Build a tree like representation of data in Excel?

Question

I have a bunch of raw data in this fashion:

Parent  |  Data
---------------
Root    | AAA
AAA     | BBB
AAA     | CCC
AAA     | DDD
BBB     | EEE
BBB     | FFF
CCC     | GGG
DDD     | HHH

Which needs to be converted into a tree like fashion. This basically needs to end up in an excel spreadsheet. How can I convert the above data into the following:

AAA |      |
    | BBB  |
    |      | EEE
    |      | FFF
    | CCC  |
    |      | GGG
    | DDD  |
    |      | HHH

Is there any easy way to do this using only VBA?

Answer 1

I'm sure you can tidy this up, but this will work on the data set you've provided.

Before you start, you will need to define two Names (Insert / Name / Define). "Data" is the range of your dataset, "Destination" is the spot where you want the tree to go.

Sub MakeTree()

    Dim r As Integer
    ' Iterate through the range, looking for the Root
    For r = 1 To Range("Data").Rows.Count
        If Range("Data").Cells(r, 1) = "Root" Then
            DrawNode Range("Data").Cells(r, 2), 0, 0
        End If
    Next

End Sub

Sub DrawNode(ByRef header As String, ByRef row As Integer, ByRef depth As Integer)
'The DrawNode routine draws the current node, and all child nodes.
' First we draw the header text:
    Cells(Range("Destination").row + row, Range("Destination").Column + depth) = header

    Dim r As Integer
    'Then loop through, looking for instances of that text
    For r = 1 To Range("Data").Rows.Count
        If Range("Data").Cells(r, 1) = header Then
        'Bang!  We've found one!  Then call itself to see if there are any child nodes
            row = row + 1
            DrawNode Range("Data").Cells(r, 2), row, depth + 1
        End If
    Next
End Sub