Having trouble formatting excel chart using Chart Wizard command.

Question

Problem Description :
Trying to create an excel chart derived from an excel spreadsheet. Having trouble understanding the parameters to format in the Chart Wizard function to get the desired results. There are no error messages, just chart is not what expected.
Goal:
Chart with temperature on the left, y-axis. 3 lines on the graph for min meas temp, avg meas temp, max meas temp.
Bottom x-axis should contain year/month values.
Chart Wizard command:
status = ExcelRpt_ChartWizard (chart_temperature_handle, chart_data_worksheet_handle, D1:G3, ExRConst_GalleryLine, ExRConst_Rows, 0, 0, 0, 1, "Temperature Stats", "Year/Month", "Temp F", NULL)
NI Software : LabWindows/CVI version 8.0.1
NI Hardware : None device
Driver Version :
OS : Windows XP
Customer Information :
Mary Claflin
Technology Kitchen Corporation
US
[email protected]
Ph: [phone]

Answer 1

Hi Mary,
Looking at the Chart Wizard within Excel, it appears as though the only
chart type that allows us to give a series of values for our XAxis
would be the XY Scatter plot. There IS an option for this when using
the CVI Excel Report function calls (specifying
ExRConst_GalleryXYScatter for the plot type).
However, it appears that there are not any Excel report chart functions
available in CVI to specify anything other than the general "series"
object. When this object is sent through as a variant data type to
Excel, Excel appears to automatically convert this single object into
separate data series. This is because Excel is not immediately aware
that we are attempting to use a Scatter plot, and thus must convert
each column into a separate series. There is no object defined in the
Excel report that would be able to handle the "Xseries" and "Yseries"
option that are seen in the chart creation wizard within Excel. Thus,
we have no way of specifying a different set of data for our XAxis.
It appears as though, at least for our own CVI functions, that there is
no way to accomplish your goal. Since CVI is based around C - we CAN
call any ActiveX client registered on the system. Because of this, we
should be able to talk with Excel directly without the help of the CVI
Excel Report functions, although this may be more difficult.
I haven't been able to find any specific C example code, but here is
the Excel Object Model on which calls to Excel will most likely be
based:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dv_wrcore/html/wrconexcelobjectmodeloverview.asp
Sorry for the inconvenience Mary.
Dan Weiland