I have a sheet with a formula that is randomly picking a name from a list. I have created a macro assigned to a button/image that will copy the randomly generated value into another cell, but the value that it copies is not the one it produces. For example, if the formula in A1 generates "John", I want to copy that value to B1, so that B1 contains "John", plain text no formula.
My problem is that the end result in B1 will not be "John", but rather a different name from the list (plain text no formula). My best guess is that running the macro makes the formula recalculate several times before actually copying what I want, so that what gets copied and pasted is not the desired result. How can I get the macro to correctly copy the value that it shows me before running it?
The macro attached to the image of the "Run" button I am using is:
var spreadsheet=SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
spreadsheet.getRange('A1').copyTo(spreadsheet.getRange('B1'),SpreadsheetApp.CopyPasteType.PASTE_VALUES, false);
The formula in A1 is:
=index(A3:A8,randbetween(1,6))
This produces one of the six names in A3:A8 at random.
In a successful result, while A1 contains "John", clicking the button would paste "John" into B1. A1 would then recalculate to a different name. If A1 contains "Steve", clicking the button would paste "Steve", and so on. Currently it will paste any of the names at random.
Here is a link to the sheet.
It's (probably) not possible to get RANDBETWEEN and macros to play nicely together, but one workaround is to use a macro to generate random numbers and paste them into your spreadsheet. You can then use that pasted number as the source for your random determinations, and it won't recalculate unless you run the macro again. That lets you use that particular random outcome in other macros. In my case, I used INDIRECT to let me use the random number as part of a cell reference, thereby picking a random name. Here's the macro I'm using for random numbers:
function getRandomInt(max) {
return Math.floor(Math.random() * Math.floor(max))+1;
};
With this function established, you can put it into other macros as getRandomInt(5), or whatever you want the maximum number to be. I added the "+1" to prevent zero as an outcome, but setting the maximum still works as normal.
Related
I am attempting to create documentation from an export of data that gives me a jumbled mess all in one cell that I need to clean up and extract certain bits from.
Here is an example:
[{"label":"Native Invoice","value":"native_invoice","displayOrder":0,"hidden":false,"readOnly":false},{"label":"Data Sync","value":"data_sync","displayOrder":1,"hidden":false,"readOnly":false}]
All of this is in one cell, and I need to have only the following information in their own individual rows:
Native Invoice
Data Sync
This example only has 2 values, but some that I am working on have hundreds, and it is taking far too long to manually copy and paste the values I need into their own cells.
Note: I am working in Google Sheets exclusively.
If I'm understanding you correctly, you want to pull anything after "label": without quotes. If that's the case, and if you are open to a formula instead of a script, supposing that your raw-data block were in A1, place this in B1:
=ArrayFormula(IFERROR(QUERY(FLATTEN(REGEXREPLACE(IF(NOT(REGEXMATCH(SPLIT(REGEXREPLACE(A1,"label.:.([^"&CHAR(34)&"]+)","~|$1~"),"~"),"\|")),,SPLIT(REGEXREPLACE(A1,"label.:.([^"&CHAR(34)&"]+)","~|$1~"),"~")),"\|","")),"WHERE Col1 Is Not Null")))
Here is how a custom function can look like:
function parse(txt) {
var jsn = JSON.parse(txt);
return [jsn[0].label, jsn[1].label];
}
Here is how it works:
You put the data into cell A1, put the formula =parse(A1) into the cell B1, and get the results in cells B1 and B2.
Update
If you want to get labels from all objects of the data, here is another variant of the function:
function get_labels(txt) {
return JSON.parse(txt).map(x => x.label); // get 'label' from all the objects
}
It works about the same way:
I had a working Excel spreadsheet that used indirect() in the data validation and it worked fine. I uploaded it to sheets and converted it, now the indirect does not work.
I have found a link on the support forum that explains it does not work in Chrome but appears to work in Firefox, and the answers and workarounds seem to be for generating a secondary list... which is what I want, but in a data validation across a row.
I have knocked up a simple test sheet, hopefully public and the script editor is visible:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KUgrdXKIKlk1DWvDOX9cY3B2VnRH_5h_vKuZJlqUlN8/edit?usp=sharing
Hopefully you can see what I'm after. I want the validation in C8 to be the list of items in the category based in B8; C9 based on B9 etc.
EDIT and Update
The question is about a replacement to indirect() in a data validation rule. While I did find a way round this by using indirect(), I preferred the version mentioned by Desire (to whom I have attributed the answer), but I thought I'd document my solution in case the sheet above becomes unavailable, or you cannot access it, or you just wanted a bit more detail.
