Running R scripts from VBA

Question

How can I run a R script from VBA? Say I have a R script stored as C:\\XXX\\testR.R

I tried using Shell, but not quite successful.

Answer 1

Note be careful with your file locations and may need more explicit Shell dim statements....e.g. replace with these lines in your VB

Dim shell As Object   
Set shell = VBA.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   
Dim waitTillComplete As Boolean: waitTillComplete = True   
Dim style As Integer: style = 1   
Dim errorCode As Integer   
Dim  path As String

path = """" & Cells.Range("RhomeDir") & """ """ & Cells.Range("MyRscript") & """"

errorCode = shell.Run(path, style, waitTillComplete)

where, in Excel a cell with a named reference RhomeDir contains text

C:\Program Files\R\R-3.2.3\bin\x64\rscript and

MyRscript contains text C:/Documents/Rworkings/Rscripttest.s

noting the unix R backslash and .s or .r postfix and VB replaces "" with " to give double brackets in path expression (plus further outside brackets to denote string). Also not a good idea to have spaces in your file name.

The full dim syntax of the shell command above was found by searching for VBA shell.

Answer 2

Public Sub RunRTest()
  Shell ("Rscript test.r")
End Sub

Answer 3

I put everything in a function that can be called easily. The output is the shell.run output, which is an integer:

Function to Run an R Script:

Function Run_R_Script(sRApplicationPath As String, _
                        sRFilePath As String, _
                        Optional iStyle As Integer = 1, _
                        Optional bWaitTillComplete As Boolean = True) As Integer

    Dim sPath As String
    Dim shell As Object

    'Define shell object
    Set shell = VBA.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

    'Wrap the R path with double quotations
    sPath = """" & sRApplicationPath & """"
    sPath = sPath & " "
    sPath = sPath & sRFilePath

    Run_R_Script = shell.Run(sPath, iStyle, bWaitTillComplete)
End Function

Examples how to call:

Sub Demo()
    Dim iEerrorCode As Integer
    iEerrorCode = Run_R_Script("C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.4\bin\x64\rscript","C:\Ibos\R\WF_Metrics\Abe.R")
End Sub

OR

Sub Demo()
    Dim iEerrorCode As Integer
    Dim WS as WorkSheet

    Set WS=ThisWorkBook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
    iEerrorCode = Run_R_Script(WS.Range("A1"),WS.Range("A2")) 'cell A1=adderess of R application and cell A2 is the address of your R file, one can use a named range too
End Sub