Creating Custom PivotChart

[andyski101]

I am trying to make a special kind of blob chart. It has to mimic the charts I have attached. I have a high number and a low number for everything that someone might want to put on the axes. The eventual goal is to have a form were the user selects what goes on each axis, and have a few other possible choices to limit how much is displayed. What I am making doesn't have to be as fancy, flexablity is more important. Can Access make this kind of graph or am I on my own, making shapes in VBA?

http://www-materials.eng.cam.ac.uk/mpsite/interactive_charts/energy-cost/generics.jpg
http://www-materials.eng.cam.ac.uk/mpsite/interactive_charts/energy-cost/metals.jpg

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Holy guacamole! Methinks you have something that is not necessarily within the realm of normal Access operations. NOR does it obviously stand out as an Excel or Graph function. But ya know, you might look into Power Point, which ALSO exposes itself to COM (ActiveX, Automation, Application Object) activities. Power Point gives itself over to more ... irregular, I guess is the word ... graphic shapes than the other major Office apps do. Yeah, I know, they all use the same graphics libraries, but it is the interfaces that cause the trouble, not the libraries.

Let's get one thing flat-out understood... you need a LOT of data to define the shapes you showed. Even if you accepted approximations - like substituting canted or slanted ovals in place of your free-form individual blobs - you are looking at a lot of automation. A LOT of automation.

If you are only going to do this a few times, it ain't worth the effort. If you are trying to make a product like this, you need to think direct VB, not VBA, and process your data accordingly. This level of graphics violates most of the assumptions normally made for Access, Excel, Word, and Graph. Not that it isn't a legit concept, but those programs are made like they are precisely because of the assumptions made during their setup.

All I can say is, good luck. You'll need it.

 

[andyski101]

Ya, there is definetly alot of data, but we are not looking at being as neat. The engineers only need a rough idea. This is something that they want to use here for a long time to come. I actually rememebered something I did in high school in VB with sorting and drawing lines so I'm going to give that a shot. If it doesn't work, no big deal, I'm only here for another month so they can't get too upset.

 

[andyski101]

OK, well, after a month I have done it. Using alot of VBA code and creating objects in a new form I found a way to create my own graphs. No, it isn't as pretty as what I have links to, but its all that they needed here. If anyone is ever interested I am very willing to share the code.