How can I generate GUIDs in Excel?

Question

I have an excel file with one order on each row, and I want each order to have a unique identifier, so there will be a Unique ID column. Every time I fill a row, I want Exce

Answer 1

The following Excel expression evaluates to a V4 GUID:

=CONCATENATE(DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,6553‌​5),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(16384,20479),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(32768,49151‌​),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8))

-or (depending on locale setting/decimal and list separators)-

=CONCATENATE(DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0;4294967295);8);"-";DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0;65535);4);"-";DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(16384;20479);4);"-";DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(32768;49151);4);"-";DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0;65535);4);DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0;4294967295);8))

Note that the first character of the third group is always 4 to signify a V4 (pseudo-random number generated) GUID/UUID per RFC 4122 section 4.4.

Also note that the first character of the fourth group is always between 8 and B per the same RFC.

Standard disclaimer: the resulting GUIDs/UUIDs are not cryptographically strong.

Answer 2

I recently ran into problems using CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib") in some vba code.

So based on NekojiruSou excel functions wrote the following which should work without any specific excel functions. This can be used to develop a user defined function in excel.

Public Function Get_NewGUID() As String
    'Returns GUID as string 36 characters long

    Randomize

    Dim r1a As Long
    Dim r1b As Long
    Dim r2 As Long
    Dim r3 As Long
    Dim r4 As Long
    Dim r5a As Long
    Dim r5b As Long
    Dim r5c As Long

    'randomValue = CInt(Math.Floor((upperbound - lowerbound + 1) * Rnd())) + lowerbound
    r1a = RandomBetween(0, 65535)
    r1b = RandomBetween(0, 65535)
    r2 = RandomBetween(0, 65535)
    r3 = RandomBetween(16384, 20479)
    r4 = RandomBetween(32768, 49151)
    r5a = RandomBetween(0, 65535)
    r5b = RandomBetween(0, 65535)
    r5c = RandomBetween(0, 65535)

    Get_NewGUID = (PadHex(r1a, 4) & PadHex(r1b, 4) & "-" & PadHex(r2, 4) & "-" & PadHex(r3, 4) & "-" & PadHex(r4, 4) & "-" & PadHex(r5a, 4) & PadHex(r5b, 4) & PadHex(r5c, 4))

End Function

Public Function Floor(ByVal X As Double, Optional ByVal Factor As Double = 1) As Double
    'From: http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=5031
    ' X is the value you want to round
    ' Factor is the multiple to which you want to round
        Floor = Int(X / Factor) * Factor
End Function

Public Function RandomBetween(ByVal StartRange As Long, ByVal EndRange As Long) As Long
    'Based on https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f7s023d2(v=vs.90).aspx
    '         randomValue = CInt(Math.Floor((upperbound - lowerbound + 1) * Rnd())) + lowerbound
        RandomBetween = CLng(Floor((EndRange - StartRange + 1) * Rnd())) + StartRange
End Function

Public Function PadLeft(text As Variant, totalLength As Integer, padCharacter As String) As String
    'Based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12060347/any-method-equivalent-to-padleft-padright
    ' with a little more checking of inputs

    Dim s As String
    Dim inputLength As Integer
    s = CStr(text)
    inputLength = Len(s)

    If padCharacter = "" Then
        padCharacter = " "
    ElseIf Len(padCharacter) > 1 Then
        padCharacter = Left(padCharacter, 1)
    End If

    If inputLength < totalLength Then
        PadLeft = String(totalLength - inputLength, padCharacter) & s
    Else
        PadLeft = s
    End If

End Function

Public Function PadHex(number As Long, length As Integer) As String
    PadHex = PadLeft(Hex(number), 4, "0")
End Function

Answer 3

Since windows update taken out "Scriptlet.TypeLib", try the following:

Declare Function CoCreateGuid Lib "ole32" (ByRef GUID As Byte) As Long
Public Function GenerateGUID() As String
    Dim ID(0 To 15) As Byte
    Dim N As Long
    Dim GUID As String
    Dim Res As Long
    Res = CoCreateGuid(ID(0))

    For N = 0 To 15
        GUID = GUID & IIf(ID(N) < 16, "0", "") & Hex$(ID(N))
        If Len(GUID) = 8 Or Len(GUID) = 13 Or Len(GUID) = 18 Or Len(GUID) = 23 Then
            GUID = GUID & "-"
        End If
    Next N
    GenerateGUID = GUID
End Function

Alternatively,

if you are connecting to SQL Server 2008 or higher, try to use the SQL NEWID() function instead.

Answer 4

Same same for german Excel version:

=VERKETTEN(DEZINHEX(ZUFALLSBEREICH(0;4294967295);8);"-";DEZINHEX(ZUFALLSBEREICH(0;65535);4);"-";DEZINHEX(ZUFALLSBEREICH(16384;20479);4);"-";DEZINHEX(ZUFALLSBEREICH(32768;49151);4);"-";DEZINHEX(ZUFALLSBEREICH(0;65535);4);DEZINHEX(ZUFALLSBEREICH(0;4294967295);8))

Answer 5

If you are inserting records into a database you can use this way to make a GUID.

It is probably the most simplest and easiest way to implement as you don't need a complex VBA function as you use the built in SQL function.

The statement uses NewID(),

The syntax is as follows,

INSERT INTO table_name (ID,Column1,Column2,Column3)
VALUES (NewID(),value1,value2,value3) 

In VBA syntax it is as follows,

strSql = "INSERT INTO table_name " _
       & "(ID,Column1,Column2,Column3) " _
       & "VALUES (NewID(),value1,value2,value3)"

And if you need to concatenate values, just treat it as a string and concatenate as you would normally for a SQL statement,

strSql = "INSERT INTO table_name " _
       & "(ID,Column1,Column2,Column3) " _
       & "VALUES (" & "NewID()" & "," & "value1" & "," & "value2" & "," & "value3" & ")"

Answer 6

Function funGetGuid() As String

    Const URL As String = "http://www.guidgen.com/"
    Const strMask As String = "value="

    Dim l As Long
    Dim txt As String

    With CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
        .Open "GET", URL, False
        .send
        txt = .responseText
    End With

    Do
        l = InStr(l + 1, txt, strMask)
        If l = 0 Then Exit Do
        funGetGuid = Mid$(txt, l + Len(strMask) + 1, 36)
    Loop

End Function