So, for My Demo I have this:
In A1:C5 are my lists of data with the titles.
In the range B8:B12 I applied a data validation rule of value in range of A1:C1 - this gives the first dropdown.
In Cell E8 I put the formula =transpose(filter($A$2:$C$5, $A$1:$C$1 = B8)) and then copied this down to E12
Finally I put the following in a function and ran it in the script editor.
function runMeOnce() {
var dst = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName('Sheet1').getRange('C8:C12');
var rules = [];
for (var i = 8; i < 13; i++) {
var src = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getSheetByName('Sheet1').getRange("E" + i + ":H" + i);
var rule = SpreadsheetApp.newDataValidation().requireValueInRange(src).build();
rules.push(rule);
}
dst.setDataValidations(rules);
}
That's all there is, no more onEdit() triggering.
NOTE There is one downside I bumped into with this method though. I have this in place for 6000+ rows in my actual spreadsheet, and across multiple sheets, with some dropdowns having 50-100 items in. This solution seriously eats into the (current) 2 million cell limit.
Hope this helps someone.
Data Validation rule of the type "List of items" takes only a comma-separated list of values as its parameter, and does not evaluate any formulas you try to put there. It does not matter what the function returns, because it will not be called. If you put, say "=sqrt(A10)" in the field "List of items", that only means that the validation rule will require the string "=sqrt(A10)" to be entered in the cell.
Similarly with "List from a Range". Either what you enter parses as range notation, or it does not. The string "=getValidationRange(B8)" does not parse as range notation, hence the error. The function is never called.
The only type of validation that calls a function is "Custom formula". If you use it, then the validation can be performed as intended: for example,
=match(C8, filter(A2:C5, A1:C1 = B8), 0)
requires the content of C8 to be in the column of the table A2:C5 under the heading that matches the category in B8. However, with a custom formula you do not get a dropdown in a cell.
To get a dynamic dropdown, one can either
Use an auxiliary range
For example, enter filter(A2:C5, A1:C1 = B8) in cell F1, so that the F column is for the categories currently selected. The data validation would be "List from a Range", F1:F. This is a fine workaround for one validation rule, but takes more work when you have multiple ones.
Use a triggered script
Use a script that is triggered on edit and sets data validation rules accordingly; this is discussed in How do you do dynamic / dependent drop downs in Google Sheets? among other places.
Based on the sacrificing a goat issue, I did find a simple(ish) way around the problem that still uses indirect().
Set up the named ranges as previously using the titles in CamelCase. In my example I have CatA, CatB, and CatC - i.e. the white space needs removing.
At the end of a row (or in another sheet) transpose the chosen named range (in cell E8: =transpose(indirect(substitute(B8, " ", ""))) copy this down as far as you need.
At this point it's good to note that because we are unsing builtin functions, the speed is so much better, as can be seen by my example.
Now the painful bit. For each subcategory cell (C8, C9 etc in my example), you need to add the validation independently as a range of E8:ZZ8 (obviously ZZ8 needs reigning in a bit) and E9:ZZ9 etc. It doesn't seem to do referential so if you select all the cell in the column, they all only look at the data you specifically type in the box... I might just not have worked out R1C1 notation here, however. I tried.
This can be scripted on GAS to create the R1C1 validation function and then apply it to the range.
This question already has answers here:
Is there a way to evaluate a formula that is stored in a cell?
(13 answers)
Closed last month.
I read several old posts about Google Spreadsheet missing the evaluate function.
There is any solution in 2016?
The easiest example.
'A1' contains the following string: UNIQUE(C1:C5)
'B1' I want to evaluate in it the unique formula written in 'A1'.
I've tried concatenating in this way: 'B1' containing ="="&A1 but the outcome is the string =UNIQUE(C1:C5).
I've also tried the indirect formula.
Any suggestion to break last hopes, please?
Additional note
The aim is to write formulas in a spreadsheet and use these formulas by several other spreadsheets. Therefore, any change has to be done in one place.
Short answer
Use a script that includes something like var formula = origin.getValue() to get the string and something like destination.setFormula(formula) to return the formula.
Explanation
As was already mentioned by the OP, Google Sheets doesn't have a EVALUATE() built-in function. A custom function can't be used because custom functions can only return one or multiple values but can't modify other cell properties.
A script triggered by a custom menu, events or from the Google Apps Script editor could be used to update the formulas of the specified cells.
