Turn Excel range into VBA string

Question

I would like to turn values in given range into VBA string where original cell values are separated by any chosen column delimiter and row delimiter. Delimiters could be one

Answer 1

To optimize performance my function emulates a String Builder.

Variables

• Text: A very large string to hold the data
• CELLLENGTH: A contant that determines the size of the BufferSize
• BufferSize: The initial size of Text string
• Data(): An Array derived from the source range

As the rows and columns of the Data() array are iterated over the current element (Data(x, y)) value replaces a portion of the Text string. The text string is resized as needed. This reduces the number of concatenations immensely. The initial BufferSize is set pretty high. I got my best results, 0.8632813 Second(s), by reducing CELLLENGTH to 25.

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Results

Code

Function getRangeText(Source As Range, Optional rowDelimiter As String = "@", Optional ColumnDelimiter As String = ",")
    Const CELLLENGTH = 255
    Dim Data()
    Dim text As String
    Dim BufferSize As Double, length As Double, x As Long, y As Long
    BufferSize = CELLLENGTH * Source.Cells.Count
    text = Space(BufferSize)

    Data = Source.Value

    For x = 1 To UBound(Data, 1)
        If x > 1 Then
            Mid(text, length + 1, Len(rowDelimiter)) = rowDelimiter
            length = length + Len(rowDelimiter)
        End If

        For y = 1 To UBound(Data, 2)
            If length + Len(Data(x, y)) + 2 > Len(text) Then text = text & Space(CDbl(BufferSize / 4))
            If y > 1 Then
                Mid(text, length + 1, Len(ColumnDelimiter)) = ColumnDelimiter
                length = length + Len(ColumnDelimiter))
            End If

            Mid(text, length + 1, Len(Data(x, y))) = Data(x, y)
            length = length + Len(Data(x, y))
        Next
    Next

    getRangeText = Left(text, length) & rowDelimiter
End Function

Test

Sub TestGetRangeText()
    Dim s As String
    Dim Start: Start = Timer

    s = getRangeText(ActiveSheet.UsedRange)

    Debug.Print "Execution Time: "; Timer - Start; "Second(s)"
    Debug.Print "Rows: "; ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count; "Columns: "; ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Columns.Count
    Debug.Print "Result Length: "; Format(Len(s), "#,###")
End Sub