Activating a Chart object

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi,

Whats the correct syntax to access (activate) a chart within a chart sheet
in an excel workbook?

I tried

Sheets("Chart1").Chartobjects("Chart 5").activate

Also,

Charts("Chart1").Chartobjects("Chart 5").activate

But both of them gave run-time error.

Basically I want to select a single chart within a chart sheet and change
the Auto-Scale property to False.

(I need to ultimately do this within all Excel Chart OLE's within a PPT, so
my syntaxes actually have the name of the PPT session along with object name
appended to them.)

Regards,
Hari
India

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Have you tried using the macro recorder to get an idea of the syntax?

I got this,
Charts("Chart1").ChartObjects("Chart 1"). _
Chart.ChartArea.AutoScaleFont = False

Cheers
Andy

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi Andy,

I tried recording macros and when I changed the constants like Chart1 and
Chart 1 to variables I started getting errors.

And I could check that the Names (Chart1 and Chart 1) were correct (after
considerable difficulty) and also the variables which were holding these
values were correct and hence couldnt understand what I was doing wrong.

Also the problem could have been because Im not conversant with object level
model for charts (im going through them presently but).

Some queries: -

a) Names of Charts are so difficult to find when im in a WORKSHEET. If I
click on the chart border and see the name box it would display "Chart area"
or if I click inside it would say plot area but not the name of the chart.
Rather I would have to extend the black borders of the chart area and see
the chart name displayed. Is there a better way than resorting to such
distortion.

b) Morever Im not able to see the names of the charts (mentioned in point a)
above) when they are embedded in the CHARTSHETTS. I have to take the trouble
of moving them to worksheets and stretching them and looking their names.
The same stretching within chartsheets doesnt yield names when am within
chartsheets. And yes, in case of Parent charts One cannnot do any
stretching?

c) Morever this is something I learned from my colleague just now. A Normal
data worksheet can have many charts and None of them is tethered to one
another. I thought that in the same way the charts within a Chartsheet are
also not "linked" to each other. BUT, I see that if I have a chart sheet
with a single chart in it then it is the "Parent chart" while any other
charts that we add subsequently in that chart sheet have their chartarea
within the chart area of the parent chart. Please throw some light on the
same.

d) When I tried moving the parent chart's location I got a message "To move
a chart from its own sheet to an object, you must first remove all chart
objects embedded in the sheet". On the other hand if I move the "child"
chart from this same chart sheet to another worksheet/new chartsheet one can
do flawlessly. So is the original chart in the chart sheet owner of that
chartsheet?

e) How do I refer to a parent chart in a chart sheet if i dont know its
name?

f) Suppose I have one embedded chart within a Chartsheet along with a parent
sheet then do I use chartobject method to refer to the child chart. Recorded
Macro tells me that it is so (please see the code
"ParentAndChildInChartSheet" below) On the other hand Help File for
ChartObject Object says that it "Represents an embedded chart on a
worksheet."
So why does recorded macro refer to the child with respect to chart objects
while help file says that Chartobject object is only for Embedded
WORKSHEETS?

sub ParentAndChildInChartSheet()

Sheets("Chart3").Select
ActiveSheet.ChartObjects("Chart 2").Activate
ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).Select
Selection.TickLabels.AutoScaleFont = False
ActiveWindow.Visible = False
Windows("Book1").Activate
ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).Select
Selection.TickLabels.AutoScaleFont = False
ActiveChart.Deselect

End Sub

In the above charts are there in Book1 workbook and while recording macro Im
never switching workbooks so why does the macro use the
"Windows("Book1").Activate"

Also in this when there is only parent chart in a chart sheet and no more
charts are there in the chart sheet, I get the following code: -

Sub ParentOnlyInChartSheet()

Sheets("Chart3").Select
ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).Select
Selection.TickLabels.AutoScaleFont = False

End Sub

So does that mean the parent chart is aleays referred to as active chart?

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

To see the name of a chartobject hold the shift key and then select the
chart. The chartobjects name will then appear in the Name Box (next to
the formula bar).

You can embed multiple chart objects within a chart sheet but you can
not embed chart objects within other chart objects. So when you try and
change the location of a chart sheet with a chart object embeded in it
you will get the warning message. This is because you are converting the
chart sheet into a chart object.

The following will set the axes for all charts and chartobjects.
Sub Main()
Dim chtTemp As Chart
Dim shtTemp As Worksheet
Dim objCht As ChartObject

' process all chart objects on each worksheet in workbook
For Each shtTemp In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
For Each chtobj In shtTemp.ChartObjects
objCht.Chart.Axes(xlValue).TickLabels.AutoScaleFont = False
Next
Next

' process each chartsheet and chartobject in workbook
For Each chtTemp In ActiveWorkbook.Charts
chtTemp.Axes(xlValue).TickLabels.AutoScaleFont = False
For Each objCht In chtTemp.ChartObjects
objCht.Chart.Axes(xlValue).TickLabels.AutoScaleFont = False
Next
Next
End Sub

To get the parent of a chartobject on a worksheet you can use
Activechart.parent.name

To get the name of the chartobject on a chartsheet
Activechart.parent.name

To get the name of the chartsheet of a chartobject on a chartsheet
Activechart.parent.parent.name

The appearence of code like Windows("Book1").Activate
is because the marco recorder is not really intelligent it just
generates code for all your actions. It's a pretty good place to start
but you do need to remove redundent code.

Hopefully that covers all the questions.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi,

Thanks for your detailed explanation

Seeing your along and comparing with macro recorder am able to make sense of
the kind of syntax needed to do similar things.

Im now able to understand that even chartsheets work on the basis of the
chart objects syntax. (wonder why MS has written in the help about
chartobjects saying "Represents an embedded chart on a
worksheet." when even chartsheets use the chartobject concept.)

Grateful for your Shift + Click for chart name tip.

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

news:[email protected]...

 

[Jon Peltier]

Hari -

The chart object represents a chart embedded in any sheet, whether it's
a chart sheet or worksheet. But don't get confused and try to access the
chart object container of a chart which is the chart sheet itself, not
embedded in the sheet.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the clarification.

I am sure I have come across an article/web-page which says that if one
wants to control charts through programming then its better to do that with
embedded charts in Worksheets rather than the charts/embedded charts within
a ChartSheet. Reason cited was that syntax is more consistent/clearer/easier
(or something similar).

If you have the link please give the same to me. (I think it was probably
your article.)

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India