如何从正则表达式生成随机文本以填充Excel单元格

Question

I'm creating a large amount of Excel test files with different values in many columns.

(Windows 7 - 64 bits system (if relevant)).

These files are going to be imported into a database later using other unknown tool, so I just have to prepare only these files filled with valid data.

Each file has different columns, so different ranges of valid characters are necessary per column.

What would I want to do?

Use a Formula witch receive a regex and generate/and fill the cell with a random string based on that regex and if possible specify how many characters the string should be.

Something like this site does: https://www.browserling.com/tools/text-from-regex

For example: For the next columns, I would like to populate cells with random text as follows:

> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> | Name      | Email          | Date  | URL               | Price  |
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> | AHygsyub  | xyz@uygsh.hyu  | 1956  | http://iadif.jyf  | 245.75 |
> -------------------------------------------------------------------

Using something like this in the Formula bar:

> =fillCellWith('([a-z]{3,10} ){1,10}')              //For Name column
> =fillCellWith('\d{4}')                             //For Date column
> =fillCellWith(RegexPattern)                        //Etc etc

Can someone guide me in the creation of a VBA Function to accomplish this purpose?

I don't have any experience in VB programming, but I can imagine something like:

Public Function fillCellWith(MyRegex As String) As String
Dim regEx As New RegExp
Dim Rand As String

'Analize the pattern and create random string satisfying the pattern needs to be valid
'Merge all parts and return as a result in Rand


End Function

Answer 1

Got it! Using Java language + VBA Excel and based on these links:

Microsoft Excel Macro to run Java program

https://www.ozgrid.com/forum/forum/help-forums/excel-general/142069-calling-and-executing-a-java-program-from-excel-vba-macro

Here i found lots of libraries that already generate values based on a regex.

I chose this to test.

Why? , I tested with Javascript libraries, but i found it very complicated to use along with VBA, Phyton libraries less complicated, but when i saw an example with Java was desicive.

What i did was:

1 - Download generex.jar version 1.0.2 with dependencies from here

2 - Create a Java Project with a Main class, in my case RegexToValue with the following code:

import com.mifmif.common.regex.Generex;

//args[0] receive regex to init Generex Object
public class RegexToValue {
    public static Generex generex;
    public static int attempts = 0;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        if (args.length > 0) {
            generex = new Generex(args[0]);
        } else {
            generex = new Generex("[0-3]([a-c]|[e-g]{1,2})"); //default init
        }
        generateValue();
    }

    public static void generateValue() {
        try {
            System.out.print(generex.random());
        } catch(Error e) {
            if (attempts <= 3) {
                attempts++;
                generateValue();
            } else {
                System.out.print("Error");
            }
        }
    }
}

3 - Import the two .jars downloaded from step 1 into the project (Libraries -> Add JAR file)

4 - Generate JAR file of the project with imported dependencies from step 3, all together

5 - I put the generated JAR and the Lib folder into C:\\Generex\\ for simplicity

6 - Create an Excel file enabled for Macros

7 - Create a Module (Alt + F11) -> Menu Insert -> Module with the following code:

#If VBA7 Then
    '64 Bits
    Declare PtrSafe Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As LongPtr)
#Else
    '32 Bits
    Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
#End If

Public Function fillCellWith(regxPattern As String)
    Dim prog As Object

    '// pass the program name to java on command line, and pass any arguments after.
    Set prog = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").exec("javaw -jar ""C:\Generex\RegexToValue.jar"" " & regxPattern)
    While prog.Status = 0
        Sleep 1000 '// put thread to sleep for 1 sec.
    Wend
    fillCellWith = prog.StdOut.ReadAll
End Function

8 - Use a formula like this in a cell:

=fillCellWith("(blue|red|yellow|green)\.(oak|cedar|willow)\@(yahoo\.co\.uk|google\.com|example\.org)")

9 - See results =)