Does Excel VBA's "Scripting.Dictionary" work in languages other than English?

everyone. I appreciate the people that helped me a few days back. I can say that there has been a bit of progress, but it's pretty much not done yet.

I'm trying to compare the Primary Store (Column C) and Secondary Store (Column E) combinations under the same Buyer (Column G). If the Buyer has more than 1 combination of stores, the filter will not be applied to them and will give me an error instead. Somebody helped me through this (Thank you, Michał Turczyn!), but I am stuck at yet another wall.

I wanted to confirm if the VBA 'Dictionary' works in storing data that are in other languages? All of the data within the cell are either numerical or in Japanese.

The Dictionary keys are ending up as 'Empty' on my side. May I have some help or even suggestions? When I get the debug window, it highlights the [If DICT(SELECTED_ENDUSER).Count > 1 Then]. I'm at my wits end.

    Dim WS As Worksheet
    Dim LAST_ROW As Long
    Dim DICT As Object
    Dim ENDUSER As String
    Dim i As Long
    Dim KEY As Variant
    Dim UNIQUE_PAIR As String
    Dim PAIRS_DICT As Object
    Dim SELECTED_ENDUSER As String
    Dim FILTERED_ENDUSER As Boolean
    
    Set WS = ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet
    LAST_ROW = WS.Cells(WS.Rows.Count, "G").End(xlUp).Row
    
    Set DICT = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
    Set DICT = New Dictionary
    
    For i = 3 To LAST_ROW
        ENDUSER = Trim(WS.Cells(i, "G").Value)
        If ENDUSER <> "" Then
            UNIQUE_PAIR = WS.Cells(i, "C").Value & "|" & WS.Cells(i, "E").Value
            If Not DICT.Exists(ENDUSER) Then
                Set PAIRS_DICT = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
                DICT.Add ENDUSER, PAIRS_DICT
            End If
            DICT(ENDUSER)(UNIQUE_PAIR) = 1
        End If
    Next i
    
    SELECTED_ENDUSER = Cells(AROW, 7).Value
    FILTERED_ENDUSER = DICT.Exists(SELECTED_ENDUSER)
    
    If Not FILTERED_ENDUSER Then
        MsgBox "エンドユーザー「" & SELECTED_ENDUSER & "」はいませんでした。"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    If DICT(SELECTED_ENDUSER).Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "コンフリ有りエンドユーザー様です。", vbCritical
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    If WS.AutoFilterMode Then WS.AutoFilter.ShowAllData
    WS.Range("A1").AutoFilter Field:=7, Criteria1:=SELECTED_ENDUSER
    
    MsgBox "エンドユーザー:" & SELECTED_ENDUSER & "。"
    
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Sub

In Excel VBA, a Dictionary is an object that stores data as key-value pairs, allowing fast lookup and grouping - it works with all objects, not just "words" so it should not be confused with every day meaning of this word and it can certainly be used to for Japanese.

Set DICT = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Set DICT = New Dictionary

You don't need both, Set DICT = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary") is enough.

VBA Dictionary can handle Unicode, including Japanese characters. However, issues can arise if:

• There are invisible characters (e.g., zero-width spaces).
• There are leading/trailing spaces.
• The encoding is inconsistent.

Make sure to clean your inputs - ENDUSER = Trim(CStr(WS.Cells(i, "G").Value)) and SELECTED_ENDUSER = Trim(CStr(Cells(AROW, 7).Value))

My suggestion:

Sub FilterByStoreCombination()

    Dim wsActive As Worksheet
    Dim lastRow As Long
    Dim buyerStoreMap As Object
    Dim buyerName As String
    Dim rowIndex As Long
    Dim storePairKey As String
    Dim storePairDict As Object
    Dim selectedBuyer As String
    Dim isBuyerFound As Boolean
    Dim activeRow As Long

    ' Initialize worksheet and dictionary
    Set wsActive = ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet
    lastRow = wsActive.Cells(wsActive.Rows.Count, "G").End(xlUp).Row
    Set buyerStoreMap = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")

    ' Build dictionary of buyers and their unique store combinations
    For rowIndex = 3 To lastRow
        buyerName = Trim(CStr(wsActive.Cells(rowIndex, "G").Value))
        
        If buyerName <> "" Then
            storePairKey = Trim(CStr(wsActive.Cells(rowIndex, "C").Value)) & "|" & Trim(CStr(wsActive.Cells(rowIndex, "E").Value))
            
            If Not buyerStoreMap.Exists(buyerName) Then
                Set storePairDict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
                buyerStoreMap.Add buyerName, storePairDict
            End If
            
            buyerStoreMap(buyerName)(storePairKey) = 1
        End If
    Next rowIndex

    ' Get selected buyer from the active row
    activeRow = ActiveCell.Row
    selectedBuyer = Trim(CStr(wsActive.Cells(activeRow, 7).Value))
    isBuyerFound = buyerStoreMap.Exists(selectedBuyer)

    If Not isBuyerFound Then
        MsgBox "The selected buyer '" & selectedBuyer & "' was not found.", vbExclamation
        Exit Sub
    End If

    ' Check for multiple store combinations
    If buyerStoreMap(selectedBuyer).Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "This buyer has conflicting store combinations.", vbCritical
        Exit Sub
    End If
    ' Apply filter to show only the selected buyer
    If wsActive.AutoFilterMode Then wsActive.AutoFilter.ShowAllData
    wsActive.Range("A1").AutoFilter Field:=7, Criteria1:=selectedBuyer

    MsgBox "Buyer: " & selectedBuyer & " has been filtered.", vbInformation

    Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Sub

Edit, the code works with my test inputs being as per the below table.

Working screenshots: