Looking for formula

[Ken]

Looking for help...

I manage a closed ticket report and I need to find a formula that will find
all tickets in a certain time range.

For instance, in the list below, how would I write a formula to count all
tickets that came in between 3:00:00 PM and 6:00:00 PM (The date is not
important)?

H

TIME_ACTION_TAKEN
02/10/2009 5:09:32 PM
02/02/2009 10:48:03 AM
02/04/2009 8:46:08 AM
02/02/2009 4:29:31 PM
02/02/2009 6:59:39 PM
02/02/2009 6:24:48 PM
02/03/2009 1:46:16 AM
02/06/2009 3:49:10 PM
02/04/2009 10:40:35 AM
02/05/2009 2:04:34 PM
02/05/2009 2:11:17 PM
02/10/2009 6:18:17 PM
02/04/2009 7:56:45 PM
02/04/2009 8:27:22 PM
02/05/2009 7:03:33 PM
02/13/2009 9:51:25 AM

Appreciate the help!

Regards,

Ken

 

[joel]

Not sure if you date is in column A and time in Column B or both the time and
date are in the same column


Column B contain just time
=SUMPRODUCT(--(B2:B17>=TIME(15,0,0)),--(B2:B17<=TIME(18,0,0)))

If the time and date are both in column A there is two spaces between the
time and date which is causing a problem. I had to use the MID function to
get past the extra space. If you could eliminate the extra space it would
make the formula simplier.

=SUMPRODUCT(--(TIMEVALUE(MID(A2:A17,FIND("
",A2:A17)+1,LEN(A2:A17)))>=TIME(15,0,0)),--(TIMEVALUE(MID(A2:A17,FIND("
",A2:A17)+1,LEN(A2:A17)))<=TIME(18,0,0)))

 

[Ken]

Hi Joel,

When I try the following it gives me a value error
"A value used in the formula is of the wrong data type"

=SUMPRODUCT(--(TIMEVALUE(MID(H2:H17,FIND("
",H2:H17)+1,LEN(H2:H17)))>=TIME(15,0,0)),--(TIMEVALUE(MID(H2:H17,FIND("
",H2:H17)+1,LEN(H2:H17)))<=TIME(18,0,0)))

Unfortunately, I cannot remove the spaces to make the formula simpler. What
does the +1,LEN(H2:H17) portion do in this formula?

Best Regards,

 

[T. Valko]

Assuming you dates/times are all in the same column and they're really TEXT
strings:

Use cells to hold your time boundaries:

D2 = 3:00 PM
E2 = 6:00 PM

=SUMPRODUCT(--(--MID(A2:A17,13,12)>=D2),--(--MID(A2:A17,13,12)<=E2))

 

[joel]

The MID function requires 3 parameters the last being the length. MID will
return either the number of character to the end of the string, or the number
of characters specified by the 3rd parameter (len in this case). I want to
reutrn all the character to the end of the string so I could of specified 256
characters to make the code simplier. I choose the length to use the length
of the string which will always be greater than the number of characters I
really need.

What the formula does is searches for the first space in the string and
returns all the character after the space. the FIND() part of the function
returns the character position of the space. I don't want the space in the
final results so I add 1 (+1) so I ignore the space.

I think the error is because of the 2 spaces. The TIMEVALUE isn't
recognizing the the time with the extra space. Try this change. I assume
your times are in cell H2 to H17. I tested both my old formula and new
formula with your posted data and didn't get an error. It is possible there
is some white characters (looks like spaces but aren't) in you string (like
tabs). I checked and my suspicion were correct. the two characters between
the date and time are 32 and 160 (32 + 128). Both are spaces. I have no
idea how you got a charcter 160! This formula will work in either case.

