Importing json to excel

JSON (Javascript Object Notation) is the most used data exchange format nowadays. Microsoft Excel doesn’t have built-in support for importing JSON to excel or exporting excel data to JSON.

VBA-JSON is an excellent library for parsing JSON in VBA. Lets see how to handle JSON in Excel VBA. If you’re new to JSON then read JSON tutorial for beginners

Prerequisites

1. Save your excel file as Macro-Enabled workbook (Refer screen shot below)
2. Enable macros if they are not already enabled. You can enable it by cliking on file > options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Enable all macros

Getting Started

1. Download VBA JSON latest version from here
2. Extract it, open VBA code editor in excel (Alt + F11) and import the library as shown in the gif below.
3. Add a reference to Microsoft scripting runtime. (Tools > references > select)
4. Add a reference to MSXML (Tools > references)
   Select appropriate version based on your PC :
   1. Microsoft XML, v 3.0.
   2. Microsoft XML, v 4.0 (if you have installed MSXML 4.0 separately).
   3. Microsoft XML, v 5.0 (if you have installed Office 2003 – 2007 which provides MSXML 5.0 for Microsoft Office Applications).
   4. Microsoft XML, v 6.0 for latest versions of MS Office.

Import JSON to Excel

This library provides a simple method ParseJson to parse JSON string into a dictionary object which can be used to extract data. Let’s see an example.

I’m using fake data from http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/ which is an API service with fake Json data.

We’ll be pulling user data from http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users by making a GET request which responds with Json data.

Read more about GET requests in VBA here

Next, we’ll parse that Json and import it to excel. Code for importing data looks like this :

Public Sub exceljson()
Dim http As Object, JSON As Object, i As Integer
Set http = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
http.Open "GET", "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users", False
http.Send
Set JSON = ParseJson(http.responseText)
i = 2
For Each Item In JSON
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 1).Value = Item("id")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 2).Value = Item("name")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 3).Value = Item("username")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 4).Value = Item("email")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 5).Value = Item("address")("city")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 6).Value = Item("phone")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 7).Value = Item("website")
Sheets(1).Cells(i, 8).Value = Item("company")("name")
i = i + 1
Next
MsgBox ("complete")
End Sub

Code explanation

1. First, define JSON as an object and make a GET request to JSON API
2. JSON data received in the response is parsed by passing it into ParseJson method.
3. parsed data is converted into a collection of dictionaries.
4. Loop through the collection to get each user’s details and set its values to the first sheet.

Running above code looks like gif below.

Reading JSON from a file

In the same example above, If you want to read JSON data from a local file then you can use FileSystemObject to read all text in the file and then pass it to ParseJson method.

Dim FSO As New FileSystemObject
Dim JsonTS As TextStream
Set JsonTS = FSO.OpenTextFile("example.json", ForReading)
JsonText = JsonTS.ReadAll
JsonTS.Close
Set JSON = ParseJson(JsonText)

Export Excel to Json

VBA-JSON provides another method ConvertToJson which can be used to convert excel data into JSON. Here’s an example.

Sample data with Name, Phone and Email is present in second sheet. Let’s convert it into JSON

Code for this looks like :

Public Sub exceltojson()
Dim rng As Range, items As New Collection, myitem As New Dictionary, i As Integer, cell As Variant
set rng = Range("A2:A3")
'Set rng = Range(Sheets(2).Range("A2"), Sheets(2).Range("A2").End(xlDown)) use this for dynamic range
i = 0
For Each cell In rng
Debug.Print (cell.Value)
myitem("name") = cell.Value
myitem("email") = cell.Offset(0, 1).Value
myitem("phone") = cell.Offset(0, 2).Value
items.Add myitem
Set myitem = Nothing
i = i + 1
Next
Sheets(2).Range("A4").Value = ConvertToJson(items, Whitespace:=2)
End Sub

Code Explanation

1. First, define rng as range and set it to data range.
2. ConvertToJson method takes a dictionary collection or array as parameter. So we should pass our data as a collection.
3. A Dictionary is an object with keys and values just like JSON but doesn’t support multiple items like arrays or collections, so we create a dictionary for each item and push it into an array or a collection.
4. Define a dictionary and a collection, loop through the range and set each row’s data into myitem
5. Push myitem into collection and set it to nothing, because we are using the same dictionary to add next row’s data and push it to collection again.

Finally pass items collection to ConvertToJson method which returns a JSON string.

Running above code looks like gif below

Export Excel to JSON file

In the same example above, If you want to export excel data to JSON file then It can be done by opening a file for output by specifying the path of the file and printing data in it. Sample code below, Running this would save a JSON file in the current workbook’s folder.

