Excel 2007 Issue: Charting numerous strings of data

Hello,

I am trying to make an x-y line graph that contains numerous different
strings of data. These data sets all share the same x values, but the
different strings do not have the same number of data points (10 data points,
15 data points, and 20 data points)
When these are all charted together, the shorter strings plot fine until the
end of the data points, then the lines all go to the origin. After
experimenting a little I found out that only the longest string displays
properly. All strings shorter than the 20 point line are graphed properly,
except after that last point the line goes back the origin and ends there.
If all of the strings are the same length, there are no problems, so I
thought what if I select blank cells for the remaining 20 points? no dice,
then excel interprets that at that x-location the value is zero and plots it
as such. Excel 2003 understood if there is no data in the cell, don't plot
it.
Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone been able to fix it?

A couple of points:
1) The normal way with multiple data series is for the empty cells to be
treated as zero.
2) It is possible to tell Excel to not plot empty cells (click chart; use
Tools | Options and open the Chart tab; look for the box
3) IF you put =NA() in the empty cells (without the need to use the Tools |
Option), Excel will ignore the empty cells
4) There are many, many things wrong with the chart feature in the beta
version of Excel 2007 - you are not expected to use it for production work.
5) The correct term is "data series" not "string". The later means (to
computer nerds) a string of characters , i.e. a bit of text.
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove caps from email

"Hunter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to make an x-y line graph that contains numerous different
> strings of data. These data sets all share the same x values, but the
> different strings do not have the same number of data points (10 data
> points,
> 15 data points, and 20 data points)
> When these are all charted together, the shorter strings plot fine until
> the
> end of the data points, then the lines all go to the origin. After
> experimenting a little I found out that only the longest string displays
> properly. All strings shorter than the 20 point line are graphed
> properly,
> except after that last point the line goes back the origin and ends there.
> If all of the strings are the same length, there are no problems, so I
> thought what if I select blank cells for the remaining 20 points? no
> dice,
> then excel interprets that at that x-location the value is zero and plots
> it
> as such. Excel 2003 understood if there is no data in the cell, don't
> plot
> it.
> Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone been able to fix it?

lol, I knew strings didn't sound right, but could not think of the proper
term and I figured you would know what I meant...

"Bernard Liengme" wrote:

> A couple of points:
> 1) The normal way with multiple data series is for the empty cells to be
> treated as zero.
> 2) It is possible to tell Excel to not plot empty cells (click chart; use
> Tools | Options and open the Chart tab; look for the box
> 3) IF you put =NA() in the empty cells (without the need to use the Tools |
> Option), Excel will ignore the empty cells
> 4) There are many, many things wrong with the chart feature in the beta
> version of Excel 2007 - you are not expected to use it for production work.
> 5) The correct term is "data series" not "string". The later means (to
> computer nerds) a string of characters , i.e. a bit of text.
> best wishes
> --
> Bernard V Liengme
> www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
> remove caps from email
>
> "Hunter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am trying to make an x-y line graph that contains numerous different
> > strings of data. These data sets all share the same x values, but the
> > different strings do not have the same number of data points (10 data
> > points,
> > 15 data points, and 20 data points)
> > When these are all charted together, the shorter strings plot fine until
> > the
> > end of the data points, then the lines all go to the origin. After
> > experimenting a little I found out that only the longest string displays
> > properly. All strings shorter than the 20 point line are graphed
> > properly,
> > except after that last point the line goes back the origin and ends there.
> > If all of the strings are the same length, there are no problems, so I
> > thought what if I select blank cells for the remaining 20 points? no
> > dice,
> > then excel interprets that at that x-location the value is zero and plots
> > it
> > as such. Excel 2003 understood if there is no data in the cell, don't
> > plot
> > it.
> > Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone been able to fix it?
>
>
>

I haven't found how to stop plotting empty cells in the beta yet, so if you
know where that is please let me know. If not, no biggie because I didn't
know about =NA(). That fixed it, thank you!