=SUMPRODUCT(--(TIMEVALUE(Trim(MID(H2:H17,FIND("
",H2:H17),LEN(H2:H17))))>=TIME(15,0,0)),--(TIMEVALUE(trim(MID(H2:H17,FIND("
",H2:H17),LEN(H2:H17))))<=TIME(18,0,0)))


This is what I used to find the character 160
=CODE(MID($H$2,11,1)) - return 160
=CODE(MID($H$2,12,1)) - return 32
=CODE(MID($H$2,13,1)) - return 53 the character 5

 

[Ken]

Hi T. Valko,

Am I the only one having probems with this web forum? I'm having problems
expanding the discussion list and when I click on the names it shows blank.
Anyway, I need to get back to the problem at hand.

Your suggestion is perfect ... if I could get it to work. Can you help me
understand what this portion of the formula is doing ",13,12"?

When I tried your formula it returned a value of 0 and gave me the following
error:

"The formula in this cell refers to a range that has additional numbers
adjacent to it."

Appreciate the help!

Ken

 

[Ken]

Hi Joel,

I tried your suggested formula in the actual spreadsheet and in a blank
spreadsheet with the data below with no success. I'm still getting the same
error message even in the new spreadsheet using column A2-A17.

Your thoughts?

Best Regards,

 

[David Biddulph]

The 13,12 are the second and third arguments of the MID function. MID is a
standard Excel function and its syntax is explained (with examples) in Excel
help.

You probably don't need to worry about the warning "The formula in this cell
refers to a range that has additional numbers adjacent to it.", providing
that you are confident that you have included the correct cells in your
formula.

 

[Ken]

Hi T.Valko,

I was able to get your formula to work in a basic spreadsheet with just the
data below. Thanks for your help. Now I need to find out why it won't work in
my active spreadsheet. I'll keep you posted.

Regards,

Ken

 

[T. Valko]

=SUMPRODUCT(--(--MID(A2:A17,13,12)>=D2),--(--MID(A2:A17,13,12)<=E2))

When I tried your formula it returned a value of 0
and gave me the following error:
"The formula in this cell refers to a range that has
additional numbers adjacent to it."

Just ignore that. It's not an error.

Can you help me understand what this
portion of the formula is doing ",13,12"?

Let's look at your data:

02/10/2009 5:09:32 PM
02/02/2009 10:48:03 AM

Your data is TEXT. It is not true Excel date/time values (which are really
just numbers formatted to look like dates/times).

Assuming the date *always* follows this format (which is how your sample
data is) dd/mm/yyyy. So the date portion of the string is *always* 10
characters long. Then the date is followed by 2 whitespace characters. This
means that the time portion of the string starts at character number 13. So
we tell the MID function to start at character number 13 and extract the
next 12 characters.

The time portion of the string can be either 10 or 11 characters long.
Extracting 12 characters ensures that we get the whole time portion
extracted.

So, this is what the MID function looks like when it extracts the time
portion:

MID
(
"5:09:32 PM"
"10:48:03 AM"
)

The MID function returns a TEXT string even if it's a number so we have to
convert that TEXT number into a numeric number. The double unary "--"
coerces these TEXT numbers into the numeric values that represent the times:

--"5:09:32 PM" = 0.714953703703704
--"10:48:03 AM" = 0.450034722222222

So, with D2 and E2 holding the time boundaries:

D2 = 3:00:00 PM = 0.625
E2 = 6:00:00 PM = 0.75

The formula is comparing:

0.714953703703704; 0.450034722222222 >= 0.625
0.714953703703704; 0.450034722222222 <= 0.75

Based on this limited sample the result is 1.

0.714953703703704 ("5:09:32 PM") is >= 0.625 (3:00 PM) and <= 0.75 (6:00 PM)

 

[Ken]

Hi David,

I need to point the formula to a separate "Data (RAW)" tab in the formula,
do you know how I would write it? If column A resides on a different tab
named Data (Raw) how would I add it to the formula below?

=SUMPRODUCT(--(--MID(A2:A17,13,12)>=D2),--(--MID(A2:A17,13,12)<=E2))


Appreciate the help!

Regards,

 

[T. Valko]

Try this:

=SUMPRODUCT(--(--MID('Data (RAW)'!A2:A17,13,12)>=D2),--(--MID('Data
(RAW)'!A2:A17,13,12)<=E2))

Does this data come from another application or the web? That would explain
why the data is TEXT and has extra whitspace characters. If this is the case
it would be easier to "clean" the data. Let me know if you are interested in
this.

