VBA Type Mismatch on CustomOrder

Question

I have this code which works great:

Sub NewSortTest()
    ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(\"Sheet1\").Sort.SortFields.Clear
    ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(\"Sheet1\         


        

Answer 1

I worked it out. You need to use a ListArray:

Sub NewSortTest()
    Dim keyRange As Variant
    Dim sortNum As Long

    keyRange = Array("alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta", "echo", "foxtrot", "golf", "hotel", "india", "juliet")

    Application.AddCustomList ListArray:=keyRange
    sortNum = Application.CustomListCount

    ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Sort.SortFields.Clear
    ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Sort.SortFields.Add key:=Range("A1:A20"), SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, Order:=xlAscending, CustomOrder:=sortNum, DataOption:=xlSortNormal
    With ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Sort
        .SetRange Range("A1:B20")
        .Header = xlGuess
        .MatchCase = False
        .Orientation = xlTopToBottom
        .SortMethod = xlPinYin
        .Apply
    End With
End Sub

Answer 2

I looked carefully at using a function to populate the custom order string as shown in a previous answer.

I ignored it at first before realising that this probably works because it is returning a literal string not an ordinary string.

Anyway it works so thanks to previous responders. THis is what I came up with to solve my problem. keyRange fits into the .SortFields.Add string as demonstrated by the previous replies.

Function keyRange() As String
    'Create a string used to sort data on another sheet.
    'Becomes part of the .SortFields.Add statement as CustomOrder:=keyfield
    'CustomOrder items are in Col "A" of a sheet. The list can change over time
    'and is refreshed from an import from a database.
    With Sheets("Home Groups")
        lic = lastInCol(.Range("A1"))       'Gets the last used cell in column A
                                            'lastInCol is one of John Walkenbach's routines
                                            'From his book Excel 2010 Power Programming with VBA
       'Create a string from those items from row 2 to the last used row
        For rw = 2 To lic
            If rw = 2 Then
                keyRange = .Cells(rw, 1)        'This is the first item
            Else
                keyRange = keyRange & "," & .Cells(rw, 1)   'The remaining items - comma separated
            End If
        Next rw
    End With
End Function 

Answer 3

I know this is an old thread but figured my approach seems worth sharing.

I stored the SortField as a variable then set the CustomOrder property as per below, it seems the complier will take the delimited string and convert it to whatever it requires. FYI loNewReport is a ListObject

Dim sField As SortField
Set sField = loNewReport.Sort.SortFields.Add(loNewReport.ListColumns("Branch").DataBodyRange, xlSortOnValues, xlAscending)
sField.CustomOrder = "QLD, NSW, VIC"
loNewReport.Sort.Apply
Set sField = Nothing

Answer 4

Glad you figured it out. The following also works (per this post):

Sub NewSortTest()
ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Sort.SortFields.Clear
ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Sort.SortFields.Add Key:=Range("A1:A20"), _
                                                        SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, _
                                                        Order:=xlAscending, _
                                                        CustomOrder:=keyRange, _
                                                        DataOption:=xlSortNormal
With ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Sort
    .SetRange Range("A1:B20")
    .Header = xlGuess
    .MatchCase = False
    .Orientation = xlTopToBottom
    .SortMethod = xlPinYin
    .Apply
End With
End Sub

Function keyRange() As String

keyRange = "alpha,bravo,charlie,delta,echo,foxtrot,golf,hotel,india,juliet"

End Function

Edit: Even easier

CustomOrder:=CVar(keyRange)

Edit: Why Does This Work?

I've been trying to figure that out myself. The help documentation on the CustomOrder property lacks any meat, as you found out in your search. I've been experimenting with different things to see if I could get at an answer, and I haven't had much luck. I think CustomOrder is doing some magic in the background. It does just fine with a String literal or a Long, as you found out. And it has no poblem with a String properly cast as Variant. But it doesn't like String variables. It must have something to do with String variables being reference types. I have no idea why it wouldn't be able to handle that, but I also don't know how it creates a custom list on the fly from a String literal. If you find anything that explains it, I'd love to know.