How to read a special character (arrow) from one cell in a macro and store it in another

[JenniferMurphy]

I am trying to write a macro that will read in a column of special characters (up arrow, down arrow, etc.) that indicate whether a value is over or under some range. It will then scan another set of numbers, store the appropriate character in the cell to the left, and apply a color to both cells.

This code works as long as the characters are from the normal character set. But it fails if I select any special characters.

Here's the mini-sheet:

Book2
	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J
1
2
3
4					Ratings	Values	Expected	Unrated
5		60	Max			84	↑	84
6		40	Min			39	↓	39
7						91	↑	91
8		↑	Too high			7	↓	7
9		→	Goldilocks			55	→	55
10		↓	Too low			40	→	40
11						61	↑	61
12						60	→	60
Sheet1

And here's the macro code. It is invoked by a Button control which is not included in the mini-sheet even though I selected a range that includes it.

Sub RateEm()

Const rnCodes As String = "Codes"     'Column of code characters & colors
Const rnValues As String = "Values"   'Column of values to be rated
Const rnRatings As String = "Ratings" 'Column to put ratings
Dim Values() As Variant               'Values array
Dim NumValues As Long                 'Number of values

Dim Codes() As Variant    'Code characters
Dim NumCodes As Long      'Number of codes
Dim Colors() As Long      'Category colors

Dim Min As Long     'Minimum good value
Dim Max As Long     'Maximum good value
Dim iRtg As Long    'Rating index
Dim i As Long       'Loop index

Codes = Range(rnCodes).Value  'Read in the character codes & colors
NumCodes = UBound(Codes, 1)   'Number of codes
ReDim Colors(1 To NumCodes)   'Make colors array the same size
For i = 1 To NumCodes         'Get the code colors
  Colors(i) = Range(rnCodes).Cells(i, 1).Interior.Color
Next i

Min = Range("Min").Value        'Get the minimum value
Max = Range("Max").Value        'Get the maximum value
Values = Range(rnValues).Value  'Read in the character codes
NumValues = UBound(Values, 1)   'Get the number of values

For i = 1 To NumValues
  Select Case Range(rnValues).Cells(i, 1)
    Case Is > Max: iRtg = 1
    Case Is < Min: iRtg = 3
    Case Else: iRtg = 2
  End Select
  Range(rnValues).Cells(i, 1).Interior.Color = Colors(iRtg)
  Range(rnRatings).Cells(i, 1).Interior.Color = Colors(iRtg)
  Range(rnRatings).Cells(i, 1).Value = Codes(iRtg, 1)
Next i

End Sub

If I use characters from the normal text character set, it works.

But if I use special characters from another character set, I get this:

Is there a way I can use any character and make it work?

Thanks

 

[Marc L]

​

It should be achieved directly with some conditional formatting without any code but maybe you have a particular reason to take the VBA path ?​

​

Maybe you forgot to use the same font in the destination cells …​

 

[JenniferMurphy]

​

It should be achieved directly with some conditional formatting without any code but maybe you have a particular reason to take the VBA path ?​

​

Maybe you forgot to use the same font in the destination cells …​

The code snippet I enclosed is a small part of a much larger macro. I didn't include the whole thing to make it easier to focus on just the character codes.

Can I copy the font along with the character in the VBA code?

 

[Marc L]

Can I copy the font along with the character in the VBA code?

Yes via the classic easy Range.Copy method …​

 

[JenniferMurphy]

Yes via the classic easy Range.Copy method …​

Perfect. After a little wandering about, I was able to get this to work. I replaced the 2 lines commented out with the one above.

For i = 1 To NumValues
  Select Case Range(rnValues).Cells(i, 1)
    Case Is > Max: iRtg = 1
    Case Is < Min: iRtg = 3
    Case Else: iRtg = 2
  End Select
  Range(rnValues).Cells(i, 1).Interior.Color = Colors(iRtg)
  Range(rnCodes).Cells(iRtg, 1).Copy Destination:=Range(rnRatings).Cells(i, 1)
'  Range(rnRatings).Cells(i, 1).Interior.Color = Colors(iRtg)
'  Range(rnRatings).Cells(i, 1).Value = Codes(iRtg, 1)
Next i

Thank you very much. ?

 

[Marc L]

​

That's all, already solved ?!​

​

According to your initial XL2BB attachment, only column F should be updated or H also ?​

 

[Marc L]

According to your initial attachment an easy way to update column F for example :​

Sub Demo1()
        Dim V, R&
        Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    With [F4].CurrentRegion
            V = Evaluate(Replace("1+(#<=C5)+(#<C6)", "#", .Columns(4).Address))
        For R = 2 To UBound(V)
            Range("C8")(V(R, 1)).Copy .Cells(R, 1)
        Next
    End With
        Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

 

[Marc L]

More at beginner level so easier to understand like this :​

Sub Demo1ez()
        Dim V, R&
        Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    With [F4].CurrentRegion
            V = Evaluate(Replace("(#<=C5)+(#<C6)", "#", .Columns(2).Address))
        For R = 2 To UBound(V)
            Cells(8 + V(R, 1), 3).Copy .Cells(R, 1)
        Next
    End With
        Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

 

[Marc L]

​

In post #7 it should be .Columns(2) rather than .Columns(4) …​

 

[JenniferMurphy]

​

That's all, already solved ?!​

​

According to your initial XL2BB attachment, only column F should be updated or H also ?​

Only F. I added H to show what I wanted the result to be.

I just ran the updated macro and got this with some super-bold arrows:

This code will go in a much more complicated macro, but it gives me what I need to make it work. Thanks