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Three week ago I visited the Newton Excel Bach web site where I spotted the Dynamically Defined Dancing Pendulums NewtonExcelBach.
Having noticed that Doug had done a nice animation in Strand7 (a Finite Element Analysis program) Strand7, I thought “I can do that in Excel” and so I did.
This post will not go through the logic of constructing and animating the pendulums in Excel as I have described that over at Excelhero.com and readers who are interested are encouraged to visit there and explore the techniques used.
During the Pendulum project I came across two sub-projects which I felt are worthy of a post here at Chandoo.org as they are a great demonstration of some basic VBA techniques as well as demonstrating the ability of VBA to quickly simplify repetitive tasks.
Sample files are attached for Excel 97-2003 and Excel 2007/10 users to follow through the examples.
PENDULUM SIDE PROJECTS
The Pendulum project consists of 16 Pendulums. Each Pendulum requires 4 Named Formulas, meaning that the projects needs 64 Named Formulas for the 16 Pendulum, as well as adding 16 Series to the chart.
(The above animated GIF is a very poor representation of the smooth scrolling achieved in the Excel animation)
I thought it would be a great idea to see if these jobs could be automated and hopefully save some time during the process.
The result was 2 simple VBA routines which will be described below:
NAMED FORMULAS
Each Pendulum in the project was based around 4 Named Formulas
Named Formula for each Pendulum
p1Len =’1′!$B$9 The Length is stored on the worksheet.
p1o =OMax*SIN(SQRT(g/p1Len)*t) Current angular position of Pendulum 1 at time t
p1x =p1Len*SIN(p1o)*{0;1} Current orthogonal X position of Pendulum 1 at time t
p1y =-p1Len*COS(p1o)*{0;1} Current orthogonal Y position of Pendulum 1 at time t
The only difference between the formulas for Pendulum 1 and Pendulum 2 etc is the replacement of the names of p1 with p2 in the various Named Formulas and of the associated formulas.
On a worksheet Named Formulas a number of formulas were written which display the Named Formulas as required above. Then a small VBA routine was written which loads the Named Formulas.
How
On the Named Formulas worksheet, I have added two columns of formulas for the various Named Formulas required.
For the Pendulum Length Named Formulas
For the Pendulum Angular Position Named Formulas
For the Pendulum X Position Named Formulas
For the Pendulum Y Position Named Formulas
When the formula above are copied down they adjust for the various pendulums numbered 1 to 16 based on the row numbers.
I then setup a VBA routine, Load_Named_Ranges, shown below which loads the Named Formulas.
To Use
Select some or all of the required Named Formulas from the Name Column. That is the code will only load the Selected Named Formulas, allowing the user to load 1 or 2 Named Formulas, for testing purposes, or all the Named Formulas if you choose.
Then Execute the Load_Named_Ranges subroutine either using the Big Red Button or directly within the VBA Editor.
The following will load Named Formulas p3Len to p7Len.
The Load_Named_Ranges subroutine is shown below:
Sub Load_Named_Ranges() Dim c As Range For Each c In Selection ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add Name:=c.Text, RefersTo:=c.Offset(, 1).Text Next End SubWhat does the code do?
The code:
1. Defines the start and name of the subroutine,
Sub Load_Named_Ranges()
2. Defines a variable c as a Range object,
Dim c As Range
3. It then loops through each cell in the selection and assigns it to the variable ‘c’;
For Each c In Selection
4. It then adds a new Named Formula,extracting the Name from the Text Value of ‘c’ and extracts the formula from the cell directly to the right of cell ‘c’;
ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add Name:=c.Text, RefersTo:=c.Offset(, 1).Text
The Name and Formula (RefersTo) both use the Text of the cell, which is what is displayed.
5. It then loops through each cell in the selection until it has done them all;
Next
6. Defines the end of the subroutine;
End Sub
Lets Test It
To test the subroutine we will first delete all the Named Formulas beginning with “p”
Goto the Formula Ribbon Bar and select Name Manager
Select all the Named Formulas that begin with “P” and press the delete button
Accept any warnings
Try and Run the Pendulum’s
Nothing happens as there are no formulas
Ensure the Pendulum are turned off, as the code is still running behind the scenes.
Now Goto the Named Formulas Page
Select all the Named Formula Names in Name Column; B3:B66
Click the Load Named Formulas, button
Go back to Page 1 and try and run the Pendulums now.
