XL2000: Custom Function to Turn Nonadjacent Cells into an Array

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This article was previously published under Q213403

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, you can create a custom function that will turn a nonadjacent selection of cells into an array. This is useful with many of the built-in Microsoft Excel functions that require a single range or an array as input when the data on the worksheet is not contained in a contiguous range.

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MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:

Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104 (https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104)

Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice)

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms)

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Sample Visual Basic Procedure

This MakeArray function can use any contiguous range of cells as its arguments. Nonadjacent ranges are separated by commas.

Function MakeArray(ParamArray CellAddress()) As Variant
   ' Declaration of function variables.
   Dim Temp As Variant
   Dim TheArray() As Variant
   Dim Count As Integer, Ver as Integer
   Dim W As Integer, X As Integer, Y As Integer, Z As Integer

   ' Initialize the Count variable.
   Count = 1
   ' Set the variable Ver = 0 if the version of Microsoft Excel is
   ' greater than 8 (8 is Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows).
   If Left(Application.Version, Len(Application.Version) - 1) >= 8 Then
      Ver = 0
   Else
      Ver = 1
   End If
   ' Set variable X from Ver to the total number of arguments in
   ' the CellAddress array.
   For X = Ver To UBound(CellAddress, 1)
      ' Temp equals the first element of the CellAddress array.
      Set Temp = CellAddress(X)

      ' Test Temp to see whether it is an array.
      If IsArray(Temp) Then

         ' If Temp is an array, set Y from 1 to the total number
         ' arguments in the Temp array's first dimension.
         For Y = 1 To UBound(Temp.Value, 1)
             ' If Temp is an array, set Z from 1 to the total number
            ' arguments in the Temp array's second dimension.
            For Z = 1 To UBound(Temp.Value, 2)

               ' ReDimension TheArray, Preserving any existing
               ' values, from 1 to Count.
               ReDim Preserve TheArray(1 To Count)

               ' TheArray, element Count equals Temp, element Y in the
               ' first dimension by element Z in the second dimension.
               TheArray(Count) = Temp(Y, Z).Value
                ' Increment the Count variable by one.
               Count = Count + 1
            Next Z

         Next Y
      ' If Temp is not an array, proceed from here.
      Else
         ' ReDimension TheArray, preserving any existing
         ' values, from 1 to Count.
         ReDim Preserve TheArray(1 To Count)
          ' TheArray element Count equals Temp.
         TheArray(Count) = Temp

         ' Increment the Count variable by one.
         Count = Count + 1
      ' End the block If statement.
      End If
   Next X
   ' Return TheArray to our function MakeArray.
   MakeArray = TheArray

End Function

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Using The Sample Procedure

Start a new Excel workbook and enter the following information in a worksheet:
```
      A1: 1   B1: 2     D1: 5
      A2: 3   B2: 4     D2: 6
					
```
Start the Visual Basic Editor (Press ALT+F11)
On the Insert menu, click Module.
Type the sample Visual Basic MakeArray function code (shown above) into the module.
Return to the worksheet (Press ALT+F11)
On the worksheet, select cells A4:F4, type the following formula into the Formula bar
=MakeArray(A1:B2,D1:D2)
and then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to enter the formula as an array formula.

The result will resemble the following example:

   A4:1   B4:2   C4:3   D4:4   E4:5   F4:6

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REFERENCES

For more information about how to use the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212536 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212536/EN-US/ ) OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

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