Microsoft KB Archive/202169

= ACC2000: Using Automation to Create a Microsoft Excel Chart =

Article ID: 202169

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q202169



Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.



SUMMARY
This article shows you how to use automation to create and format a chart in Microsoft Excel.



MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. The following steps demonstrate how to use a Visual Basic for Applications procedure to create an Excel chart that is based on a query in the sample database Northwind.mdb:

CAUTION: If you follow the steps in this example, you modify the sample database Northwind.mdb. You may want to back up the Northwind.mdb file and follow these steps on a copy of the database.

 Start Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.  Create the following query based on the Orders table and the Order Details Extended query:   Query: qrySalesByCountry --  Type: Select Query Join: [Orders].[OrderID] <-> [Order Details Extended].[OrderID] Field: ShipCountry Table: Orders Total: Group By  Field: ExtendedPrice Query: Order Details Extended Total: Sum Save the query as qrySalesByCountry and close it.   Create a new module and type the following line in the Declarations section if it isn't already there: Option Explicit  On the Tools menu, click References. In the References dialog box, ensure that the Microsoft Excel 9.0 Object Library check box is selected and click OK.  Type or paste the following procedure into the module: Function CreateChart(strSourceName As String, _     strFileName As String)

Dim xlApp As Excel.Application Dim xlWrkbk As Excel.Workbook Dim xlChartObj As Excel.Chart Dim xlSourceRange As Excel.Range Dim xlColPoint As Excel.Point

On Error GoTo Err_CreateChart

' Create an Excel workbook file based on the ' object specified in the second argument. DoCmd.TransferSpreadsheet acExport, acSpreadsheetTypeExcel97, _ strSourceName, strFileName, False ' Create a Microsoft Excel object. Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application") ' Open the spreadsheet to which you exported the data. Set xlWrkbk = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(strFileName) ' Determine the size of the range and store it. Set xlSourceRange = _ xlWrkbk.Worksheets(1).Range("a1").CurrentRegion ' Create a new chart. Set xlChartObj = xlApp.Charts.Add ' Format the chart. With xlChartObj

' Specify chart type as 3D. .ChartType = xl3DColumn ' Set the range of the chart. .SetSourceData Source:=xlSourceRange, _ PlotBy:=xlColumns ' Specify that the chart is located on a new sheet. .Location Where:=xlLocationAsNewSheet

' Create and set the title; set title font. .HasTitle = True With .ChartTitle .Characters.Text = _ "Total Sales by Country" .Font.Size = 18 End With

' Rotate the x-axis labels to a 45-degree angle. .Axes(xlCategory).TickLabels.Orientation = 45 ' Delete the label at the far right of the x-axis. .Axes(xlSeries).Delete ' Delete the legend. .HasLegend = False

' Set each datapoint to show the dollar amount ' and format the datapoint to be currency ' with no decimals. With .SeriesCollection(1) .ApplyDataLabels Type:=xlDataLabelsShowValue .DataLabels.NumberFormat = "$#,##0" End With

End With

' Position the points further from the tops ' of the columns. For Each xlColPoint In _ xlChartObj.SeriesCollection(1).Points xlColPoint.DataLabel.Top = _ xlColPoint.DataLabel.Top - 11 Next xlColPoint

' Save and close the workbook ' and quit Microsoft Excel. With xlWrkbk .Save .Close End With

xlApp.Quit

Exit_CreateChart: Set xlSourceRange = Nothing Set xlColPoint = Nothing Set xlChartObj = Nothing Set xlWrkbk = Nothing Set xlApp = Nothing Exit Function

Err_CreateChart:

MsgBox CStr(Err) & " " & Err.Description Resume Exit_CreateChart

End Function

 On the Debug menu, click Compile Northwind.</li> Press CTRL+G to open the Immediate Window.</li>  To run this procedure, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER: ?CreateChart("qrySalesByCountry","c:\Sales.xls") </li> Open the file c:\Sales.xls in Excel. Click the chart sheet Chart1 to view the Sales By Country chart.</li></ol>

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