Finding the Y-Value of Points

[David Benson]

I have a somewhat complex set of bar-charts. Some (but not all) of the data
series that make up each chart have the values of the points displayed. Due
to the complex formatting of the charts, I can't just display the values
using Data Labels, so I display them in Text Boxes. I have written a macro
that automatically positions each text box just above the bar whose value it
shows, and changes the formatting of the text box based on the formatting of
whatever it happens to be positioned over.

Until now, I got the value associated with each bar from the actual cells on
the worksheet. However, a recent change to the requirements for the charts
means I am not always plotting data from a contiguous range. For example, a
data range might consist of Sheet2!(E2,E7:E10) on one chart, or Sheet
3!(E3:E9) on another chart. This makes looking up the value for each bar in
the chart-formatting macro harder.

I would like to be able to use the set of plotted values rather than reading
cells off the worksheet, but I can't figure out how to get at them. I tried
using ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(i).Points(j), but there is no Values
property associated with this object. I also tried using
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(i).Values, but that apparently only returns the
array of plotted values -- I can't get it to return a single value.

Does anyone know how I can return the plotted y-value of a single point?

BTW - I am using Excel 2007. As a side comment, it appears to me that the
Help function in this version of VBA is seriously degraded from what it used
to be in Excel 2003!


David Benson

 

[Jayson]

The only thing I can suggest is that you use the built in feature that shows
a data table under the chart.

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

You can either write all the values to a variant array and then index
that or use the Index function.

Dim vntData As Variant

vntData = ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(1).Values
MsgBox "Point 3=" & vntData(3)

MsgBox "Point 3=" & Application.WorksheetFunction.Index( _
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(1).Values, 3)


Cheers
Andy

 

[Peter T]

arrY = ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(i).Values
for p = 1 to ubound(arrY)
myPointVal = arrY(p)
etc

In passing, not sure why you say textboxes are easier to control than
Datalabels, I would have thought the opposite irrespective of any complex
formats

Regards,
Peter T

 

[David Benson]

Thanks, Andy! I tried your first suggestion, and it worked great.

-- David

 

[David Benson]

Peter T,

Thanks for the help. Your suggestion was essentially duplicated Andy
Pope's, and they worked!

For what it's worth, I am drawing a chart that shows software size, planned
percent complete, and actual percent complete. The software size bars show
what percentage of the total software falls into each of the categories on
the chart. The planned and actual percent complete bars are scaled so that
if percent complete = 100%, the bar is the same height as the corresonding
size bar. They are formatted so that they are side-by-side, and both fit
within the corresponding total size bar, which obviously is a little more
than twice as wide as the percentage bars. The total size bar is royal blue
(RGB(0,0,255)), and the plot area is white. If I make the text in the
labels black, it doesn't show up well against the dark blue; if I make it
white, then obviously it doesn't show up against the plot area (which can
happen when percent complete is near 100%).

For what it's worth, I inherited the format. It was designed for use with
Vice Presidents, so attractiveness of appearance was a major consideration!

-- David

 

[Peter T]

So why not format the labels' font colour to whatever you want, say same as
your textboxes.

There are all sorts of "Position" values you can apply, including
xlLabelPositionCustom to place them as you would textboxes. In effect you
can treat your datalabels as you would textboxes but without the need to
update values.

Regards,
Peter T