Daily Dose of Excel

Create a header cell with text separated by a diagonal line

Tushar Mehta — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:41:13 +0000

In creating a table header that explains what the row and column values represent, a common approach is to use a cell with text separated by a diagonal line. This, first for me, video tutorial explains how.

For those who prefer a text explanation:

Format the cell “border” to add a diagonal from the left-top to the right-bottom (it’s one of the line choices in the Format Cells dialog box | Borders tab).

Then, type several spaces the literal Hours ALT+ENTER to create a newline in the text and then the literal Days.

Adjust the number of spaces before the literal Hours to get the desired effect.

An alternative, which is simple albeit crude, is to type Days space \ space Hours. {grin}

Tushar Mehta

Copy Chart as a Picture

Rob van Gelder — Sat, 05 May 2012 22:55:43 +0000

I needed to copy a chart to a picture, but I wanted it to be an enhanced metafile (EMF) which is kind of like a vector graphic picture format. EMF graphics scale well when the page resizes.

A user would select the chart, run the macro and a dialog would ask them where to save the picture to – pretty simple, but handy!
It uses the clipboard to do the conversion.

Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
Declare Function GetClipboardData Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
Declare Function EmptyClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
Declare Function CopyEnhMetaFileA Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hENHSrc As Long, ByVal lpszFile As String) As Long
Declare Function DeleteEnhMetaFile Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hemf As Long) As Long

Const CF_ENHMETAFILE As Long = 14
Const cInitialFilename = "Picture1.emf"
Const cFileFilter = "Enhanced Windows Metafile (*.emf), *.emf"

Public Sub SaveAsEMF()
Dim var As Variant, lng As Long

var = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(cInitialFilename, cFileFilter)
If VarType(var) <> vbBoolean Then
On Error Resume Next
Selection.Copy

OpenClipboard 0
lng = GetClipboardData(CF_ENHMETAFILE)
lng = CopyEnhMetaFileA(lng, var)
EmptyClipboard
CloseClipboard
DeleteEnhMetaFile lng
On Error GoTo 0
End If
End Sub

Working With Circular references in Excel

jkpieterse — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:24:34 +0000

Have you ever experienced the dreaded “Circular reference warning” popping up when you opened an Excel file or entered a formula?

Excel detects a circular reference when a chain of calculations visits the same cell more than once. Many users get (very) confused by this message and have no idea what it is about. I’ll tried to demystify that message in a new article:

Working with Circular references in Excel

The article contains these chapters:

Types of circular references

Simplistically speaking there are only a few types of circular references to discern:

Deliberate circular references

Accidental circular references

Calculation settings

If you want to work with circular references, the calculation settings of Excel are very important. This page gives you some pointers!

Properly setting up circular references

Whereas I am no fan of using circular references, they can be beneficial to your model and really solve the problem you are trying to solve. So here is some advice on how to properly work with them.

Reasons why circular references may not be detected

This page shows a couple of reasons why circles are not detected.

Enjoy!

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse

www.jkp-ads.com

Charts and Things

Dick Kusleika — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:38:56 +0000

A list of people who will enjoy chartsnthings, “A blog of data sketches from the New York Times Graphics Department. Maintained by @KevinQ.”

People who say “data visualization” instead of “chart”
People who can find fault in any chart that they didn’t make
People who get lost in the minutia of charting psychology
Me
Maybe you

Quick VBA Tip: Parentheses

Dick Kusleika — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:01:52 +0000

I’d like to make an assertion. If you have an open parenthesis preceded by a space, you should remove the parentheses. Here’s an example:

Sub test()

Dim myCollection As Collection
Dim myObject As Object

myCollection.Add (myObject)
myCollection.Add myObject

End Sub

When you put parentheses around an object, VBA evaluates that object and, absent a property, returns the default property. The first Add might error or might not work as expected. Here’s another example:

Sub test2()

Dim dValue As Double

dValue = 1.1

Debug.Print (dValue)
Debug.Print dValue

End Sub

In this case the parentheses don’t do any harm, but they’re still unnecessary. And finally:

Sub test3()

Dim lValue As Long

lValue = CLng(1.1)

End Sub

In this case there is no space before the open parenthesis, so it’s not just preferred, but necessary.

Can you think of a case where an open parenthesis preceded by a space is required or preferred?

Excel Power Analyst Bootcamp Almost Here

Dick Kusleika — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:34:37 +0000

Excel Power Analyst Bootcamp Omaha

It’s almost here. Sign-up today to get the early-bird discount. Seats are limited.

Signature in Outlook mail created with VBA

Ron de Bruin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:27:01 +0000

Hi all

I think this is the fix if you want to create a Outlook mail with a signature with or without a picture in it.

http://www.rondebruin.nl/mail/folder3/signature.htm

I hope it is working OK for everybody, if not mail me or post it here.

Other suggestions are also most welcome

Have a great day

Align Primary and Secondary axes

Tushar Mehta — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:03:05 +0000

There are instances when there are data series plotted on both the primary and secondary axes. For example, suppose we want to plot the two series A and B in Figure 1, with the elements in column B as the x-axis values. The A series will be a column cart on the primary axis and the B series will be a line chart on the secondary axis.

For a version in a page by itself (i.e., not in a scrollable iframe as below) visit http://www.tushar-mehta.com/publish_train/data_visualization/06%20Visual%20Effects.shtml

Tushar Mehta

Incrementing Dates in Excel Cells

Dick Kusleika — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:43:06 +0000

I complete a timesheet every 14 days. I got tired of doing math in my head, so around August 13, 2010 I put a stop to it. Here’s what the date cell on my timesheet looks like now.

F2 to edit the cell, “+14″ and enter. It’s nowhere near too long as formulas go, but it’s starting to bother me. Time to consolidate. Select the 14s.

Press Control+= (F9 works too, but my muscle memory is control and equal sign)

Enter. Next pay period, my timesheet will look like this

SQLite and Dropbox

Dick Kusleika — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:53:16 +0000

I want to put a SQLite3 file in a shared Dropbox folder and run an Excel app with that as the backend database. I’m using the SQLite ODBC Driver and some VBA to drive a simple userform.

My theory is that the file access will be so short and infrequent that I won’t have any file locking problems.

Who wants to test it out? You need a Dropbox account, the aforementioned driver, and a copy of the workbook below. Oh, and Excel if you didn’t already figure that one out.

Install the driver. Leave a comment or send an email to dkusleika@gmail.com with your Dropbox info and I’ll share a folder with you. Then open the workbook and start adding and modifying records in the userform. Ideally, I’d like to coordinate a five minute period where a few of us agree to hammer on it and try to break it.

You can download SqliteContacts.zip