Generating charts and graphs without Excel

Hi

I'm trying to accomplish one of the following:

a) Generate charts and graphs in Excel without using any macros

or

b) Come up with a way to generate charts and graphs without using Excel at all.

Does anybody have any idea if that's possible and if there are any alternatives to using Excel?

Welcome to VBForums :wave:

a) You can create a macro to do it, and then move the code from a macro into your program, see my Excel tutorial (link in my signature) for an explanation of how to do it.

b) Find/buy a component that does it (I recommend a search of our CodeBank/UtilityBank forums), or write your own.

You're posting in VB6 and Earlier, so I'm not sure why you're asking about Excel here...

What are you actually after? A way to chart data and view it, some way to print charts?


The MSChart control (MSCHRT20.OCX) plots several basic kinds of charts and meets a lot of needs for things below publication grade images.

If you run this sample in the VB6 IDE it may fail the first time with a "collating sequence" error. Just run it again.

This is a long-standing bug in the IDE itself when using certain MDAC/DAC components. It won't happen in a compiled program.

kaam

In addition to the ways listed above, there is always the "brute force"
method, namely, use a PictureBox and the Line method. It takes a fair
amount of work, but you will have complete control over the look-and-feel
of the chart.

Spoo

si_the_geek: my macros would look different each time. The spreadsheets I'm generating are based on 50+ collections and data from the access database that user entered previously into the program. A component that does what I need would be great. I did some research, but with no results.

dilettante: yes, I'm looking for a way to display charts and print them out too. Thank you for the sample.

spo: thank you, but the brute force method you described simply won't work. We're talking about a huge amount of coding, it's a large project.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kaamiljj

si_the_geek: my macros would look different each time. The spreadsheets I'm generating are based on 50+ collections and data from the access database that user entered previously into the program.

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Without knowing how your current code works (and what you want to graph) I can't be sure, but there is a very good chance that you can use just one 'macro' with minor modifications.

However, depending on the circumstances using a separate component (like the one dilettante suggested) rather than Excel may be a better idea.

If the users would all have Office installed... it includes a fancier chart component you can use from a VB6 program too. It can't be redistributed though.

Most charting controls have fairly complicated object models to learn.

I made this bar chart using the shape control and some labels. It just takes a little arithmetic to set the height of the bars based on the data.

http://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2007/04/1.gif

As you can see, I flunked all the comprehensive exams using random responses to the questions. :rolleyes: