Stacked column chart narrow bars wanted

[SysMod]

I have three series that I am plotting against categories.
They are a base value and a delta, and a marker series.
By stacking them and hiding the base I get a floating bar showing the size
of the delta for each category. By showing the marker series as a linechart
with markers only I get a symbol showing where this value fits in the range.

Ideally I would like a bar chart, categories on the vertical axis, and
values from 0 to 100% on the horizontal axis, with very narrow bars -
thinner than what I can get with 500% gapwidth.

To get that I am plotting to give a floating column chart and pasting that
sideways to Powerpoint. Convoluted, yes, but AFAIK I need to use a stacked
column chart to get floating bars with one series as markers.

At the moment it gives me fairly thick lines for the bars by setting
..gapwidth to 500%. Is there a better way?

Thanks!
Patrick

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Maybe this will help.
http://www.andypope.info/ngs/ng43.htm

You would need to add another series to the primary axis in order to get
your floating bars.

In excel the combination of bar chart and xy-scatter makes it much easier to
create.

Cheers
Andy

 

[SysMod]

Thanks, Andy, good to hear from you.

Maybe this will help.
http://www.andypope.info/ngs/ng43.htm

As you say
"the bar gap width is set to the maximum, in order to get a smaller
thickness as possible "

which is what I am doing .. I want them even narrower.
My current effort is at
http://www.sysmod.com/horzcol.jpg

I wonder if I tried a high-low-close chart would that do, as long as I can
get categories on the vertical axis and the scale on the horizontal?

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi Patrick,

Sorry I was being slow making the connection, Patrick+SysMod.

How about Adding a custom Error bar to the series being used as the padding
bar.
Use a custom + value which is based on the values used for the bar. You can
then format that series to have no fill or border as well.
Only draw back is that I don't think MS graph will allow custom error bar
values.

If you still have problems drop me an email.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Andy Pope]

This works better and in both excel and msgraph.

Apply Error bar to actual data series rather than the padding series.
Use Minus 100%. Format error bar to give skinniest line.

Cheers
Andy

 

[SysMod]

Apply Error bar to actual data series rather than the padding series.
Use Minus 100%. Format error bar to give skinniest line.

Thanks, Andy, that may be the best.

In the meantime, I discovered (!) that one can have MORE than one series in
an XY chart, each with its own datalabels, lines, etc.
So by creating a start chart and then adding 13 series I got the effect I
wanted.

However, I now have another problem, which I will post separately -
..datalabel.left and .top are returning -1#.IND (ie NaN).

P.