ADD CHART SERIES
The second sub-project was the addition of 16 Chart series to the Chart, 1 for each Pendulum.
Using the logic of the Named Formulas VBA code above, the 16 Chart Series Names, X Values and Y values were developed using formulas on the Add Cht Series worksheet and then loading into a chart using a simple VBA routine.
The Add_Cht_Series subroutine is in the Add Cht Series sheet object in the VBA editor.
How
On the Add Cht Series worksheet, I have added three columns of formulas for the various Named Formulas required.
For the Pendulum Name, X Range and Y Range.
When these formulas are copied down they adjust for the various pendulums numbered 1 to 16.
I have then setup a VBA routine, Add_Chart_Series, shown below which loads the Named Formulas.
To use Select some or all of the required Chart Series from the Pendulum Name column.
Then Execute the Add_Chart_Series subroutine using the big red button.
The Add_Chart_Series subroutine is shown below:
Sub Add_Cht_Series() Dim sNumb As Integer Dim c As Range Worksheets(“1”).ChartObjects(“Chart 5”).Activate For Each c In Worksheets(“Add Cht Series”).Range(“B19:b20”) sNumb = ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.Count + 1 ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.NewSeries ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(sNumb).Name = c.Text ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(sNumb).XValues = c.Offset(, 1).Text ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(sNumb).Values = c.Offset(, 2).Text Next End Sub
What does the code do?
The code:
1. Defines the start and name of the subroutine,
Sub Add_Cht_Series()
2. Defines a variable sNumb as an integer, and a variable c as a Range object
Dim sNumb As Integer Dim c As Range3. It then activates the Chart containing the pendulum
Worksheets(“1”).ChartObjects(“Chart 5”).Activate
4. It then loops through each cell in the Range defined by the Range, in this case B19:B20 and assigns it to the variable ‘c’; You can adjust the Range to suit.
For Each c In Worksheets(“Add Cht Series”).Range(“B19:B20”)
5. It then counts how many existing series are in the chart and sets the next Series Number sNumb to that value + 1.
sNumb = ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.Count + 1
6. The next 4 lines add a new series to the chart and setup the new series Name, X Value and Y Values. The Name, X Value and Y Values are retrieved from the Text of the cell c and the adjacent two cells using a Range Offset modifier
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.NewSeries ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(sNumb).Name = c.Text ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(sNumb).XValues = c.Offset(, 1).Text ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(sNumb).Values = c.Offset(, 2).Text7. It then loops through each cell in the selection until it has done them all;
Next
8. Define the end of the subroutine;
End Sub
Lets Test It
To test the subroutine we will first delete a few of the Chart Series
Select the Chart
Select two Pendulums noting the series Number of the Bobs eg: 9 & 10
Goto the Add Chart Series Worksheet
Note the Range Corresponding to the 2 missing Pendulum B11:B12
Goto the VBA Editor
Adjust the Line
For Each c In Worksheets(“Add Cht Series”).Range(“B11:B12”)
With your cursor in the Subroutine press F5 once only
Go back to Page 1 and you should now have 2 New Pendulum
Run the Pendulums now.
You will have to manually set the shape of the Bobs to a Circle and size 15 and re-arrange the order of the series to ensure they are in order, but you can practice that manually.
SUMMARY
The post has shown how using some very simple VBA and a bit of lateral thinking to put together some simple tools to simplify 2 common and repetitive tasks.
In the Named Formulas case, the code took less than 2 minutes for me to write and then another 5 minutes to do the formulas for the Named Formulas. I didn’t try but I am sure it would have taken a good 20+ minutes to enter 64 Named Formulas.
Writing this post took much longer than doing the whole Pendulum Project.
Two examples during my working career, where VBA code has been used to save massive amounts of time and money:
In the first case I wrote some code to combine data from several hundred workbooks with varying numbers of sheets up to 30 and differing quantities of data on each sheet, a task that could have taken weeks manually with the included opportunity for errors to be introduced, into a subroutine which took 30 minutes to run and gave a printout of the results including what files, sheets and rows of data were included in the import.
In a second case a Number of Workbooks, a Word template and some VBA code was used to replace a person whose sole job was to manage that data. This job saved the company $50k+ per annum and the task was given to a clerical person who could now do the task in their spare time.
LINKS
Huis Excel Hero Pendulum: http://www.excelhero.com/blog/
Pendulum Physics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pend.html
Newton Excel Bach: http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/dancing-pendulums-2/
What could your simplify by using automation within Excel ?
