How to extract a complete column from excel?

Question

Hi there,
I have a excel file with some testing parameters, organized in rows. That means, in the first column are the serial numbers (type ID) of my "devices under test", and the respective parameters are located in the adjacent columns of the row.
I'd like to extract the first column as a whole with my LabVIEW application, search this column (1D array)  for a particular number and use the "found"-index to read the rest of the row to get the parameters associated with this index/serial number.
How can I do this? Until now I always had to read a specific range e.g. "A1:E8" to get values out of an excel file. But as I don't know how many serial numbers are stored in the excel file, I don't know how to limit the range...?!
Does anybody have an idea how to solve this problem?
Regards
Achim

Answer 1

One workaround would be to create a user-defined function which searches for the first empy cell, something like:
Function FindLastCell()
Dim LastCell As Range
With ActiveSheet
Set LastCell = .Cells(.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp)
If IsEmpty(LastCell) Then
'do nothing
Else
Set LastCell = LastCell.Offset(1, 0)
End If
End With
FindLastCell = LastCell.Row
End FunctionInsert this function in your spreadsheet at a known location, then read the value.  The value will indicated the number of rows that are populated before you hit the empty cell.  You can edit the function for the appropriate column.
Message Edited by vt92 on 01-31-2008 08:14 AM
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