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

I created a VBA function that works both on mac and windows:

https://github.com/Martin-Carlsson/Business-Intelligence-Goodies/blob/master/Excel/GenerateGiud/GenerateGiud.bas

'Generates a guid, works on both mac and windows 
Function Guid() As String
    Guid = RandomHex(3) + "-" + _
        RandomHex(2) + "-" + _
        RandomHex(2) + "-" + _
        RandomHex(2) + "-" + _
        RandomHex(6)
End Function

'From: https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/excel-questions/301472-need-help-generate-hexadecimal-codes-randomly.html#post1479527
Private Function RandomHex(lngCharLength As Long)
    Dim i As Long
    Randomize
    For i = 1 To lngCharLength
        RandomHex = RandomHex & Right$("0" & Hex(Rnd() * 256), 2)
    Next
End Function

Answer 2

I know this question is answered, but I think the code in question should look something like what's on this page: http://snipplr.com/view/37940/

Haven't tested, but this code seems to tap into the Windows API to get its GUID's - I would try putting that in a public module and typing =GetGUId() in an Excel cell to see what I'd get. If it works in VB6 you have a great deal of a good chance it works in VBA as well:

Private Type GUID
    Data1 As Long
    Data2 As Integer
    Data3 As Integer
    Data4(7) As Byte
End Type

Private Declare Function CoCreateGuid Lib "OLE32.DLL" (pGuid As GUID) As Long

Public Function GetGUID() As String
'(c) 2000 Gus Molina

    Dim udtGUID As GUID

    If (CoCreateGuid(udtGUID) = 0) Then

        GetGUID = _
            String(8 - Len(Hex$(udtGUID.Data1)), "0") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data1) & _
            String(4 - Len(Hex$(udtGUID.Data2)), "0") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data2) & _
            String(4 - Len(Hex$(udtGUID.Data3)), "0") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data3) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(0) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(0)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(1) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(1)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(2) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(2)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(3) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(3)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(4) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(4)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(5) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(5)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(6) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(6)) & _
            IIf((udtGUID.Data4(7) < &H10), "0", "") & Hex$(udtGUID.Data4(7))
    End If

End Function

Thanks Gus Molina!

If this code works (which I don't doubt), I think you'd get a new set of GUID's whenever the function gets evaluated, which means everytime the sheet gets calculated - when you're saving the workbook, for example. Make sure to copy-pastespecial-values if you need the GUID's for later use... which is somewhat likely.

Answer 3

A VBA approach based on generating random numbers using the Rnd() function, and not on external API calls or Scriptlet.TypeLib:

Public Function CreateGUID() As String
    Do While Len(CreateGUID) < 32
        If Len(CreateGUID) = 16 Then
            '17th character holds version information
            CreateGUID = CreateGUID & Hex$(8 + CInt(Rnd * 3))
        End If
        CreateGUID = CreateGUID & Hex$(CInt(Rnd * 15))
    Loop
    CreateGUID = "{" & Mid(CreateGUID, 1, 8) & "-" & Mid(CreateGUID, 9, 4) & "-" & Mid(CreateGUID, 13, 4) & "-" & Mid(CreateGUID, 17, 4) & "-" & Mid(CreateGUID, 21, 12) & "}"
End Function

This essentially is a VBA implementation of NekojiruSou's answer (it also generates a v4 GUID), and carries the same limitations, but will work in VBA and might be easier to implement.

Note that you can omit the last line to not return the dashes and curly braces in the result.

Answer 4

I used the following function in v.2013 excel vba to create a GUID and is working well..

Public Function GetGUID() As String 
    GetGUID = Mid$(CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib").GUID, 2, 36) 
End Function 

Answer 5

I found pretty solution here:
http://www.sql.ru/forum/actualutils.aspx?action=gotomsg&tid=751237&msg=8634441

Option Explicit

Private Type GUID
  Data1 As Long
  Data2 As Integer
  Data3 As Integer
  Data4(0 To 7) As Byte
End Type
Private Declare Function CoCreateGuid Lib "ole32" (pguid As GUID) As Long
Private Declare Function StringFromGUID2 Lib "ole32" ( _
  rguid As GUID, ByVal lpsz As Long, ByVal cchMax As Long) As Long

Public Function CreateGUID() As String
  Dim NewGUID As GUID
  CoCreateGuid NewGUID
  CreateGUID = Space$(38)
  StringFromGUID2 NewGUID, StrPtr(CreateGUID), 39
End Function