Hi Jon,

CategoryNames - excellent, I think that's the key.

In a light test this seems to work for my purposes

Sub test()
Dim b As Boolean
Dim i As Long
Dim idx As Long
Dim nAxGp As Long
Dim sRes As String
Dim sr As Series
Dim ch As Chart
Dim ax As Axis
Dim vCat(1 To 2)
Dim vXvals

Set ch = ActiveChart

For i = 1 To 2 ' test assumes a two x-axis chart
Set ax = ch.Axes(xlCategory, i)
vCat(i) = ax.CategoryNames
Next

idx = 0
For Each sr In ch.SeriesCollection
idx = idx + 1
nAxGp = sr.AxisGroup

If idx = 1 Then
' 1st series always returns category labels
sRes = "cat-labels: " & nAxGp

ElseIf UBound(sr.XValues) < UBound(vCat(nAxGp)) Then
' no need to bother comparing
sRes = "own x-values"
Else
vXvals = sr.XValues
For i = 1 To UBound(vXvals) ' always 1 base
If vXvals(i) < vCat(nAxGp)(i) Then
b = True
Exit For
End If
Next
If b Then
sRes = "own x-values"
b = False
Else
sRes = "cat-labels " & nAxGp
End If
End If

Debug.Print "S" & idx & " " & sRes

Next

End Sub

Do you see any problems / ommisions

Thanks for the link to j-walk's series class. I will look at this in more
detail though I already have my own routine to parse series-formulas which I
think caters for a few more rare scenarios.

Many thanks,
Peter T


"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
Peter -

It depends on a number of factors.

An XY series has its own numerical X values.

If the chart has a category axis, this variant array contains the category
labels:

vLabels = ActiveChart.Axes(xlCategory, xlPrimary).CategoryNames

I suppose you could compare vLabels to

vXValues = ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(1).XValues

which returns the X values but no information about the range containing
these values. If the series has no specified X values, the above simply
returns the array {1,2,3,...}. To extract the range, or to determine if
the
X values are unspecified, you have to parse the series formula (or use
John
Walkenbach's Chart Series class module:
http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/tips/tip83.htm)

In any case, the first series in the axis group supplies the CategoryNames
array. Series which go with category axes use the category names array,
even
if they have different X values. In an XY chart, the X values of the first
series become the CategoryNames array, even though this is decoupled from
the axis scaling, and even though each series can have distinct X values
which are treated independently.

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


"Peter T" <peter_t@discussions wrote in message
...
Hi All,

First to pre-empt confusion, there's a potential difference between
terms
XValues and x-values in the following.

Typically series XValues are 1st or 2nd Category X-axis labels. However
in
some types of charts the XValues are actual x-values, not labels.

In the chart wizard category labels are shown at the bottom of the
dialog.
Labels are common to the chart rather than individual series. If a
series
does not have its 'own' x-values it's XValues are labels related to its
AxisGroup (xlPrimary or xlSecondary).

X-values are shown in the box between Name & Y-Values, mid right of the
dialog (the box only appears if the series is capable of having its
'own'
x-values). These are unique to the series.

If a series has XValues I want to determine if these are its own
x-values
as
distinct from common category labels.

Regards,
Peter T