS Your example file in 2007 displays correctly.
Hi,
I like this idea a lot, but I agree the name is a little drab.
As an American I may just be seeing things, but to me the combination of lines and bars on your chart looks like a bunch of cricket bats.
Maybe you could work that into a catchier name. 🙂
Cheers!
Here is some code I use to keep the axis synched.
It may be useful to some of your readers
It is based on a comment I saw on Daily Dose of Excel.
Function SynchGanttAxis(Cname, lower, upper)
'Sets the X min and X max for Category axis
Application.Volatile
On Error Resume Next
'
'Top Horizontal Axis
With ActiveSheet.Shapes(Cname).Chart.Axes(xlCategory, 1)
.MinimumScale = lower
.MaximumScale = upper
End With
'Bottom Horizontal Axis
With ActiveSheet.Shapes(Cname).Chart.Axes(xlValue, 2)
.MinimumScale = lower
.MaximumScale = upper
End With
End Function
Function SynchVerticalAxis(Cname, lower, upper)
Application.Volatile
On Error Resume Next
' Excel 2007 only
'Right hand vertical axis
With ActiveSheet.Shapes(Cname).Chart.Axes(xlValue, 1)
.MinimumScale = 0
.MaximumScale = upper
End With
End Function
@Oli.. Can you check your file again.. I see 40329...
@Dave: Even I saw things.. the bars actually looked like lollipops. How about calling this lollipop chart - now that would be yummy and goes along the tradition of naming charts after eatables (bar, pie, donut...)
@Bob: Superb stuff... thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Chandoo
This looks really good and I think it can also be applied to show project phases / milestones.
Question: Thinking further could this be amended to display a project lifecycle (Idea through to Implementation say 7 phases) on one bar / row? Just imagine 20 projects within a programme all on one chart one bar each showing their respective lifecycle stages i.e. on one page.
Idea: As the Gantt Box Chart this is quite intensive to set up re formatting etc how about the added extra of once you have completed this to "Save as template" i.e. saves the formatting and layout of the chart as a template so you can apply to future charts. Simple to do and will save the time formatting etc again and again and again.
Therefore tip: Click on your chart demo and then click on Save As template icon (2007) - edit file name and click on save. Ready to use / apply via Templates in Change Chart Type window.
Thanks and be very interested if the lifecycle question can be resolved
Mike
How embarrassing.
I was obviously suffering from numerical dyslexia. I was one of those days.
@Mike H: You can easily make this chart to work like a generic project lifecycle plan chart. All you have to do is,
1. in a separate sheet define the steps of lifecycle and various dates in a table (with 5 columns for each of the projects you have).
2. now use a control cell to input the project name you want to show in the chart
3. based on the input, use OFFSET Formulas to get the correct data
4. Rest is same as the tutorial above
For more info on the dynamic charting visit http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/dynamic-charts/ and http://chandoo.org/wp?s=OFFSET
Your solution is really smart but in the en Excel isn't meant to do stuff like this. I, as a former PM, always thought is was frustrating that you had to do stuff like this for something simple like a Gantt chart. So I built Tom's Planner. And would like to plug it here. I think it really solves the problem you are trying to solve in the most efficient way. Check out http://www.tomsplanner.com for a free account or play around with the demo.
Hi there,
Chandoo - this is really a very nice and helpfull chart - I adopted it, so I can report a forecast or the delay of a certain task (coming from my role as an auditor for projects).
One topic I´m currently struggeling with: I do have a project lasting for lets say 12 month. For a management reporting, I want to have kind of snapshot, lets say one month back and 2 month in the future. I tried with the offset formula, but failed. Any idea?
Thx
Lopi
[...] Ein viel geliebter Klassiker ist die Erstellung von GANTT-Diagrammen mit Excel. Wir hatten das Thema wiederholt schon hier. Chandoo.org hat sich mal wieder mit einer neuen Variante hervorgetan: Das GANTT-Box-Chart. [...]
[...] [...]
Hi Chandoo - fantastic xls. One thing I can't figure out how to do is adjust the alignment of the vertical axis. I would like to left align so that I could indent to represent sub tasks. Can that be done? Or is there a better way?
I've been trying to work out if there's a way to show weekends on the graph. The closest thing I've got is to add them on a secondary axis, but then I haven't been able to keep both axis lined up together! Any ideas?
Following on from this - is it possible to show things like holidays?