 

[Ken]

Thanks for taking the time to explain everything.... it makes sense now!

I'm going to try the augmented formula now.

Best Regards,

 

[Ken]

The data comes from a client's call database so I guess you could say it
comes from another application. The formula you provided should work ... it
all makes sense but I cannot get past the following error:

"A value used in the formula is of the wrong data type"

This is the formula that I'm using...

=SUMPRODUCT(--(--MID('DATA (RAW)'!H2:H302,13,12)>=D2),--(--MID('Data
(RAW)'!H2:H302,13,12)<E2))

Do you see anything that I may be doing wrong?

Regards,

Ken

 

[T. Valko]

So far, the formulas are all correct. It's your data that's the problem!
There may be additional unseen whitespace characters that we haven't been
able to pinpoint.

Instead of "farting around" and trying to get a convoluted formula to handle
the data why don't you do this...

There is a macro by MVP David McRitchie that will clean all these
whitespaces from your data and in the process will convert your TEXT
date/times to true Excel numeric date/times.

I have put together a small sample file that demonstrates how this works.

I copied/pasted your sample data into the sample file. I installed the macro
and entered the formula in a cell.

The formula currently returns an error because the data is TEXT. Once you
run the macro the formula will return the correct result.

For this to work...

Macros must be enabled. To view the macro code:

Hit ALT F11. This will open the VBE.
Hit CTRL R. This will open the Project Explorer pane on the left side of the
window.
In the Project Explorer look for the file name VBAProject (xKen.xls).
In the subdirectories of that file you'll see Module1
Double click Module1
The macro code will appear in the window on the right.
After you've examined the code return to Excel, hit ALT Q

To run the macro
Select the range of data you want to clean, A2:A17.
Goto the menu Tools>Macro>Macros
Select the TrimALL macro
Click RUN

Watch what happens.

I do a lot of copy/pasting from the web and the data always contains these
unseen whitespace characters. So I use this macro all the time. I use it so
often I put a button on one of my toolbars and attached this macro to the
button so it's easy to use. This macro is a real time (and headache) saver!

Here's the sample file:

xKen.xls 24kb

http://cjoint.com/?dAv7mcvljA

 

[Ken]

Ok my findings are as follows:

I tried your macro and was able to get it working when selecting the data
A2:A17 within your spreadsheet but when I tried it within my spreadsheet on
the Data (Raw) it didn't do anything but blink.

My Troubleshooting Steps...

I copied the Data (Raw) tab from my spreadsheet to yours
"dAv7mcvljA_xKen.xls" and ran the "TrimAll" macro but got the same result, it
just blinked.

I was able to get the formula you provided and the macro to work using the
data when it was in a Text Format but when trying it on the client data it
doesn't see it.

I tried changing the cell format (right click Format Cells) to General but
it just changes the date/time to a number (i.e. 02/09/2009 6:53:36 PM turns
into 39853.78722)

My guess is that the underlying data is in numerical format with no spaces
which is why the macro doesn't do anything.

When I right click the client data and select Format Cells it shows Custom
Format: mm/dd/yyyy" "h\:mm\:ss AM/PM".


Is there something that can be added to the formula to detect/recognize the
time portion of the data in numerical format?

Hopefully, what I wrote makes sense to you.

Ken

 

[T. Valko]

Can you send me a copy of your file with the original data? If it contains
sensitive data you can delete it. All I really need to see are these
mysterous dates/times.

If you want to do that my address is:

xl can help at comcast period net

Remove "can" and change the obvious.

 

[Ken]

Sure thing...

I sent you a test email, just respond back to it so I know I have the right
addy.

Appreciate the help!

Regards,

Ken

 

[T. Valko]

OK, received the email and replied.

 

[Ken]

Hi Biff,

My findings/update was sent to you this morning. I've made some progress.

Regards,

Ken