MSChart Question

[Dave the Wave]

Can an inset MSChart object have 2 different styles of charts - like a
target line on a stacked bar chart? Would this require 2 charts, one
on top of the other like layered graphics? Does anyone have experience
with overlaying charts and the inherent pitfalls. Or, a different
solution idea.

Thanks!

 

[Rob Parker]

It certainly can. You do, of course, need at least two sets of y-axis data
in the recordsource for the chart itself. Then you can select one of the
pre-defined mixed chart types from the Custom Types tab in the Chart Type
.... dialog (available either from the Chart menu or via the right-click
button); or you can set your own combination by clicking on a single dataset
in the chart and selecting a Chart Type for it - in this case, there are
some limitations (eg. you cannot mix 2-D and 3-D chart types). This latter
method is useful if you have several datasets and you want most displayed in
one type, with only one displayed in another; the default will put half of
the datasets into each type.

HTH,

Rob

 

[Dave the Wave]

Thank you very much for this information.
Do you know of any examples I could download to get a better idea of
the underlying query/table structure I will need?

 

[Rob Parker]

"... the underlying query/table structure I will need? ..." to do what?

You need to produce a datasheet containing the data you want to graph. How
you get it from your underlying tables is up to you. It may all be in a
single table, or you may need to construct a query to join data from several
tables. In the property sheet for the MSChart object, you set the Row
Source property to either the name of an existing table or query (available
via the drop-down on the field), to a valid SQL string, or you can click on
the "..." button to invoke the query builder. By default, the first field
in your data source will be the x-axis variable, the rest will be displayed
on the y-axis/axes. The Data menu for the Chart object (double-click to
edit the chart object itself) present various options to change these
defaults.

As for examples, I'm not aware of any related directly to graphs/charts in
Access, but I'm sure there will be some available if you search for them.
You could also search for graph/charts in Excel, as the graph applet is
essentially the same. As far as general Access examples, the list is very
large. A useful starting point is Jeff Conrad's resource list at
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

HTH,

Rob