Disconnect between address assigned in code to named range and the resulting named range address

Question

I am trying to write a VBA script in Excel 2003 (not my choice of version) to partition a predefined range on a worksheet into ten named ranges. The worksheet name is "paste_data" and the 'block' of cells that I want to confine the script to is A4:AO111. Sometimes, when I run the script, it works, but at other times, it seems to shift the effective starting cell from A4 to another cell. Here is an example of bad results (sorry, I can't post an image because I'm new):

The named range table.emergency.count refers to range V6:AO25 when it should refer to range V4:AO23.

My code is here:

Sub tables_assign()
Dim j As Integer
Dim range_ref, range_name, rref As String
Dim tbles(1 To 10) As String
Dim rw1, rw2 As Integer
'##########################################################################################
'CREATION AND NAMING OF TABLES
'##########################################################################################
tbles(1) = "table.emergency.score": tbles(2) = "table.emergency.count": tbles(3) = "table.eol.score": tbles(4) = "table.eol.count": tbles(5) = "table.inpatient.score": tbles(6) = "table.inpatient.count": tbles(7) = "table.outpatient.score": tbles(8) = "table.outpatient.count": tbles(9) = "table.sds.score": tbles(10) = "table.sds.count"
For j = 1 To 10
    If j Mod 2 <> 0 Then
        If j = 1 Then
            rw1 = 4
            rw2 = 23
        Else
            rw1 = 4 + 22 * Application.WorksheetFunction.Ceiling((j / 2 - 1), 1)
            rw2 = 23 + 22 * Application.WorksheetFunction.Ceiling((j / 2 - 1), 1)
        End If
        rref = Trim(Application.WorksheetFunction.Substitute("=paste_data!A" & Str(rw1) & ":T" & Str(rw2), " ", ""))
        ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add tbles(j), rref
    Else
        If j = 2 Then
            rw1 = 4
            rw2 = 23
        Else
            rw1 = 4 + 22 * (j / 2 - 1)
            rw2 = 23 + 22 * (j / 2 - 1)
        End If
        rref = Trim(Application.WorksheetFunction.Substitute("=paste_data!V" & Str(rw1) & ":AO" & Str(rw2), " ", ""))
        ActiveWorkbook.Names.Add tbles(j), rref
    End If
Next j
End Sub

Does anyone have an idea why this would happen? My hunch is that the worksheet's 'usedrange' is the culprit.

Answer 1

When you use relative references in defined names, the definition is relative to the activecell. To avoid that, use absolute references, like $V$4:$AO$23. With absolute references, the named range will always point to the same cells.

Example: Select cell A1 and define the name test_relative as "=A1". Now select cell B10 and reopen the defined name box, select test_relative and you'll see something like "=Sheet1!B10"

To fix your code, insert the $ in the range references

rref = Trim(Replace("=paste_data!$A$" & Str(rw1) & ":$T$" & Str(rw2), " ", ""))

Also note that

Dim rw1, rw2 As Integer

dimensions rw1 as a Variant. Use

Dim rw1 As Integer, rw2 As Integer