VBA Code to Add Chart Objects and Series

Add a Chart
When you record a macro to add a chart object to a worksheet, Excel comes up with the
following code:
Sub RecordedAddChartObject()
'
' RecordedAddChartObject Macro
' Macro recorded 5/2/02 by Jon Peltier
'
Charts.Add
ActiveChart.ChartType = xlXYScatterLines
ActiveChart.SetSourceData Source:=Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A3:G14")
ActiveChart.Location Where:=xlLocationAsObject, Name:="Sheet1"
End Sub

Excel uses Charts.Add followed later by ActiveChart.Location to create a chart object, and
uses ActiveChart.SetSourceData to set all the series data in one shot. The coding is efficient
in terms of the small length of the code, but inflexxible in terms of your control over the
output.
In my examples I use ChartObjects.Add, which also requires (or allows) me to state the
position and size of the chart. This example does almost exactly what the recorded macro
above does:
Sub AddChartObject()
'
With ActiveSheet.ChartObjects.Add _
(Left:=100, Width:=375, Top:=75, Height:=225)
.Chart.SetSourceData Source:=Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A3:G14")
.Chart.ChartType = xlXYScatterLines
End With
End Sub

The difference in the charts produced by the recorded macro and by the amended code are
slight. The amended code positions and sizes the chart according to (Left:=100,
Width:=375, Top:=75, Height:=225), where these dimensions are in pixels. The Chart Wizard
creates a chart roughly half as wide and half as tall as the visible part of the worksheet
window, centered within the window (if you have frozen panes in the sheet, the chart is half
the size of the active pane, subject to certain minimum dimensions).

Errors in recorded macros

There are some instances when a recorded macro will contain code that will
not work properly. For example, a recorded macro always
puts ActiveChart.ChartTypeahead of ActiveChart.SetSourceData, but I have
reversed them in the code above. The steps given by the recorder work fine
for most chart types, but a few chart types cannot be correctly assigned until
the chart has been populated with sufficient data. In particular, code which

creates stock charts and bubble charts will fail if you do not reverse the
order of the steps.
When working with a surface or contour chart, Excel will let you manually
delete a series in the chart (via the Source Data dialog, because you cannot
select a single series in such a chart). You can record a macro to see the steps
you took. When you try to run the macro, however, it will crash on
the .Delete line in the macro. In most chart types the series can be
independently formatted, and they don't even have to be the same type,
leading to the ability to create custom combination charts. The problem with
surface or contour charts is that their series are not treated by VBA as
independent series. The trick in this case is to temporarily convert the surface
chart to another chart type, say, a line chart, delete the series, then convert
back to a surface chart.
In what I think of as "Marker charts", that is, XY and Line charts, VBA cannot
access certain series properties, including .Values, .XValues, and .Formula if
the source range of the series contains no chartable data (i.e., it consists of
blanks or errors). This severe inconvenience can be avoided if you change the
series type to an area or column chart type before accessing the forbidden
properties, then change it back to a Line or XY chart series.
Inefficiencies in recorded macros
Aside from error-raising macro problems, a recorded macro is less efficient,
because it mimics all the mouseclicks and keystrokes (every cough and
camera flash) that occurred while the recording was taking place. A recorded
macro clicks on every object to select it, then performs an action on the
selection:
ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).Select
Selection.TickLabels.Font.Bold = True
Selection.TickLabels.NumberFormat = "0.0"

Streamline your code by replacing all

the Object.Select plus Select.Property sequences with
shorter Object.Property statements:
ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).TickLabels.Font.Bold = True
ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).TickLabels.NumberFormat = "0.0"

If you have two or more property or method statements that work on the
same object, wrap them in a With/End With block:
With ActiveChart.Axes(xlValue).TickLabels
.Font.Bold = True
.NumberFormat = "0.0"
End With

There are other inefficiencies specific to charting, such as the Charts.Add . . .

ActiveChart.Location sequence which can be shortened to a

single ChartObjects.Addcommand, as discussed earlier in this page.

