Question

I have two workbooks with identical sheets and I need to test whether the data they are getting (from different sources) is identical or within a certain threshold. This, I am already able to do fine. I create a third workbook which calculates the difference between the two.

However, the issue is that one workbook updates seconds before the second which means that if a cell gets two quick updates my calculations would lag behind.

So what I was thinking is that I make a note of the cell value in workbook 1 (the faster updating workbook) and if at anytime up to x seconds after workbook 2 cell has the same value as noted, they are good.

…but how would I go about this, is VBA even the best tool for this?

Any ideas?

Answer 1

using timestamps and vba – or maybe even conditional formatting and some good formulas – could solve this for sure.

However, without anything to work on, it is quite a big step to present you a solution.

Basically you would just create timestamps (internally as variables, or during the import process in cells) and then compare your values, after your threshold ran out. If the values of your compared cells still match, then it’s ok.

However, this is all quite dependant on how you solved your dataimput and comparison.

My basic feeling, after I red your question was: “why wouldn’t you just decrease your update rate of your calculation?”

Another idea: just use an indicator cell, switching between 1 and 0 or so, to indicate, if an update already happend – so, if you compare, you compare value+indicator. which is basically using timestamps without time.