What could you simplify or speedup using Excel automation?
Let us know in the comments below:
40 Responses to “Looking up when the data won’t co-operate (case study)”
Nice Trick.. Clever use of cell references
Here is a formula I tried to create:
=SUMPRODUCT(((NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(L5,B4:H14))))*1),(B5:H15))
It takes care of Caveat #1 (can handle text), but Caveat #2 remains.
In situations like this, I will often use VBA to restructure the data (2 columns: dates and values) on to a new worksheet. I can then use this 'clean' source for data analysis (formula or pivot table).
=SUMPRODUCT(((NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(L5,B4:H14))))*1),(B5:H15)) and complex formulae in general are all very well but when you come back to them in a few weeks / months time, it is not at all easy to see what they do and what the limitations are.
Hi Chandoo,
I had used this type of cell ref. various times while calculating average.
But for the situation here try below formula . Note this is an array formula and must be confirmed with Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
=SMALL(IF(MMULT((L5=B4:H14)*IF(ISNUMBER(B5:H15),B5:H15),{1;1;1;1;1;1;1}),MMULT((L5=B4:H14)*IF(ISNUMBER(B5:H15),B5:H15),{1;1;1;1;1;1;1})),1)
Regards,
Hi, I think Using SEARCH in here will create a problem say there is a text like SUN and another text SUNLIGHT both result will be added by SUMPRODUCT.
Regards,
Array option.
=SUM(IF(MOD(ROW(B4:B14),2)=MOD(ROW(B4),2),IF(B4:H14=L5,B5:H15)))
Regards
@Elias,
Nice approach.
Although not requested - the formula I suggested closes all possibilities.
Criteria: _____ Value to retrieve:
Date__________ Numeric
Date__________Textual
Textual________Numeric
Textual________Textual
While your formula copes with only the 3 first combinations.
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
@Michael,
Sorry but I don’t understand your point. I believe the challenge was to return the summary of a given date. What is your really volatile formula doing that mine is not?
Regards
@Elias,
I didn't say that the challenge differs from what you just mentioned/aimed to nor that your formula doesn't provide the requested result.
Please read my previous comment again and focus on the last combination (TEXT / TEXT).
I, myself, always try to provide a global Formula that is capable to handle all sorts of data.
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
@Michael,
I see your point, but you are missing the below points if you are trying to cover all sorts of data.
What happened if the lookup value does not exist?
Do you want the first, second, summary, concatenation of the values if the look value is repeated?
See they are too many possibilities to be cover with just one formula.
Regards
1) The range: B4:H15 was named: RNG.
2) The following Array Formula was "retrieved from my sleeve" and I hope it can be shorten.
3) The formula seems to take care of BOTH(!) caveats.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=OFFSET(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(SMALL(IF(RNG=L5,ROW(RNG),""),1),MOD(SMALL(IF(RNG=L5,(ROW(RNG))+COLUMN(RNG)/10),1),1)*10)),1,)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
@Michael,
Check what happened with your result if you type 41927 in D5.
Regards
Correct. Didn't predict that.
Will find time to work something out.
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
@Elias,
Let's hope the following Array Formula "closes all open doors".
Again - it has nothing to do with your formula which works fine as long as the 3 first mentioned combinations are concerned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=INDEX(RNG,LARGE(IF(RNG=L5,MOD(ROW(RNG)-1,2)*(ROW(RNG)),""),1)-2,(MOD(SMALL(IF(RNG=L5,(ROW(RNG))+COLUMN(RNG)/10),1),1)*10)-1)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
Ok, if you insist. The following will cover all the scenarios you listed. However, I’ll never recommend/use such of formula.
Defined names:
rDat = $B$4:$H$15
rRow =ROW(rDat)-MIN(ROW(rDat))+1
rCol =COLUMN(rDat)-MIN(COLUMN(rDat))+1
rInc =MOD(rRow,2)=MOD(MIN(rRow),2)
L6=INDEX(rDat,MAX(IF(rInc,IF(rDat=L5,rRow)))+1,MAX(IF(rInc,IF(rDat=L5,rCol))))
Array Enter
Regards
@Michael,
unfortunately, your array formula still seems to return wrong results (eg 3-Nov).
