Retrieve location of copied cell range in VBA

Question

I'd like to be able to copy a cell and paste ONLY number formats. Unfortunately, there is no built-in option in the PasteSpecial command.

Is there a way to press the copy button, select some destination cells, run a macro, and be able to retrieve the copied cells in a way analogous to the Selection object in VBA so that I can use its properties?

The only alternative I can think of is pasting to a known empty range (very far away) and then using that intermediate range, as below:

Dim A As Range
Set A = Range("ZZ99999")
A.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteAll
Selection.NumberFormat = A.NumberFormat

Thanks!

Unless I've misread your question, could you not use format painter? Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteFormats, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False — Gareth
Doesn't that change other formatting like background, borders, etc. (not just number formats)? — ecksc
First, paste the values or simply transfer them like Range("B10:B20").Value = Range("A10:A20").Value, then assign the number format the same way. Range("A10:A20").NumberFormat = Range("B10").NumberFormat. — David Zemens
I guess I should mention that the actual macro I end up writing would be more complicated than above code (e.g. with logic to replicate the same behavior as the "paste" command). My concern is getting the copied range, and then I can incorporate that logic. — ecksc

GSerg GSerg · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-16T20:03:54

Find olelib.tlb on the Internet (Edanmo's OLE interfaces & functions). There should be plenty of download links. Download and reference from your VBA project (Tools - References).

Note that it does not contain any executable code, only declarations of OLE functions and interfaces.

Also you might notice it's quite big, about 550kb. You can extract only the needed interfaces from it and recompile to get a much lighter TLB file, but that is up to you.
(If you are really unhappy with a TLB, there is also the dark magic route where you don't need any TLBs at all because you create assembly stubs on the fly to call vTable methods directly, but I won't be feeling like porting the below code this way.)

Then create a helper module and put this code into it:

Option Explicit

' No point in #If VBA7 and PtrSafe, as the Edanmo's olelib is 32-bit
Private Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetClipboardData Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32.dll" () As Long


Public Function GetCopiedRange() As Excel.Range

  Dim CF_LINKSOURCE As Long
  CF_LINKSOURCE = olelib.RegisterClipboardFormat("Link Source")
  If CF_LINKSOURCE = 0 Then Err.Raise 5, , "Failed to obtain clipboard format CF_LINKSOURCE"

  If OpenClipboard(0) = 0 Then Err.Raise 5, , "Failed to open clipboard."


  On Error GoTo cleanup

  Dim hGlobal As Long
  hGlobal = GetClipboardData(CF_LINKSOURCE)

  If hGlobal = 0 Then Err.Raise 5, , "Failed to get data from clipboard."

  Dim pStream As olelib.IStream
  Set pStream = olelib.CreateStreamOnHGlobal(hGlobal, 0)

  Dim IID_Moniker As olelib.UUID
  olelib.CLSIDFromString "{0000000f-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}", IID_Moniker

  Dim pMoniker As olelib.IMoniker
  olelib.OleLoadFromStream pStream, IID_Moniker, pMoniker


  Set GetCopiedRange = RangeFromCompositeMoniker(pMoniker)

cleanup:
  Set pMoniker = Nothing 'To make sure moniker releases before the stream

  CloseClipboard
  If Err.Number > 0 Then Err.Raise Err.Number, Err.Source, Err.Description, Err.HelpFile, Err.HelpContext

End Function


Private Function RangeFromCompositeMoniker(ByVal pCompositeMoniker As olelib.IMoniker) As Excel.Range
  Dim monikers() As olelib.IMoniker
  monikers = SplitCompositeMoniker(pCompositeMoniker)

  If UBound(monikers) - LBound(monikers) + 1 <> 2 Then Err.Raise 5, , "Invalid composite moniker."

  Dim binding_context As olelib.IBindCtx
  Set binding_context = olelib.CreateBindCtx(0)

  Dim WorkbookUUID As olelib.UUID
  olelib.CLSIDFromString "{000208DA-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}", WorkbookUUID

  Dim wb As Excel.Workbook
  monikers(LBound(monikers)).BindToObject binding_context, Nothing, WorkbookUUID, wb

  Dim pDisplayName As Long
  pDisplayName = monikers(LBound(monikers) + 1).GetDisplayName(binding_context, Nothing)

  Dim raw_range_name As String ' Contains address in the form of "!SheetName!R1C1Local", need to convert to non-local
  raw_range_name = olelib.SysAllocString(pDisplayName)
  olelib.CoGetMalloc(1).Free pDisplayName

  Dim split_range_name() As String
  split_range_name = Split(raw_range_name, "!")

  Dim worksheet_name As String, range_address As String
  worksheet_name = split_range_name(LBound(split_range_name) + 1)
  range_address = Application.ConvertFormula(ConvertR1C1LocalAddressToR1C1(split_range_name(LBound(split_range_name) + 2)), xlR1C1, xlA1)

  Set RangeFromCompositeMoniker = wb.Worksheets(worksheet_name).Range(range_address)

End Function

Private Function SplitCompositeMoniker(ByVal pCompositeMoniker As olelib.IMoniker) As olelib.IMoniker()

  Dim MonikerList As New Collection
  Dim enumMoniker As olelib.IEnumMoniker

  Set enumMoniker = pCompositeMoniker.Enum(True)

  If enumMoniker Is Nothing Then Err.Raise 5, , "IMoniker is not composite"

  Dim currentMoniker As olelib.IMoniker
  Do While enumMoniker.Next(1, currentMoniker) = olelib.S_OK
    MonikerList.Add currentMoniker
  Loop

  If MonikerList.Count > 0 Then
    Dim res() As olelib.IMoniker
    ReDim res(1 To MonikerList.Count)

    Dim i As Long
    For i = 1 To MonikerList.Count
      Set res(i) = MonikerList(i)
    Next

    SplitCompositeMoniker = res
  Else
    Err.Raise 5, , "No monikers found in the composite moniker."
  End If

End Function

Private Function ConvertR1C1LocalAddressToR1C1(ByVal R1C1LocalAddress As String) As String
  ' Being extra careful here and not doing simple Replace(Replace()),
  ' because e.g. non-localized row letter may be equal to localized column letter which will lead to double replace.
  Dim row_letter_local As String, column_letter_local As String
  row_letter_local = Application.International(xlUpperCaseRowLetter)
  column_letter_local = Application.International(xlUpperCaseColumnLetter)

  Dim row_letter_pos As Long, column_letter_pos As Long
  row_letter_pos = InStr(1, R1C1LocalAddress, row_letter_local, vbTextCompare)
  column_letter_pos = InStr(1, R1C1LocalAddress, column_letter_local, vbTextCompare)

  If row_letter_pos = 0 Or column_letter_pos = 0 Or row_letter_pos >= column_letter_pos Then Err.Raise 5, , "Invalid R1C1Local address"

  If Len(row_letter_local) = 1 And Len(column_letter_local) = 1 Then
    Mid$(R1C1LocalAddress, row_letter_pos, 1) = "R"
    Mid$(R1C1LocalAddress, column_letter_pos, 1) = "C"
    ConvertR1C1LocalAddressToR1C1 = R1C1LocalAddress
  Else
    ConvertR1C1LocalAddressToR1C1 = "R" & Mid$(R1C1LocalAddress, row_letter_pos + Len(row_letter_local), column_letter_pos - (row_letter_pos + Len(row_letter_local))) & "C" & Mid$(R1C1LocalAddress, column_letter_pos + Len(column_letter_local))
  End If
End Function

Credits go to Alexey Merson.

Retrieve location of copied cell range in VBA

2 Answers