Struggling to produce INCREDIBLY simple charts with Excel (v2003) - any recommendations?

Excel2003/WinXP


Hi

I am struggling to produce INCREDIBLY simple charts with Excel (v2003).

I am trying to *speed up* (i.e. reduce the number of clicks) to produce
a new chart.
To save time, I dont want to have to *do* anything to the source data
when it arrives.
This is partly because we are needing to paste in live data several
time a day (i.e. data that is added to/is changed as the day
progresses).

The data arrives as .CSV and it is one row per transaction e.g. like
this:

date,time,invoice_num
18/06/2006,01:19,INV10010341
18/06/2006,07:18,INV10010342
18/06/2006,07:31,INV10010343
18/06/2006,08:28,INV10010344
18/06/2006,08:32,INV10010345
18/06/2006,08:32,INV10010346
18/06/2006,08:54,INV10010347
18/06/2006,09:13,INV10010348

What did those nice people at the Excel forum tell you?
http://216.92.17.166/board2/index.ph...01a4565152a99b

DoobieDo wrote:
> What did those nice people at the Excel forum tell you?
> http://216.92.17.166/board2/index.ph...01a4565152a99b

I dont know I havent asked them yet.
Maybe I shall!

Ship
Shiperton Henethe

> To save time, I dont want to have to *do* anything to the source data
> when it arrives.

Unfortunately your data is not arranged to be easy to make any kind of
chart. Your X data is the second column of the imported file, and I think
your Y data is derived from the third column. Do you want simply number of
transactions at a given time, or a cumulative count? Either way you'll need
some analysis, whether by formulas, pivot table, or VBA procedure. You have
to provide some numerical values for Excel to plot.

> I have then added the time column (i.e. the second column - col "B") of
> each datasheet to be a Data Series for the chart.
.....
> I would like time to go along the X-axis but Excel puts it on the Y
> axis! (Why?!)

A data series consists of a set of X values and a matching set of Y values.
If you add the second column by itself to an existing chart, the only
logical thing for Excel to assume is that these are Y values to be charted
against the already plotted X values.

> Plus I cant get the X-axis to start at zero - it seems to insist on
> starting at 1 (not 0)!!

If Excel cannot parse your X values as anything numeric, or if you are
making a Line chart (rather than an XY chart), Excel is likely to simply
assign the X values as categorical labels, then count them starting with 1
the way young children learn to count.

BTW, what are these groups: alt.comp.shareware, alt.www.webmaster?

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com
_______



"ship" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Excel2003/WinXP
>
>
> Hi
>
> I am struggling to produce INCREDIBLY simple charts with Excel (v2003).
>
> I am trying to *speed up* (i.e. reduce the number of clicks) to produce
> a new chart.
> To save time, I dont want to have to *do* anything to the source data
> when it arrives.
> This is partly because we are needing to paste in live data several
> time a day (i.e. data that is added to/is changed as the day
> progresses).
>
> The data arrives as .CSV and it is one row per transaction e.g. like
> this:
>
> date,time,invoice_num
> 18/06/2006,01:19,INV10010341
> 18/06/2006,07:18,INV10010342
> 18/06/2006,07:31,INV10010343
> 18/06/2006,08:28,INV10010344
> 18/06/2006,08:32,INV10010345
> 18/06/2006,08:32,INV10010346
> 18/06/2006,08:54,INV10010347
> 18/06/2006,09:13,INV10010348
> .
> .
> etc
>
>
> I have imported each .CSV file into Excel, with one day per worksheet.
> And I have created a basic Line chart.
> I have then added the time column (i.e. the second column - col "B") of
> each datasheet to be a Data Series for the chart.
>
> I am trying to chart time vs. number of transactions (within a 24 hour
> period). And I also need to see more than one day's performance on the
> same chart.
>
>
> Problem:
> I would like time to go along the X-axis but Excel puts it on the Y
> axis! (Why?!)
>
> I am also struggling to get the X-axis to be along the BOTTOM, rather
> then the top
> of the chart!
> Plus I cant get the X-axis to start at zero - it seems to insist on
> starting at 1 (not 0)!!
>
> I am on the point of dispair - I dont need anything complex, 3D etc -
> but I just cant
> get Excel to do the basics.
>
> - Any thoughts?
> - Are there any Excel charting plug-ins to make life easier?
> - Or is there something good and cheap (i.e. less than $25.00) that is
> intuitive that comes highly recommended instead of Excel?!
>
>
> Ship
> Shiperton Henethe
>