If data are organized like in the example, ie. looks like a calendar, the INDEX formula seems quite simple:
=INDEX($B$4:$H$15,ROUNDDOWN((L5-B4)/7,0)*2+2,MOD((L5-B4),7)+1)
Yours is effectively the same as what I just came up with, and I believe this is the optimal answer to this particular problem.
My solution, before I saw yours:
=OFFSET(B5,QUOTIENT(L5-B4,7)*2,MOD(L5-B4,7))
OFFSET will work for an arbitrary list size, but INDEX might be easier to read.
QUOTIENT does the round and division in a single step.
If there's an improvement over Elias's solution then I for one can't see it.
Perhaps a non-CSE version which would also mean that only two references (B4:H14 and B5:H15), as opposed to three (B4, B4:B14 and and B5:H15), would require manually amending should the data range change, i.e.:
=SUMPRODUCT((ISEVEN(ROW(B4:H14)-MIN(ROW(B4:H14)))*(B4:H14=L5)*B5:H15))
I suppose we could make it a single, uniform range reference:
=SUMPRODUCT((ISEVEN(ROW(B4:H14)-MIN(ROW(B4:H14)))*(B4:H14=L5)*OFFSET(B4:H14,1,,,)))
which might be more appropriate should we e.g. wish to use a Defined Name for our range, i.e.:
=SUMPRODUCT((ISEVEN(ROW(Rng)-MIN(ROW(Rng)))*(Rng=L5)*OFFSET(Rng,1,,,)))
though whether that compensates for the extra, volatile function call is something to be debated.
Regards
I have tried something and then my Excel workbooks got shut down. Maybe that was too much?
Anyway here is what I've tried:
=SUMPRODUCT(INDEX(B5:H15;IF(ISEVEN(ROW(B5:H15));ROW(B5:B15)-ROW(B5)+1);{1\2\3\4\5\6\7}))
Guess that was wrong? Would this approach work anyway?
Looking forward to learn something from you Excel Experts.
Sorry, I haven't took notice of XOR LX's answer. I guess that's kind of what I was looking for.
@Michael Avidan
As it stands that is not a very rigorous construction.
You say "I, myself, always try to provide a global Formula that is capable to handle all sorts of data", which is a wonderful philosophy, but isn't it at least as important that we ensure that our formulas are independent of the row and column references of the data range in question, so that, should that range change, we do not have to re-work our solution?
What happens with your formula, for example, if RNG is instead re-located one row down, from B4:H15 to B5:H16?
When a formula is reliant upon the addition/subtraction of certain constants within the formula, which themselves are necessarily dependent upon the specific rows/columns in which the data lies at any given time (e.g. the -1 in MOD(ROW(RNG)-1,2)), then that formula is not a very flexible one.
Hence the reason for my choice of a slightly longer construction:
ROW(B4:H14)-MIN(ROW(B4:H14))
which ensures that this part of the calculation is not dependent upon the precise location of the data range within the worksheet, and so will give correct answers even if that range is re-located.
Regards
{=OFFSET(B4,MAX((B4:H15=L5)*ISODD(ROW(1:12))*ROW(1:12)),MAX((B4:H15=L5)*ISODD(ROW(1:12))*COLUMN(A:G))-1)}
Non-array formula:
=INDEX(B4:H15,SUMPRODUCT((B4:H15=L5)*(ROW(B4:H15)-ROW(B4)+1)*ISODD(ROW(B4:H15)-ROW(B4)+1))+1,SUMPRODUCT((B4:H15=L5)*(COLUMN(B4:H15)-COLUMN(B4)+1)*ISODD(ROW(B4:H15)-ROW(B4)+1)))
Using one range (B4:H15), one reference (B4), one lookup value (L5) and no INDIRECT or OFFSET.
My trial with defined names:
DateRange
=$B$4:$H$4,$B$6:$H$6,$B$8:$H$8,$B$10:$H$10,$B$12:$H$12,$B$14:$H$14
Position
=RANK('lookup problem'!$L$5,DateRange,1)
L6
=OFFSET(B4,ROUNDUP(Position/7,0)*2- 1,IF(MOD(Position,7)=0,6,MOD(Position,7)-1))
I'd probably just run with something like:
=SUMPRODUCT((B4:H14=L5)*(MOD(ROW(B4:H14),2)=MOD(ROW(B4),2))*B5:H15)
...which is basically the same as Elias' but without the IFs
The opposite of elegant but it works...