I had fought so hard to fix that....the main reason I upgraded to the beta
was so I could have really nice looking charts for my thesis, but I didn't
anticipate having that problem.

"Bernard Liengme" wrote:

> A couple of points:
> 1) The normal way with multiple data series is for the empty cells to be
> treated as zero.
> 2) It is possible to tell Excel to not plot empty cells (click chart; use
> Tools | Options and open the Chart tab; look for the box
> 3) IF you put =NA() in the empty cells (without the need to use the Tools |
> Option), Excel will ignore the empty cells
> 4) There are many, many things wrong with the chart feature in the beta
> version of Excel 2007 - you are not expected to use it for production work.
> 5) The correct term is "data series" not "string". The later means (to
> computer nerds) a string of characters , i.e. a bit of text.
> best wishes
> --
> Bernard V Liengme
> www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
> remove caps from email
>
> "Hunter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am trying to make an x-y line graph that contains numerous different
> > strings of data. These data sets all share the same x values, but the
> > different strings do not have the same number of data points (10 data
> > points,
> > 15 data points, and 20 data points)
> > When these are all charted together, the shorter strings plot fine until
> > the
> > end of the data points, then the lines all go to the origin. After
> > experimenting a little I found out that only the longest string displays
> > properly. All strings shorter than the 20 point line are graphed
> > properly,
> > except after that last point the line goes back the origin and ends there.
> > If all of the strings are the same length, there are no problems, so I
> > thought what if I select blank cells for the remaining 20 points? no
> > dice,
> > then excel interprets that at that x-location the value is zero and plots
> > it
> > as such. Excel 2003 understood if there is no data in the cell, don't
> > plot
> > it.
> > Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone been able to fix it?
>
>
>

There are no NEW charts in Excel 2007. It just that the use of galleries
gives you more ideas of what is possible!
best wishes with thesis
--
Bernard V Liengme
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove caps from email

"Hunter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I haven't found how to stop plotting empty cells in the beta yet, so if you
> know where that is please let me know. If not, no biggie because I didn't
> know about =NA(). That fixed it, thank you!
>
> I had fought so hard to fix that....the main reason I upgraded to the beta
> was so I could have really nice looking charts for my thesis, but I didn't
> anticipate having that problem.
>
> "Bernard Liengme" wrote:
>
>> A couple of points:
>> 1) The normal way with multiple data series is for the empty cells to be
>> treated as zero.
>> 2) It is possible to tell Excel to not plot empty cells (click chart; use
>> Tools | Options and open the Chart tab; look for the box
>> 3) IF you put =NA() in the empty cells (without the need to use the Tools
>> |
>> Option), Excel will ignore the empty cells
>> 4) There are many, many things wrong with the chart feature in the beta
>> version of Excel 2007 - you are not expected to use it for production
>> work.
>> 5) The correct term is "data series" not "string". The later means (to
>> computer nerds) a string of characters , i.e. a bit of text.
>> best wishes
>> --
>> Bernard V Liengme
>> www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
>> remove caps from email
>>
>> "Hunter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > I am trying to make an x-y line graph that contains numerous different
>> > strings of data. These data sets all share the same x values, but the
>> > different strings do not have the same number of data points (10 data
>> > points,
>> > 15 data points, and 20 data points)
>> > When these are all charted together, the shorter strings plot fine
>> > until
>> > the
>> > end of the data points, then the lines all go to the origin. After
>> > experimenting a little I found out that only the longest string
>> > displays
>> > properly. All strings shorter than the 20 point line are graphed
>> > properly,
>> > except after that last point the line goes back the origin and ends
>> > there.
>> > If all of the strings are the same length, there are no problems, so I
>> > thought what if I select blank cells for the remaining 20 points? no
>> > dice,
>> > then excel interprets that at that x-location the value is zero and
>> > plots
>> > it
>> > as such. Excel 2003 understood if there is no data in the cell, don't
>> > plot
>> > it.
>> > Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone been able to fix it?
>>
>>
>>