Passing a VBA array to a formula

Question

I have two rows of data looking like this:

I am trying to return all the position numbers for each ID in an array. I have tried

={IF(A2:A562=E2,B2:B562)}

But it fails whenever the ID I am searching for is not the first in column A. (I did try to sort column A with no luck).

So I have come up with this workaround: instead I would use this formula

={INDEX(B2:B562,positions(E2))}

where positions is a VBA function that return an array of rows that match specified ID. The function positions is coded so that it return a Variant. But it seems that the VBA Array is not passing to the formula in excel. When I evaluate the formula, positions(E2) is equal to 0. (I have checked in VBA, and my array is correctly populated).

So how do I make my formula correctly interpret the VBA array?

UPDATE: Here is my code:

Function positions(idrange As Range) As Variant
Dim V As Variant
Dim l, nb As Integer
Dim id As Double

nb = 4
ReDim V(nb) As Variant

id = idrange.Value
Set cible = Sheet2.Range("B1")
For l = 1 To nb
    Set cible = Sheet2.Columns(2).Find(What:=id, After:=cible, _
                LookIn:=xlValues)

    V(l) = cible.Row - 1   
Next l
positions = Application.Transpose(V)

End Function

UPDATE 2: Here is the desired output

@ScottCraner, say I am looking at the first ID. I would like it to return {3,5,7} — jeake
see my answer here: stackoverflow.com/questions/37923950/… — Scott Craner

Scott Craner Scott Craner · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-05T18:07:50

Put this array formula in F2:

=IFERROR(INDEX($B$2:$B$562,MATCH(1,($A$2:$A$562=$E2)*(COUNTIF($E$2:E2,$B$2:$B$562)=0),0)),"")

Confirm with Ctrl-Shift-Enter instead of Enter. If done correctly then Excel will put {} around the formula.

Then copy over and down sufficient to cover all the data.

EDIT #1

If you can sort the data then you can avoid the array formula and use this normal formula:

=IF(COLUMN(A:A) <= COUNTIF($A:$A,$E2),INDEX($B:$B,MATCH($E2,$A:$A,0)+COLUMN(A:A)-1),"")

Passing a VBA array to a formula

2 Answers