Link:

http://www.aevanko.webs.com/checkkanji.txt

How it works:

Say your cell is A1, then you'd write: =CheckKanji(A1) and by default it will check for any kanji outside of 6th grade. You can also specify the grade level. =CheckKanji(cell, 1) will check (and list up) any kanji outside of Grade 1 level.

I made the Kanji list STATIC meaning that it loads all of it into memory (not really heavy or anything) the first time it's run, and it stays there until Excel is closed. This makes the function run really really fast on all the cells in real-time. Some people prefer never to use the static keywork for variables in functions, but this is one case where it really really helps.

Here is a simple function that will allow you to return values to the left of the search value. Just give the function the cell with the value you want to look for, then the column you want to look in (any sheet). As the final 3rd parameter, tell it how many rows forward or back it should go to find the return value. -1 is for the value to the left of the search column and 1 is for the row to the right, etc.

This is useful when the client updates a file and the order of the text is different and you need to copy paste everything you had done previously into the new file. Assuming the client is smart enough to use text IDs that don't change, run this. Give it the ID of the text then the column in the old file where it can look for it. Then if the ID is found, it will return the value found x rows to the right/left of the ID cell. Copy paste done in just a few seconds!

Vlookup is godly and fast, so only use this if you have to get the value in a row to the left of the search column (in those weird cases where the translation is in the column to the left of the original text or the column with the text ID).

------------------------------------------------------------

Function VLookupLeft(ByVal lookup_value, _
ByVal lookup_column As range, _
ByVal return_value_column As Long)

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
With Application
VLookupLeft = .Index(lookup_column.Offset(0, return_value_column), _
.Match(lookup_value, lookup_column.Columns(1), 0), 1)
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Function

------------------------------------------------------------

A1: 15

A2: 20

A3: 25

You can combine them into one string, seperated by a comma by doing =CreateList(A1:A3, ", "). What you'll end up with is "15, 20, 25". The function will ignore all empty columns in the range of cells you give it, as well!

-------------------------------------------------

Function CreateList(ByVal cell_range As range, _
Optional ByVal seperator As String) As String

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim cell As range
Dim newString As String
newString = vbNullString
Dim Counter As Integer
Counter = 0

For Each cell In cell_range
Counter = Counter + 1
newString = newString & cell.Value
If Counter < cell_range.count Then ' If there is more to add
If Len(cell.Value) <> 0 Then ' see if the cell is not empty
newString = newString & seperator
End If
End If
Next

CreateList = newString
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Function

-------------------------------------------------

What it does (in layman's terms):

Create a row and run this function down it. Tell it where the glossary is and it'll search your cells for every term in the glossary. It will give you back a list of all found terms, along with the translations. A perfect reference column to create before begining translation so you never have to look at the glossary while working!

There are 2 parameters: You pass the cell with the text, then the column that contains your glossary (can be a seperate sheet). It will look through the cell for each word in your glossary and at the end, the function returns a result string that will list all terms found, along with the translation in the row to the immediate right of the glossary term.

There are some sub routines on the web that will do a group search and replace in your text, but that is no-good in my book for several reasons. First, it's ugly. You shouldn't be replacing terms in the original text with their translations. Second, it changes the actual text so if something goes wrong, it's hard to spot. Third, sub-routines can't be undone, and that's not good.

This kind of a function makes it so you never have to open the glossary file and look for words - you just pre-process the file by making a REF column and running this function down it. Then paste special (copy, then right click and select paste special, then VALUE), then you are good to start translating. Since the original text isn't changing there is no need to keep the row as a formula after all.

With this in mind, to give it a speed boost, I made the glossary a static variable. This means that unless it is changed, the glossary will remain in memory for the entire time you have the file open. So just pre-process the file, and if you really care about memory, just save and reopen the file again. Static variables can be really useful in situations like this since there isn't a need to keep recreating the glossary array for each cell.

How it works (programmatically):

When you pass it the column (like A:A) that has the glossary terms, it will create a variable array that contains each entry in the list, and the entries in the row to the right. It then goes through all of them and uses Instr to check if the term is inside the cell or not. If it is, it adds it to a new string called result, along with "=" and the translated term, then a line break.

Note: The glossary has to start on the first line of the column (so A1 if A:A) and there can't be any empty rows in the middle of the glossary. This is something I will create a work around for eventually, but I haven't yet. The reason is that in order to avoid empty strings being considered part of the glossary (in which case it would find in every cell of course), the glossary array is created by taking the first cell in the column and an entry is made for every consecutive term until it reaches a blank cell. Then it considers that to be the end of the glossary. The reason I choose to go with just specifying a column instead of a specific range is that when you copy the forumula down the file, A:A will remain A:A while something like A2:A100 will get incremented and that's a pain in the butt.

------------------------------------------------

Function FindTerm(ByVal text As String, ByVal term_list As range) As String

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim result As String
Dim i As Long
Static glossary As Variant
glossary = range(term_list.cells(1, 1), term_list.cells(1, 2).End(xlDown))

For i = 1 To UBound(glossary)
If InStr(text, glossary(i, 1)) <> 0 Then
result = (glossary(i, 1) & " = ") & (glossary(i, 2) & vbLf) & result
End If
Next

If Len(result) <> 0 Then
result = Left$(result, (Len(result) - 1))
End If

FindTerm = result
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Function

------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------

Function RegexExtract(ByVal text As String, _
ByVal extract_what As String) As String

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim allMatches As Object
Dim RE As Object
Set RE = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
Dim i As Long
Dim result As String

RE.Pattern = extract_what
RE.Global = True
Set allMatches = RE.Execute(text)

For i = 0 To allMatches.Item(0).submatches.count - 1
result = result & allMatches.Item(0).submatches.Item(i)
Next

RegexExtract = result
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Function

-----------------------------------------

This is helpful when you want to run a filter and work on just cells that contain certain words. Just run this function on all of the cells, then use filter to get everyone that ended up as TRUE.

-----------------------------------

Function Contains(ByVal text As String, _

ParamArray search_text() As Variant) As Boolean

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

Dim result As Boolean

result = False

Dim i As Long

For i = 0 To UBound(search_text())

If InStr(1, text, search_text(i)) <> 0 Then

result = True

End If

Next

Contains = result

Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Function

-----------------------------------