Hi,

Well, Excel _does_ X-Y graphs, but not this one.
I have, in the columns A, B, G, and E from row 7 to 5175, sequential time,
data, and data (and dummy data) , respectively.
When I make an X-Y plot using the time column for the X-axis, it plots as
expected.
But when I plot column B versus column D, I get column B on the Y-axis, and
the (relative?) row number on the X-axis. (There are gaps in the data, but
any gaps plot alright in a smaller data sub set, even if they are not
matched).
My workaround consists of plotting B versus D and E, and then remove E ;-)
Somehow it seems Excel won't make a proper X-Y plot properly if just two
columns are given. (because of the large number of rows? and/or the gaps,
and/or because the E column had no gaps)

Can anybody explain?

Best regards / Ake

Sorry, my "workaround" was a red herring. The problem remains... some data
sets still won't plot as X-Y/ Ake

If the data in the X range are not numeric (even if only one is not
numeric), then Excel will treat the values as labels, and use the counting
numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. as X values. If your blanks are "" returned by a
formula, you should know that "" is a piece of text, not a blank, and is
either treated as a zero or treated as a non-numeric X value.

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


"Ake" wrote in message
...
Sorry, my "workaround" was a red herring. The problem remains... some data
sets still won't plot as X-Y/ Ake

Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did my small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant the same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that the table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all empty cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are replying, so I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want the chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing IF(Condition;Something;"") to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

Yes, you are right. But that solves the plotting problem only- but it still
does show up as irritating (to me ;-) text in the table, rather than "empty
space". /Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are replying, so I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want the chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing IF(Condition;Something;"") to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

You can deal with the "irritating ... text" in the table by conditional
formatting, colouring the font white (or your cell's background colour) if
the cell satisfies the CF condition/ Formula is/ =ISNA(A1)
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes, you are right. But that solves the plotting problem only- but it
still
does show up as irritating (to me ;-) text in the table, rather than
"empty
space". /Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are replying, so
I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want the
chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing IF(Condition;Something;"")
to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant
the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

Yes thank you, that does the job. I still think that MS should consider a way
to imprint "Empty" in a cell from a formula, now that "" does not do that. /
Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You can deal with the "irritating ... text" in the table by conditional
formatting, colouring the font white (or your cell's background colour) if
the cell satisfies the CF condition/ Formula is/ =ISNA(A1)
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes, you are right. But that solves the plotting problem only- but it
still
does show up as irritating (to me ;-) text in the table, rather than
"empty
space". /Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are replying, so
I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want the
chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing IF(Condition;Something;"")
to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant
the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

"" has never done that. We have asked for such a BLANK() or NULL() function,
but have never seen such.

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


"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes thank you, that does the job. I still think that MS should consider a
way
to imprint "Empty" in a cell from a formula, now that "" does not do that.
/
Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You can deal with the "irritating ... text" in the table by conditional
formatting, colouring the font white (or your cell's background colour)
if
the cell satisfies the CF condition/ Formula is/ =ISNA(A1)
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes, you are right. But that solves the plotting problem only- but it
still
does show up as irritating (to me ;-) text in the table, rather than
"empty
space". /Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are replying,
so
I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want the
chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing
IF(Condition;Something;"")
to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did
my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant
the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that
the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all
empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

Would it really upset the VB syntax that much if "" was considered as empty
as if no characters at all had been entered?

/ Ã…ke

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

"" has never done that. We have asked for such a BLANK() or NULL() function,
but have never seen such.

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


"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes thank you, that does the job. I still think that MS should consider a
way
to imprint "Empty" in a cell from a formula, now that "" does not do that.
/
Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You can deal with the "irritating ... text" in the table by conditional
formatting, colouring the font white (or your cell's background colour)
if
the cell satisfies the CF condition/ Formula is/ =ISNA(A1)
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes, you are right. But that solves the plotting problem only- but it
still
does show up as irritating (to me ;-) text in the table, rather than
"empty
space". /Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are replying,
so
I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want the
chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing
IF(Condition;Something;"")
to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I did
my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought meant
the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that
the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all
empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to "think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake

That's the way it is.

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


"Ake" wrote in message
...
Would it really upset the VB syntax that much if "" was considered as
empty
as if no characters at all had been entered?

/ Åke

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

"" has never done that. We have asked for such a BLANK() or NULL()
function,
but have never seen such.

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


"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes thank you, that does the job. I still think that MS should consider
a
way
to imprint "Empty" in a cell from a formula, now that "" does not do
that.
/
Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You can deal with the "irritating ... text" in the table by
conditional
formatting, colouring the font white (or your cell's background
colour)
if
the cell satisfies the CF condition/ Formula is/ =ISNA(A1)
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Yes, you are right. But that solves the plotting problem only- but
it
still
does show up as irritating (to me ;-) text in the table, rather than
"empty
space". /Ake

"David Biddulph" wrote:

You have failed to quote any of the message to which you are
replying,
so
I
don't know what has already been suggested, but if you don't want
the
chart
to plot your "" as a zero value, try changing
IF(Condition;Something;"")
to
IF(Condition;Something;NA())
--
David Biddulph

"Ake" wrote in message
...
Thanks a lot Jon,

That's it. I did not realize that "" is in fact a string. And I
did
my
small
data set testing using "no data" instead of "" which I thought
meant
the
same
thing. So I got confused by the results.

So, how should I actually do IF(Condition;Something;"") then?
The reason I use it is that it works well on the Y-data, and that
the
table
I plot from looks "as clean as it is" (I don't want to fill all
empty
cells
with "########").

Is there a workaround, or even some way to force the plot to
"think
right".

Thank's again for clearing this up / Ake