Macro Error Using MAIN.CHART() Function (114521)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 5.0c
This article was previously published under Q114521

SUMMARY

If you use the MAIN.CHART() function to format a chart in Microsoft Excel version 5.x or 7.0, you receive a macro error when you run the macro.

CAUSE

This is by design in Microsoft Excel versions 5.x and 7.0. The MAIN.CHART() function is designed for use in Microsoft Excel version 2.2 or earlier. Because you can format the chart type for an individual series in a chart in Microsoft Excel versions 5.x and 7.0, a chart macro function designed for an earlier version of Microsoft Excel may not give the expected results when you use it in Microsoft Excel 5.x or 7.0.

These functions are listed in the Microsoft Excel Macro Functions Help in Microsoft Excel version 5.0, but are included only for macro compatibility with earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

WORKAROUND

To edit a chart in Microsoft Excel 5.x or 7.0 using a macro, you can use the specific Microsoft Excel 5.x/7.0 macro chart commands either in a Microsoft Excel 4.0 macro or in a Visual Basic macro.

The following Visual Basic macro example formats the second series on the Chart1 sheet as a pie chart: 
   Sheets("Chart1").Select
   ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(2).Type = xlPie
Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic procedures for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This Visual Basic procedure is provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that it can be used in all situations. Microsoft does not support modifications of this procedure to suit customer requirements for a particular purpose.

Note that a line that is preceded by an apostrophe introduces a comment in the code--comments are provided to explain what the code is doing at a particular point in the procedure. Note also that an underscore character (_) indicates that code continues from one line to the next. You can type lines that contain this character as one logical line or you can divide the lines of code and include the line continuation character. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications programming style, see the "Programming Style in This Manual" section in the "Document Conventions" section of the "Visual Basic User's Guide."

MORE INFORMATION

Note that although the following chart macro functions are also provided only for macro compatibility with earlier version of Microsoft Excel, they do not cause a macro error when you use them in a version 4.0 macro in Microsoft Excel version 5.x or 7.0:

COPY.CHART()
EDIT.SERIES()
FORMAT.MAIN()
FORMAT.OVERLAY()
OVERLAY()
SELECT.CHART()
SELECT.PLOT.AREA()

REFERENCES

For more information about MAIN.CHART, choose the Search button in Microsoft Excel Macro Functions Help and type:

MAIN.CHART function

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/15/2005
Keywords:KB114521
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