Public Sub exceltojsonfile()
Dim rng As Range, items As New Collection, myitem As New Dictionary, i As Integer, cell As Variant, myfile As String
Set rng = Range("A2:A3")
'Set rng = Range(Sheets(2).Range("A2"), Sheets(2).Range("A2").End(xlDown)) use this for dynamic range
i = 0
For Each cell In rng
Debug.Print (cell.Value)
myitem("name") = cell.Value
myitem("email") = cell.Offset(0, 1).Value
myitem("phone") = cell.Offset(0, 2).Value
items.Add myitem
Set myitem = Nothing
i = i + 1
Next
myfile = Application.ActiveWorkbook.Path & "data.json"
Open myfile For Output As #1
Print #1, ConvertToJson(items, Whitespace:=2)
Close #1
End Sub

Export Excel to Nested JSON

Above code can be modified a bit to get a nested JSON as output. Just add dictionary in another dictionary so that it creates a nested JSON. code looks like this :

Public Sub exceltonestedjson()
Dim rng As Range, items As New Collection, myitem As New Dictionary, subitem As New Dictionary, i As Integer, cell As Variant
Set rng = Range("A2:A3")
'Set rng = Range(Sheets(2).Range("A2"), Sheets(2).Range("A2").End(xlDown)) use this for dynamic range
i = 0
For Each cell In rng
Debug.Print (cell.Value)
myitem("name") = cell.Value
myitem("email") = cell.Offset(0, 1).Value
myitem("phone") = cell.Offset(0, 2).Value
subitem("country") = cell.Offset(0, 3).Value
myitem.Add "location", subitem
items.Add myitem
Set myitem = Nothing
Set subitem = Nothing
i = i + 1
Next
Sheets(2).Range("A4").Value = ConvertToJson(items, Whitespace:=2)
End Sub

Running above code looks like image below

Using array of strings and objects in JSON

One of our readers asked me how to use an array of strings and objects inside the JSON.

Here’s how to do it:

Public Sub exceltojson()
Dim rng As Range, items As New Collection, myitem As New Dictionary, i As Integer, cell As Variant, objectContainer As New Dictionary, arrayContainer As New Collection
Dim j As Integer
'Set rng = Range("A2:A3")
Set rng = Range(Sheets(1).Range("A2"), Sheets(1).Range("A2").End(xlDown)) 'use this for dynamic range
i = 0
For Each cell In rng
myitem("id") = cell.Value
myitem("name") = cell.Offset(0, 1).Value

'tags
tagsString = cell.Offset(0, 2).Value
tagsCollection = getCollectionFromString(tagsString)
myitem.Add "tags", tagsCollection

'ingredients
ingredientsString = cell.Offset(0, 3).Value
weightsString = cell.Offset(0, 4).Value
ingredientsUnit = cell.Offset(0, 5).Value
ingredientsCollection = getCollectionFromString(ingredientsString)
weightsCollection = getCollectionFromString(weightsString)

j = 0
For Each ingredient In ingredientsCollection
objectContainer("ingredientnaam") = ingredient
objectContainer("eenheid") = ingredientsUnit
objectContainer("hoeveelheid") = weightsCollection(j)
arrayContainer.Add objectContainer
Set objectContainer = Nothing
j = j + 1
Next
myitem.Add "ingredienten", arrayContainer

'Reset values
Set arrayContainer = Nothing
j = 0

items.Add myitem
Set myitem = Nothing
i = i + 1
Next
Sheets(1).Range("A6").Value = ConvertToJson(items, Whitespace:=2)
End Sub

Function getCollectionFromString(val)
getCollectionFromString = Split(val, ", ")
End Function

Running above code looks like image below

Wrapping up

Read official documentation of VBA-JSON here and use VBA-Dictionary for Mac Support.

Related articles :

• Complete JSON tutorial here – JSON for beginners
• Handling CSV in VBA

If you have any questions or feedback, comment below and please use CodingisLove Bin for sharing your code.

What is a json format?

JSON is a format of storing and exchanging data. It stands for JavaScript Object Notation. JSON is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. It is a text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. This data interchange format is simple, small, and language independent JSON was derived from the JavaScript scripting language for representing simple data structures and associative arrays, called objects. It has become quite popular for transporting data between the server and web application. It is considered as a lightweight or language independent alternative to XML and is used in numerous AJAX applications.

How to view json files?

JSON file is actually a text file, you can view it line by line with simple text editor like notepad, notepad++ or emacs and so on. If you want to view it in python, it’ll be better to install jq, in that case, you can view it in python like: jq ‘.result’. There are many available JSON libraries for almost every language. If you are interested in Java, you may want to check out GSON. If you want to use for Python, you can also use simplejson.

What are the applications of JSON files?

JSON files are files that store data in JavaScript Object Notation. This is a lightweight format for storing data which is easy for humans to read and write. One of the best features of JSON files is that they are readable by both machines and humans (unlike XML) and more importantly, they work well with JavaScript. JSON files are commonly used for data-driven web applications. In fact, you can even use them to make a web page dynamic. JavaScript has the ability to parse these files and that’s why JSON is one of the best ways to return data to a web page. You can store data in a well-organized and easily-readable format.

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