How can I programmatically modify an embedded bar/column chart with VBA? - vba

Question

I'm creating a ProcessBook display that populates an embedded Microsoft Office 11.0 Spreadsheet object (Office 2003) with a set of entries. I'm then calculating aggregate data about them; this aggregate data should not be visible in spreadsheet form onscreen, but does need to be used to generate a bar chart. The data is currently being used to populate a separate Microsoft Office 11.0 Spreadsheet object. It's organized such that the title of each bar chart is in column A and the corresponding value is in column B.
Since this is ProcessBook, I've had some difficulty even gaining access to embedded objects, but I've managed to embed and gain access to a ChartSpace object, as well as a child ChChart object. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to either manually set the values of the bars or how to use the .SetData or .SetSpreadsheetData methods to point it to an object that I've populated.
Accessing the ChartSpace object is pretty straightforward: ThisDisplay.ChartSpace1
I can then add a Chart and access it fairly easily:
Dim objChart as ChChart
Set objChart = ThisDisplay.ChartSpace1.Charts.Add(0)
I can access my spreadsheet values pretty easily as well:
strBarName = ThisDisplay.sstChartData.Range("A2").Value
intBarVal = ThisDisplay.sstChartData.Range("B2").Value
How do I actually set the data source or manually set the values of the bars in the ChChart object? Alternatively, how do I use a different object to accomplish the same goal?

Answer 1

Apparently persistence is the key here. I managed to determine how to both add values manually and how to refer to the existing spreadsheet object. Both examples take heavily from the online ChChart documentation; I guess I was just tired when I attempted it in the first place and must have mistyped something somewhere.
Public Sub AddValuesToChartManually()
Dim objChart As ChChart
With ThisDisplay.ChartSpace1
Do While .Charts.Count > 0
ThisDisplay.ChartSpace1.Charts.Delete (0)
Loop
Set objChart = .Charts.Add
objChart.HasTitle = True
objChart.Title.Caption = "Chart Title"
objChart.Axes.Item(0).HasTitle = True
objChart.Axes.Item(1).HasTitle = True
objChart.Axes.Item(0).Title.Caption = "Axis 0"
objChart.Axes.Item(1).Title.Caption = "Axis 1"
objChart.HasLegend = False
Dim astrHeaders(0 To 4) As String
Dim aintValues1(0 To 4) As String
Dim aintValues2(0 To 4) As String
Dim astrSeries1(0) As String
Dim astrSeries2(0) As String
astrHeaders(0) = "AL1"
astrHeaders(1) = "AL2"
astrHeaders(2) = "AL3"
astrHeaders(3) = "AL4"
astrHeaders(4) = "AL5"
astrSeries(0) = "Series Name"
aintValues(0) = 1
aintValues(1) = 3
aintValues(2) = 17
aintValues(3) = 1
aintValues(4) = 7
objChart.Type = .Constants.chChartTypeColumnClustered
Call objChart.SetData(chDimSeriesName, .Constants.chDataLiteral, astrSeries)
Call objChart.SetData(chDimCategories, .Constants.chDataLiteral, astrHeaders)
Call objChart.SeriesCollection(0).SetData(.Constants.chDimValues, .Constants.chDataLiteral, aintValues)
End With
End Sub
Public Sub AddValuesFromSpreadsheet()
Dim objChart1 As ChChart
With ThisDisplay.ChartSpace1
Do While .Charts.Count > 0
ThisDisplay.ChartSpace1.Charts.Delete (0)
Loop
Set .DataSource = ThisDisplay.sstChartData
Set objChart1 = .Charts.Add
' Set the chart type.
objChart1.Type = .Constants.chChartTypeColumnClustered
' Display titles
objChart1.HasTitle = True
objChart1.Title.Caption = "Chart Title"
' Bind the series name to cell B1 in the first sheet of the spreadsheet
objChart1.SetData chDimSeriesNames, .Constants.chDataBound, "B1"
' Bind the category axis to cell A2:A28 in the first sheet of the spreadsheet.
objChart1.SetData chDimCategories, .Constants.chDataBound, "A2:A6"
' Bind the values of the data series to cells B2:B28 in the first sheet of the spreadsheet.
objChart1.SeriesCollection(0).SetData chDimValues, .Constants.chDataBound, "B2:B6"
End With
End Sub