User-defined charts

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

Hello,

I'¨m trying to build some user defined charts for several users to
maintain consistent formatting etc. I know how to make the charts,
saving them and most settings but there is one issue I haven't solved
yet.

The user defined charts will be used on lots of different datatypes.
For exampel, one of the charts will have 2 dataseries but another will
have 10. They should still have the same type of formatting in all
series. Lets say they want a Line chart and the the lines should be of
a spesific thickness (thicker than default). How can I make sure that
all lines will have this thickness, no matter how many dataseries
there are? Do I have to create a user defined chart with a maximum
number of dataseries and format all series to my specifications?

 

[Jon Peltier]

Do I have to create a user defined chart with a maximum

number of dataseries and format all series to my specifications?

That's right.

- Jon

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

That's right.

Thanks for your quick reply. A couple of more questions then: What is
the maximum number of dataseries in a chart? And is there a way to
achive consistant formatting through VBA?

 

[Jon Peltier]

You can have up to 255 series in a chart, which should be more than enough
for any legible chart.

In vba you can apply formats to a chart, so this is a matter of setting up
the code to apply the desired formats to the appropriate series.

- Jon

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

You can have up to 255 series in a chart, which should be more than enough
for any legible chart.

In vba you can apply formats to a chart, so this is a matter of setting up
the code to apply the desired formats to the appropriate series.

Thanks again! I have tried google for more information about how Excel
handles this but I haven't found anything that goes in the depth of
it. Do you have any pointers? Sites, books etc.

It seems to me there should be an option to set these settings once
and for all. I have customers making reports with 30-50 different
charts every day and they spend a lot of time tweaking the formatting.
Is VB really the only way to go? Any add-ins you know of? Or do people
use other tools for this sort of work?

 

[Don Guillett]

Jon is perhaps the foremost charting authority for excel.

Jon Peltier's Excel Charts

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

Jon is perhaps the foremost charting authority for excel.

Jon Peltier's Excel Charts

Yes, so I've noticed.

 

[Don Guillett]

I meant to give you the url to his web site
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/index.html

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

I meant to give you the url to his web site
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/index.html

Yes, I know about his website and I've been through it. I'm seeking
even more in-depth information.

 

[Jon Peltier]

What VBA does is applies the tweaking automatically. You need to come up
with a template or a set of tweaks that make people happy enough with the
chart. I don't know what you mean by set the settings once and for all,
unless you want a more totally VBA approach that dumps the data into an
Excel template and plots it in a protected chart. Otherwise, human nature
dictates that people are going to tweak.

If you decide to use VBA, you could start with some recorded macros, then
examine the code and remove duplicate items and stray mouse actions.

- Jon

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

What VBA does is applies the tweaking automatically. You need to come up
with a template or a set of tweaks that make people happy enough with the
chart. I don't know what you mean by set the settings once and for all,
unless you want a more totally VBA approach that dumps the data into an
Excel template and plots it in a protected chart. Otherwise, human nature
dictates that people are going to tweak.

If you decide to use VBA, you could start with some recorded macros, then
examine the code and remove duplicate items and stray mouse actions.

Yes, I know they will try to tweak it but I would like to make the
charts as good as possible before they start ruining it agian.

What I mean is, I would like to save the settings for bars, lines etc
(thickness, borders, colours) in the user-defined chart so I could be
sure that they have the correct settings every time, even if they
change the chart-type or add more serie.

Seems like I have to use a VBA-approach. Btw, do you know if 2007
handles this any differently?

 

[Jon Peltier]

Excel 2007 handles chart formatting in VBA nominally the same as in 2003,
although you may find some minor differences.

- Jon

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

Excel 2007 handles chart formatting in VBA nominally the same as in 2003,
although you may find some minor differences.

Thanks again, but I guess I was a bit unclear. What I meant was: Do
you know if 2007 handles user-defined charts any differently?

 

[Jon Peltier]

I suspect for backwards compatibility there may be similar functionality, at
least through VBA. In the UI, there is a new chart template capability,
which I haven't had the chance to try out. Are you planning to upgrade?

- Jon

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

I suspect for backwards compatibility there may be similar functionality, at
least through VBA. In the UI, there is a new chart template capability,
which I haven't had the chance to try out. Are you planning to upgrade?

The customer in this project is considering to upgrade. They make
several reports every day with lots of charts in each report. One of
their main goals is to achieve consistant formatting througout all the
charts, without spending too much time and without letting the users
have to format it manually.

If this is easier with 2007, it may be an argument for upgrading.

 

[Jon Peltier]

They should not at this time upgrade only because of charting. There are
other features which may make the upgrade attractive (more rows and columns,
enhanced formatting, the new table feature, and more), but charting has not
progressed beyond Excel 2003.

- Jon

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

They should not at this time upgrade only because of charting. There are
other features which may make the upgrade attractive (more rows and columns,
enhanced formatting, the new table feature, and more), but charting has not
progressed beyond Excel 2003.

Thanks for clearifying. I know about some of the other features but
these are not their main concern. The most important reasons are the
other office-programs (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint). Easier and more
consistant formatting of charts could be something that make their
decision easier.