Finding the shortest path – A * pathfinding

1. Finding the shortest path - A * pathfinding

Two months ago I posted some interesting stuff I found: Shortest path. Let me explain, someone created a workbook that calculated the shortest path between a start cell and an end cell in a maze, and it did that using only formulas. Pretty amazing. The formulas were made from Dijkstra's Algorithm. I tried to create a larger maze but the workbook grew too large.

I then found the A * pathfinding algorithm and it is a lot easier for the computer to calculate. There is a great explanation of the A * pathfinding algorithm here: Introduction to A* Pathfinding.

Basically, there is an open list, a closed list and a final path. The open list contains cells that are being considered to find the final path. The closed list contains cells that we don't need to consider again.

They all contain coordinates or cells based on criteria. The criteria are:

1. The distance to the END cell. (The distance to the END cell is calculated with the Manhattan distance method.
2. The distance traveled from the start cell.

If the END cell is added to the open list, the closed list is finished calculating. Now it is time to find the final path. The final path is also found using the Manhattan distance method but it can only travel on cells in the closed list.

Here is an animated picture, it shows you how the macro works, simplified.

• The blue cell is the start cell
• The red cell is the end cell
• Gray cells are cells in the closed list.
• Green cells are the final path.
• Black cells are walls.

Here is a slightly more advanced "map".

This is a maze. I have removed the closed list cells to make the macro quicker.

VBA Code

'Name macro
Sub FindShortestPath1()

'Disable screen refresh
Application.ScreenUpdating = False

'Dimension variables and their data types
Dim G() As Variant
Dim H() As Variant
Dim N() As Variant
Dim OL() As Variant
Dim CL() As Variant
Dim S() As Variant
Dim E() As Variant
Dim W() As Variant
Dim Gv() As Variant
Dim i As Single

'Redimension variables
ReDim S(0 To 1)
ReDim E(0 To 1)
ReDim W(0 To 3, 0 To 1)
ReDim OL(0 To 1, 0)
ReDim CL(0 To 1, 0)
ReDim Gv(0 To 3)

'Save values in cell range specified in named range "Area" to variable Rng
Rng = Range("Area").Value

'Save the upper limit of rows from Rng variable to variable a
a = UBound(Rng, 1) - 1

'Save the upper limit of columns from Rng variable to variable a
b = UBound(Rng, 2) - 1

'Redimension variables G, H and N based on variable a and b
ReDim G(0 To a, 0 To b)
ReDim H(0 To a, 0 To b)
ReDim N(0 To a, 0 To b)

'For ... next loop from 1 to the number of rows in Rng variable
For R = 1 To UBound(Rng, 1)

    'For ... next loop from 1 to the number of columns in Rng variable
    For C = 1 To UBound(Rng, 2)

        'Check if cell Rng(r, C) is equal to "S" (start point)
        If Rng(R, C) = "S" Then
            'Save number in variable R - 1 to variable S position 0 (zero)
            S(0) = R - 1

            'Save number in variable C - 1 to variable S position 1
            S(1) = C - 1
        End If

        'Check if cell Rng(r, C) is equal to "E" (end point)
        If Rng(R, C) = "E" Then
            E(0) = R - 1
            E(1) = C - 1
        End If

        'Check if S(0) is not equal to "" and E(0) is not equal to ""
        If S(0) <> "" And E(0) <> "" Then Exit For
    Next C
Next R

'Save number stored in S(0) to array variable CL (closed list) position 0,0
CL(0, 0) = S(0) 'row

'Save number stored in S(1) to array variable CL (closed list) position 1,0
CL(1, 0) = S(1) 'column

'Save -1  to array variable W position 0,0 
W(0, 0) = -1

'Save 1 to array variable W position 1,0 
W(1, 0) = 1

'Save 0 to array variable W position 2,0 
W(2, 0) = 0

'Save 0 to array variable W position 3,0 
W(3, 0) = 0

'Save 0 to array variable W position 0,1 
W(0, 1) = 0

'Save 0 to array variable W position 1,1 
W(1, 1) = 0

'Save -1 to array variable W position 2,1 
W(2, 1) = -1

'Save 1 to array variable W position 3,1
W(3, 1) = 1

'Save boolean value False to variable Echk
Echk = False

'Keep iterating until Echk is True
Do Until Echk = True

    'For ... next statement
    For i = 0 To UBound(CL, 2)

        'For ... next statement
        For j = 0 To 3

            'Save boolean value False to variable Echk
            chk = False

            'Add number in CL position 0, i and W position j, 0 and save total to tr
            tr = CL(0, i) + W(j, 0)

            'Add number in CL and W and save total to tc
            tc = CL(1, i) + W(j, 1)
        
            If tr < 0 Or tc < 0 Or tr > UBound(Rng, 1) Or tc > UBound(Rng, 2) Then
                chk = True
            Else
            
                For k = UBound(CL, 2) To 0 Step -1
                        If tr = CL(0, k) And tc = CL(1, k) Then
                            chk = True
                            Exit For
                        End If
                Next k
            
                If Rng(tr + 1, tc + 1) = 1 Then chk = True
            
                For k = UBound(OL, 2) To 0 Step -1
                    If tr = OL(0, k) And tc = OL(1, k) Then
                        chk = True
                        
                        If G(CL(0, i), CL(1, i)) + 1 < G(tr, tc) Then
                            G(tr, tc) = G(CL(0, i), CL(1, i)) + 1
                            H(tr, tc) = Abs(tr - E(0)) + Abs(tc - E(1))
                            N(tr, tc) = G(tr, tc) + H(tr, tc)
                        End If
                        Exit For
                    End If
                Next k
                
