ACC97: How to Use Automation to Create a Microsoft Excel Chart (184273)

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 a Microsoft Excel 97 chart that is based on a query in the sample database Northwind.mdb:

1. Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
2. 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.
3. Create a new module and type the following line in the Declarations section if it isn't already there:

   Option Explicit
   					

4. On the Tools menu, click References. In the References dialog box, ensure that the Microsoft Excel 8.0 Object Library check box is selected, and then click OK.
5. 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
   					

6. On the Debug menu, click Compile And Save All Modules.
7. Press CTRL+G to open the Debug window.
8. To run this procedure, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:

   ?CreateChart("qrySalesByCountry","c:\Sales.xls")
   					

9. Open the file c:\Sales.xls in Microsoft Excel 97. Click the chart sheet Chart1 to view the Sales By Country chart.