You may find it more convenient, in a longer procedure, to define some object variables.
The next procedure does the same as the two above, but it uses a ChartObject variable for
the new chart object that we create. If we need to refer to this chart object later in the
procedure, we can conveniently use the variable myChtObj.
Sub AddChartObject()
Dim myChtObj As ChartObject
'
Set myChtObj = ActiveSheet.ChartObjects.Add _
(Left:=100, Width:=375, Top:=75, Height:=225)
myChtObj.Chart.SetSourceData Source:=Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A3:G14")
myChtObj.Chart.ChartType = xlXYScatterLines
End Sub

You are not limited to using SetSourceData to define the data being charted. You can add the
series one-by-one, selecting the precise data you want, not what Excel will assume you
want.
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Add a Series
The following is a macro I recorded while adding a series using the Add command in the
Source Data dialog:
Sub RecordedAddSeries()
'
' RecordedAddSeries Macro
' Macro recorded 5/2/02 by Jon Peltier
'
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.NewSeries
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(6).XValues = "=Sheet1!R4C1:R14C1"
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(6).Values = "=Sheet1!R4C7:R14C7"
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(6).Name = "=Sheet1!R3C7"
End Sub

This is basically my preferred syntax, although the following has been neatened up in a few
ways. First, the index of the series is not mentioned in the code, so it's more readily reused.
Second, I can use the familiar A1 cell address notation, or any VBA range reference
technique.
Sub AddNewSeries()
With ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.NewSeries
.Name = ActiveSheet.Range("G3")
.Values = ActiveSheet.Range("G4:G14")
.XValues = ActiveSheet.Range("A4:A14")
End With
End Sub

And as shown below, this is very flexible. For example, you can adjust the code to insert a
string for the series name, a VBA array for X or Y values (X values in the following code), or
a reference to a defined range name (Y_Range for Y values).
Sub AddNewSeries()
With ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.NewSeries

.Name = "Fred"
.Values = "=Sheet1!Y_Range"
.XValues = Array(1, 2, 3)
End With
End Sub

As with the chart object variable above, you can define an object variable for the new chart
series being added. The following procedure assigns the variable MyNewSrs to the new chart
series it creates.
Sub AddNewSeries()
Dim MyNewSrs As Series
Set MyNewSrs = ActiveChart.SeriesCollection.NewSeries
With MyNewSrs
.Name = "Fred"
.Values = "=Sheet1!Y_Range"
.XValues = Array(1, 2, 3)
End With
End Sub
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Too Many Series?

When you create a chart, Excel looks at the selection, and tries to determine how many
series you want in the chart. In the Chart Wizard, you see this behavior in step 2, where the
Data Range is tentatively filled in for you. When creating a chart in code, you don't get this
chance to make it right, and your chart may have any number of series. It is best to clear
out all of these initial series, and start from scratch with the series you intend to add. This
macro clears the chart:
Sub RemoveUnwantedSeries()
With ActiveChart
Do Until .SeriesCollection.Count = 0
.SeriesCollection(1).Delete
Loop
End With
End Sub

The chart now appears completely blank, and the only object you can currently access is the
chart area. But you can now add series as shown above.
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Putting It All Together

Let's put the last few steps together, to produce a robust little procedure that will create a
chart sheet with exactly the right number of series in the right place, using the selected
range as the chart's data source. The first row contains the series labels, the first column
contains the X values, and the rest of the columns contain the Y values for each series.
Sub EmbeddedChartFromScratch()
Dim myChtObj As ChartObject
Dim rngChtData As Range
Dim rngChtXVal As Range
Dim iColumn As Long
' make sure a range is selected
If TypeName(Selection) <> "Range" Then Exit Sub
' define chart data
Set rngChtData = Selection

' define chart's X values

With rngChtData
Set rngChtXVal = .Columns(1).Offset(1).Resize(.Rows.Count - 1)
End With
' add the chart
Set myChtObj = ActiveSheet.ChartObjects.Add _
(Left:=250, Width:=375, Top:=75, Height:=225)
With myChtObj.Chart
' make an XY chart
.ChartType = xlXYScatterLines
' remove extra series
Do Until .SeriesCollection.Count = 0
.SeriesCollection(1).Delete
Loop
' add series from selected range, column by column
For iColumn = 2 To rngChtData.Columns.Count
With .SeriesCollection.NewSeries
.Values = rngChtXVal.Offset(, iCOlumn - 1)
.XValues = rngChtXVal
.Name = rngChtData(1, iColumn)
End With
Next
End With
End Sub