                If chk = False Then
                    OL(0, UBound(OL, 2)) = tr
                    OL(1, UBound(OL, 2)) = tc
                    ReDim Preserve OL(UBound(OL, 1), UBound(OL, 2) + 1)
                    G(tr, tc) = G(CL(0, i), CL(1, i)) + 1
                    H(tr, tc) = Abs(tr - E(0)) + Abs(tc - E(1))
                    N(tr, tc) = G(tr, tc) + H(tr, tc)
                    If Rng(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "E" Then Echk = True
                End If
            End If
        Next j
    Next i
    
    If Echk <> True Then
    
        For i = LBound(OL, 2) To UBound(OL, 2)
            If OL(0, i) <> "" Then
                Nchk = N(OL(0, i), OL(1, i))
                Exit For
            End If
        Next i
        
        For i = LBound(OL, 2) To UBound(OL, 2)
            If OL(1, i) <> "" Then
                If N(OL(0, i), OL(1, i)) < Nchk And N(OL(0, i), OL(1, i)) <> "" Then
                    Nchk = N(OL(0, i), OL(1, i))
                End If
            End If
        Next i
        
        For i = LBound(OL, 2) To UBound(OL, 2)
            If OL(0, i) <> "" Then
                If N(OL(0, i), OL(1, i)) = Nchk Then
                    ReDim Preserve CL(UBound(CL, 1), UBound(CL, 2) + 1)
                    CL(0, UBound(CL, 2)) = OL(0, i)
                    OL(0, i) = ""
                    CL(1, UBound(CL, 2)) = OL(1, i)
                    OL(1, i) = ""
                End If
            End If
        Next i
    End If
Loop

tr = E(0)
tc = E(1)

Schk = False
Do Until Schk = True

    For i = UBound(CL, 2) To 0 Step -1
        If CL(0, i) = (tr + 1) And CL(1, i) = tc _
            And (Rng(tr + 2, tc + 1) <> "W" _
            And Rng(tr + 2, tc + 1) <> "1") _
            Then Gv(0) = G(tr + 1, tc)
        If CL(0, i) = tr And CL(1, i) = (tc + 1) _
            And (Rng(tr + 1, tc + 2) <> "W" _
            And Rng(tr + 1, tc + 2) <> "1") _
            Then Gv(1) = G(tr, tc + 1)
        If CL(0, i) = (tr - 1) And CL(1, i) = tc _
            And (Rng(tr, tc + 1) <> "W" _
            And Rng(tr, tc + 1) <> "1") _
            Then Gv(2) = G(tr - 1, tc)
        If CL(0, i) = tr And CL(1, i) = (tc - 1) _
            And (Rng(tr + 1, tc) <> "W" _
            And Rng(tr + 1, tc) <> "1") _
            Then Gv(3) = G(tr, tc - 1)
        
        For j = 0 To 3
            If Gv(j) <> "" Then Nf = Gv(j)
        Next j
        For j = 0 To 3
            If Gv(j) < Nf And Gv(j) <> "" Then Nf = Gv(j)
        Next j
    Next i
  Application.ScreenUpdating = True
    Select Case Nf
        Case Gv(0)
            tr = tr + 1
            Range("Area").Cells(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
            Rng(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
        Case Gv(1)
            tc = tc + 1
            Range("Area").Cells(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
            Rng(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
        Case Gv(2)
            tr = tr - 1
            Range("Area").Cells(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
            Rng(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
        Case Gv(3)
            tc = tc - 1
            Range("Area").Cells(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
            Rng(tr + 1, tc + 1) = "W"
    End Select

    If Rng(tr + 2, tc + 1) = "S" _
        Or Rng(tr + 1, tc + 2) = "S" _
        Or Rng(tr, tc + 1) = "S" _
        Or Rng(tr + 1, tc) = "S" Then Schk = True

Loop
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Get the Excel file

Find-shortest-path.xlsm

2. Optimize pick path in a warehouse

As you probably already are aware of I have shown you earlier a vba macro I made that finds the shortest path between two points. There are obstacles between these two points to make it more difficult.

The problem with that macro is that it could only show a path that moves up, down, left or right. So I had to change it so it can move in eight directions.

Instead of using 6 movements it now uses 3 movements, it can now go diagonal from A to B. This is more realistic, of course.

Calculating all possible paths between 15 locations

The following animated picture shows you 9600 storage locations, named item 1 to 9600. Each black dot is a storage location in this warehouse.

There is a start point almost at the top of this picture. I have chosen 14 random locations and the macro shows the shortest path and calculates the distance in the table at the bottom of this picture.

Find the shortest pick path

Now that we have all distances between 15 locations we can use the Excel Solver to find the shortest path. First we need to setup a sheet.

Formula in cell C4:

=INDEX(Items!$H$4:$H$17, MATCH('Optimize total path'!B4, Items!$G$4:$G$17, 0))

Formula in cell D4:

=INDEX(Paths!$C$3:$Q$17, MATCH('Optimize total path'!C3, Paths!$B$3:$B$17, 0), MATCH('Optimize total path'!C4, Paths!$C$2:$Q$2, 0))

Formula in cell D19:

=SUM(D3:D18)

Now it is time for the excel solver to find the optimal path. If you need more detailed instructions, check out this page: Travelling Salesman Problem in Excel Solver

After a few minutes this sequence is shown with the shortest total distance.

Optimal path

Here is the shortest path. It begins with the start point almost at the top and goes through all 14 storage locations and then back to start point.

Read more interesting posts:

• A quicker A * pathfinding algorithm
• Finding the shortest path – A * pathfinding
• Build a maze
• Solve a maze
• Identify numbers in sum using solver
• Excel udf: Find numbers in sum

Get excel *.xlsm file

Optimize-pick-path-in-a-warehouse1.xlsm

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