Since the formulas will be kept as strings, it could be more easy to keep them in the script rather than in the spreadsheet itself.
Example
The following is a very simple script that adds the specified formula to the active range.
function addFormula() {
var formula = '=UNIQUE(C1:C5)';
var range = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveRange();
range.setFormula(formula);
}
I have a solution for my own use case. My investment broker exports data to its users in (badly-formatted) Excel. I do my own analysis in Google Sheets. I have found copy/pasting entire sheets of data to be accident-prone.
I have partially automated updating each tab of the records. In the sheet where I maintain all the records, the First tab is named "Summary"
Save the broker's .xlsx data to Google Sheets (File | Save as Google Sheets);
In the tab named Summary, enter into a cell, say "Summary!A1" the URL of this Google Sheet;
In cell A2 enter: =Char(34)&","&CHAR(34)&"Balances!A1:L5"&Char(34)&")"
In the next tab, enter in cell A1: ="IMPORTRANGE("&Char(34)&Summary!A1&Summary!A2
The leading double quote ensures that the entry is saved as a text string.
Select and copy this text string
in cell A3, type an initial "=" + Paste Special.
This will produce an importrange of the desired text, starting at cell A3
I need cell B3 to reference B1 while blank.
Once you put something in B1 it'll keep that value forever, even once B1 get's changed to something else.
This is my situation:
Basically I have a sheet that is fed by a Google form and each submission needs three key reference numbers each kept in columns a,b,c
A = Unit Number/Individuals name (There may be duplicates down the sheet as this is per submission)
B = Work Order (Imputed by me after actual work on unit has been done)
C = Cry Number/Reference number (Automatically generated per submission; no duplicates)
I then have a frozen row at the top which contains a search bar that you can search for the cry number (A1)(Which has a Data Validation set to column C so that you can only search valid cry numbers) and then a cell to add a W/O to that Cry Number (B1)
In column B3:1000, I have this formula copied down:
B3=if(isblank($C3),"",if($A$1=$C3, SUBSTITUTE($B$1,"",$B$1),""))
...which makes it so that if you select say "CN-168" (A valid cry number) and in 'B1' type "W1134" that work order number will be assigned.
Now I need that work order to stay there regardless of when 'A1' changes so that you can do the process over again on another submission.
Is it possible to do with formulas? If not, then a Google Script?
Here is a template of what I'm dealing with but not to the same scale as my Data Base
Its not possible with formulas but easily done with apps script. look at the onEdit trigger and the documentation for SpreadsheetApp to setValues to the appropiate ranges.
If you want to be 100% complete you also need a time trigger (say every 10 minutes) to check that a row wasnt missed. It can be missed during apps script errors/outages or when the sheet is changed from outside the sheets webpage/app (For example using the http spreadsheet api)
I've been working on a script (With some help from folk on SO). I have managed to create a script that imports a csv file and updates named ranges based on the imported data.
Here is an image of what I'm trying to do:
At this point I have imported data which has been populated into columns A:G. The cells in columns H:L are formula and are based on the data in A:G. Because I have imported data the data are now longer than the formula range. If not relying on script I would just double click the small blue square at the bottom right of the highlighted cells and the formulas would copy down. This is what I'd like to have the script do once I have imported the data.
I created a range called "formula_range" which automatically updates with the length of data. "formula_range" starts in cell H3 and ends in L:N where N is the length of rows in the sheet.
"formula_range" therefore contains some populated cells with formula and then blank rows all the way to the bottom of the sheet.
I saw this SO post. So in English, my line of thinking is:
Create a variable formula_range H3:L3 as a range
paste formula_range to every row in formula_range
Voila?
How do I get the variable formula_range if the first row in formula_range will always have the formula to be copied down. Put another way it should be fixed at H3:L3.
I tried this:
var copy_range = ss.getRangeByName("formula_range").getRange(1,5,1);
SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert(copy_range);
My alert said "undefined" (I really wasn't sure what it would show.)
My line of thinking is not the most efficient since I am going to copy over existing formula. Perhaps there is a better way?
How do I get the first row in a named range formula_range[0]; ?
How can I use script to copy down formula in formula_range?
I think what you're trying to accomplish could be achieved more efficiently with a built-in arrayformula:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093275
Place in H3:
=ARRAYFORMULA(DATE(A3:A,B3:B,1))
for each of your formulas in H through L in row 3 surround them with array formula and extend the arguments with open-ended ranges starting with row 3 as in the above example