A similar approach is used in Interactive Chart Creation, which provides dialogs for the user
to select the range which will be covered by the chart and the range containing the data to
be charted. The series-by-series definition of X and Y ranges is described in Excel XY Chart
Variations with VBA to allow much more flexibility in the arrangement of the chart's source
data range. The Quick Chart Utility is based on this approach.
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VBA Code to Resize and Reposition Chart

Objects
Chart Object Size and Position
We learned above that it is easy to define the size and position of a chart at the time of its
creation:
Set myChtObj = ActiveSheet.ChartObjects.Add _
(Left:=100, Width:=375, Top:=75, Height:=225)

In the same way, we can position or size the chart, by changing the appropriate properties
of the ChartObject:
Sub ResizeAndRepositionChart()
' The ChartObject is the Chart's parent
With ActiveChart.Parent
.Left = 100
.Width = 375

.Top = 75
.Height = 225
End With
End Sub

To adjust a particular chart on the sheet, use With ActiveSheet.ChartObjects(1) in place

of With ActiveChart.Parent in the procedure above.
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Cover a Range with a Chart

You can easily configure the chart to cover a specific range of cells on the worksheet. To
cover the range D5:K25 with the active chart, run this procedure:
Sub CoverRangeWithChart()
Dim cht As Chart Object
Dim rng As Range
Set cht = ActiveChart.Parent
Set rng = ActiveSheet.Range("D5:K25")
cht.Left = rng.Left
cht.Width = rng.Width
cht.Top = rng.Top
cht.Height = rng.Height
End Sub
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Create an Array of Charts

Suppose you have a lot of charts on a worksheet, and you'd like to arrange them neatly. The
following procedure loops through the charts, resizes them to consistent dimensions, and
arranges them in systematic rows and columns:
Sub ArrangeMyCharts()
Dim iChart As Long
Dim nCharts As Long
Dim dTop As Double
Dim dLeft As Double
Dim dHeight As Double
Dim dWidth As Double
Dim nColumns As Long
dTop = 75
' top of first row of charts
dLeft = 100
' left of first column of charts
dHeight = 225 ' height of all charts
dWidth = 375
' width of all charts
nColumns = 3
' number of columns of charts
nCharts = ActiveSheet.ChartObjects.Count
For iChart = 1 To nCharts
With ActiveSheet.ChartObjects(iChart)
.Height = dHeight
.Width = dWidth
.Top = dTop + Int((iChart - 1) / nColumns) * dHeight
.Left = dLeft + ((iChart - 1) Mod nColumns) * dWidth
End With
Next
End Sub

========================
Programming Charts
Below we will look at two programs in Excel VBA. One program loops through all charts on a sheet and changes
each chart to a pie chart. The other program changes some properties of the first chart.
1. Create some charts (or download the Excel file).

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Place a command button on the worksheet and add the following code lines:
1. First, we need to declare a ChartObject object. The ChartObject object acts as a container for a Chart object. We
call the ChartObject cht but you can use any name.

Dim cht As ChartObject

2. The ChartObjects collection contains all the embedded charts on a single sheet. We want to loop through all charts
on the first sheet. Add the following For Each Next loop.
For Each cht In Worksheets(1).ChartObjects
Next cht
3. The Chart object represents a chart in a workbook. Add the following code line to the For Each Next loop to change
each chart to a pie chart.
cht.Chart.ChartType = xlPie
Note: again, cht acts as a container for the Chart object. We use the ChartType property to change the chart type. We
use the built-in constant xlPie to change each chart to a pie chart.
4. Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

Now we will change some properties of the first chart.

Place another command button on the worksheet and add the following code lines:

5. The ChartObjects collection contains all the embedded charts on a single sheet. Add the following code line to
activate the first chart:
Worksheets(1).ChartObjects(1).Activate
We can now refer to this chart as the ActiveChart.
6. Add the following code line to change the Chart title.
ActiveChart.ChartTitle.Text = "Sales Report"
7. Add the following code line to move the legend to the bottom of the chart:
ActiveChart.Legend.Position = xlBottom
8. Result when you click the command button on the sheet: