Recommend a good cheap generic charting package?

[shiphen]

Hi


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

Can anyone recommend a really good, simple cheap, generic graphics package to use instead of or with ms Excel ?


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

 

[Damon Ostrander]

Hi Shiperton,

I know Excel charts can be very frustrating until you get familiar with the ins and outs, and I know there are lots of third party packages out ther, but I think from what you describe Excel charts may still be your best bet.

I think the problem with the axis would be solved by using a Scatter chart type rather than Line. Scatter uses a Value type x-axis (rather than a category x-axis), which permits you to set the starting and ending values and the spacing between tics of the axis.

Also, since you are apparently reading the same type of data (same format, etc.) each day and plotting it the same way, I think you could benefit greatly from having a macro read the file and set up the plot. Once you have such a macro set up you should only need a couple clicks to generate each day's plot. If you are interested in obtaining such a macro, this board is a pretty good place to solicit it. You may not be able to get it all at once unless you are willing to pay for the support (because of the amount of time required), but if you can break the problem into bite-sized pieces you can probably get all the help you need for free by posting these pieces one at a time. If you need the help very quickly I suggest you request quotes.

I hope this helps.

Damon

 

[shiphen]

This may help. Here is a screengrab of the graph in its current form

If I'm going to pay for something I think it had better be a something I can re-use - i.e. Software!

I dont know ANYTHING about macros. If I really HAD to, I suppose I could learn... But my instincts are that Excel charting is just too damned inflexible and counter-intuitive - and that it is the wrong place to be investing yet more time/energy/money. Surely there MUST be something better out there at a half-reasonable price!

In this case all I want to do is swap the x and the y axes - but apparently even something that trivial is IMPOSSIBLE!

By the way YES, you could be correct about the Scatter type graph. It does at least allow me to control the X-axis better - e.g. make it end at the chosen number, plus have the scale start at 0 rather than 1!


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

 

[PaddyD]

excel's default charting techniques are fairly limited, but you can get some decent results with the application of some pretty straightfoward 'tricks'. have a look at the followin for some insights:

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/index.html

http://www.andypope.info/charts.htm

re:

"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. "

Charts chart, they don't summarise. You either need to do the summaries in advance, then plot them, or, and perhaps preferably, use a pivot chart, which will do the smmaries on the way.

 

[Damon Ostrander]

Hi again shiphen,

I think you will find PaddyD's links helpful. The peltiertech.com does address reversing X and Y, but I believe it will require that you switch to a Scatter plot type as I suggested.

If you make this plot type switch, reversing X and Y axes is quite easy to do manually. Simply right-click on the plot area and select Source Data. On the Series tab switch the ranges specified in the X values and Y values refedit boxes. Of course you will have to reformat the x and y axes' scales, etc. I suspect the peltiertech solution does all this for you automatically using a macro.

Are there other issues you have with the way the chart plots the data?

Damon