=INDEX(B4:H15,IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:B14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,C4:C14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,D4:D14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,E4:E14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,F4:F14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,G4:G14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,H4:H14,0),0)+1,IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:H4,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B6:H6,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B8:H8,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B10:H10,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B12:H12,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B14:H14,0),0))
=INDEX(B4:H15,
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:B14,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,C4:C14,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,D4:D14,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,E4:E14,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,F4:F14,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,G4:G14,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,H4:H14,0),0)+1,
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:H4,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B6:H6,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B8:H8,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B10:H10,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B12:H12,0),0)+
IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B14:H14,0),0))
Named Range
rownum = SUMPRODUCT(('lookup problem'!$B$4:$H$14='lookup problem'!$L$5)*ROW('lookup problem'!$B$4:$H$14)*ISEVEN(ROW('lookup problem'!$B$4:$H$14)))
Formula
=OFFSET($A$1,rownum,MATCH(L5,INDIRECT("$B"&rownum&":$H"&rownum),0))
How about SUM(IF(B4:H14=L5,B5:H15)) with array..it should work
Sorry, Chandoo, you can't find stuff this way in every possible scenario.
What if 2014-10-01 sales would equal 41.927 ? Which is serial number for 2014-10-15 ? SUMIF would fail to retrive correct answer. And your example data suggest that such number is possible in your table.
It's better not to search through dates and numbers at the same time.
If I'd solve a problem like this, it'd reformat table first so I get one column with dates and the other with numbers.
In this case, formula to form date column would be:
=INDIRECT(ADDRESS((INT((ROW()-4)/COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+1)*2+2;MOD(ROW()-4;COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+2;4;1))
and numbers would be the same formula with sight adjustment (+3 instead of +2 at the end of first argument):
=INDIRECT(ADDRESS((INT((ROW()-4)/COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+1)*2+3;MOD(ROW()-4;COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+2;4;1))
And now you got two columns that you can safely use for searching!
Oops, sorry, you actually mentioned that it doesn't work if number=date! I missed that part 🙁
={OFFSET(A1,SUM((B4:H14=L5)*ROW((B4:H14))),SUM((B4:H14=L5)*COLUMN((B4:H14)))-1)}
Works for all data... the solution I got for indirect looks little lengthy
I want to count last 20 records of a person, whose marks is greater than 2 and grade "manager". ....
Assume A1 has got names (James, John...etc...)
A2 "Manager"
A3 "2"
Someone please reply
I want to count last 20 records of a person, whose marks is greater than "2" and grade "Manager"
Assume A1 "geroge" A2 "Michael" A3 "George" etc...name can found anywhere in the rows
B1 "Manager" B2" clerk"
C1 "2" C2, "4"
please reply
Simplest I can come up with. No limitations for either 1 or 2. This does assume dates are an ordered list with 7 per row, and 2 rows per set. Assuming this is always true this will work for an arbitrary long list of dates.
=OFFSET(B5,QUOTIENT($L$5-$B$4,7)*2,MOD($L$5-$B$4,7))
@Marc,
Nice approach - however, as there are no "Negative Dates" - try:
=OFFSET(B5,INT(L5-B4)/7)*2,MOD(L5-B4,7))
——————————————————————————-
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
=OFFSET(B4,ROUNDUP((L5-41911+1)/7,0)*2-1,MOD(L5-41911,7))
B4 has been used as reference cell for OFFSET().
FOR ROWS:
ROUNDUP(....,0) gives the integer value of a division. In case of presence of a remainder, ROUNDUP will add 1 to the Quotient.
As opposed to ROUNDUP(), the INT() or QUOTIENT() functions eliminate the remainder.
41911 = 01-Sept-2014, the first date in the data.
*2 has been used because there are 2 columns per set of data.
/7 has been used because there are 7 columns per set of data.
For columns
MOD(L5-41911,7))
Vijaykumar Shetye,
Panaji, Goa, India
This is how i did it
{=INDEX(B4:H15, MAX((L5=B4:H15)*ROW(B4:H15))-2, MAX((L5=B4:H15)*COLUMN(B4:H15))-1 )}
Here's my solution:
=INDEX(B4:H15,MATCH(1,MMULT(--(B4:H15=L5),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN(B4:H15)^0)),0)+1,MATCH(1,MMULT(TRANSPOSE(--(B4:H15=L5)),ROW(B4:H15)^0),0))
Sorry, forgot to mention Ctrl Shift Enter is needed.