Arrays to filter, copy and past - quick macro method - performance

Question

I want to make an Excel workbook that I have much quicker.
I have a big product database with the product names, quantities, delivery number and delivery date (ProductDB). I put in another sheet the products that I have sold (product names and quantity sold) and want to filter and copy those that are corresponding from the database so I can calculate in the second step the remaining quantity and past the remaining quantity to the database.
Everything is working well and the calculation is good. The only thing is, the Advancedfilter xlfiltercopy option is too slow if I have to input 5000 lines of product names.
I have heard that arrays are much faster. How could I do that? The current way I do it is like this:
Sub UseFilter()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Sheet1.Range("G1:Z100000").Cells.Delete
Dim lastrow As Long, c As Range
Dim myrange As Range
Dim rngCell As Range
Dim wksSheet As Worksheet
Dim wksSheetDB As Worksheet
lastrow = Sheet1.Cells(Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row
Sheet1.Columns("G").NumberFormat = "0"
Filter product codes from the database according to sold product codes:
Set myrange = Range("A1:A" & lastrow)
For Each c In myrange
If Len(c.Value) <> 0 Then
ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(Worksheets.Count).Columns("A:D").AdvancedFilter xlFilterCopy, _
Sheet1.Range("A1:A" & lastrow), Sheet1.Range("G1"), False
End If
Next
Sort the filtered list first by product code, then by the delivery number:
Dim lngRowMax As Long
Dim wsf As WorksheetFunction
With Sheet1
lastrow = Cells(Rows.Count, 8).End(xlUp).Row
Range("G1:J" & lastrow).Sort Key1:=Range("G1:G" & lastrow), _
Order1:=xlAscending, Key2:=Range("I1:I" & lastrow), _
Order2:=xlAscending, Header:=xlYes, DataOption1:=xlSortTextAsNumbers
Set wsf = Application.WorksheetFunction
lngRowMax = .UsedRange.Rows.Count
End With
I'm only interested in filtering and copying of the corresponding product information (name (A), quantity (B), delivery nr (C) and date (D)). Does anyone know how I can do that?
Thank you very much in advance. I'm really looking forward for a solution that improves the pace of the file. Currently it is unbelievably slow.

Answer 1

i had the same problem with advanced filter being so slow. you might want to consider using dictionary. for my 2 spreadsheets i wanted to compare i made 2 dictionaries and compared the values and it was so amazingly fast. dictionaries are really easy and a simple google search you can find a ton of tutorials and examples. good luck.

Answer 2

There is a possible solution with dictionaries, but I have only one small issue. I will explain after the code:
'Count num rows in the database
NumRowsDB = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(Worksheets.Count).Range("A2", Range("A2").End(xlDown)).Rows.Count
' --------------------- SAVE DATABASE DATA -----------------------
'Dictionary for all DB data
Set dbDict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Set dbRange = Range("A2:A" & (NumRowsDB + 1))
For Each SKU In dbRange
If Len(SKU.Value) <> 0 Then
' check if the SKU allready exists, if not create a new array list for that dictionary entry
' a list is necessary because there can be multiple entries in the db range with the same SKU
If Not dbDict.Exists(CStr(SKU.Value)) Then
Set prodList = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
dbDict.Add CStr(SKU.Value), prodList
End If
' for this specific product code, save the range where the product information is saved in the dictionary
rangeStr = "A" & SKU.Row & ":D" & SKU.Row
dbDict(CStr(SKU.Value)).Add (rangeStr)
End If
Next
' ----------- READ SALE/Reverse/Consumption INFO ------------------
NumRowsSale = Range("A2", Range("A2").End(xlDown)).Rows.Count
Set saleRange = Range("A2:A" & (NumRowsSale + 1))
Dim unionRange As Range
For Each sale In saleRange
' check if the SKU for the sale exists in db
If Len(sale.Value) <> 0 And dbDict.Exists(CStr(sale.Value)) Then
For Each dbRange In dbDict(CStr(sale.Value))
If unionRange Is Nothing Then
Set unionRange = Range(dbRange)
Else
Set unionRange = Union(unionRange, Range(dbRange))
End If
Next
End If
Next
unionRange.Copy Destination:=Range("G2") 'copy all received ranges to G2
Set dbDict = Nothing
The line "NumRowsDB = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(Worksheets.Count).Range("A2", Range("A2").End(xlDown)).Rows.Count" is not working. I have to refer to another sheet (the last sheet which is the current database) to get the data. What is the problem that I cannot refer to another sheet in the same workbook?
Thank you for your suggestions.