I got a request from a user to display dots like a trend graph -- in a cell
adjacent to another cell in a row - for each of several rows. The dots don't
vary too much, and I was thinking I could draw these dots on VBA label
controls and place these labels in the cell for each row. Actually, I'm not
sure if I could draw dots inside of a VBA label control. My other
alternative would be to create a custom label in .Net an add that as a custom
control to Excel. Is there something simpler I could do within Excel before
I go crazy with .Net on this?

Thanks,
Rich

You could just use shapes, but whatever you use they will not be "in" the
cell, which means you always have to be careful to reposition them if the
end-user (eg) sorts the data.

Tim


"Rich" wrote in message
...
I got a request from a user to display dots like a trend graph -- in a cell
adjacent to another cell in a row - for each of several rows. The dots
don't
vary too much, and I was thinking I could draw these dots on VBA label
controls and place these labels in the cell for each row. Actually, I'm
not
sure if I could draw dots inside of a VBA label control. My other
alternative would be to create a custom label in .Net an add that as a
custom
control to Excel. Is there something simpler I could do within Excel
before
I go crazy with .Net on this?

Thanks,
Rich

Maybe the open source TinyGraphs add-in located here would be acceptable...

http://www.spreadsheetml.com/products.html

--
Rick (MVP - Excel)


"Rich" wrote in message
...
I got a request from a user to display dots like a trend graph -- in a cell
adjacent to another cell in a row - for each of several rows. The dots
don't
vary too much, and I was thinking I could draw these dots on VBA label
controls and place these labels in the cell for each row. Actually, I'm
not
sure if I could draw dots inside of a VBA label control. My other
alternative would be to create a custom label in .Net an add that as a
custom
control to Excel. Is there something simpler I could do within Excel
before
I go crazy with .Net on this?

Thanks,
Rich

Depends how complex this dots pattern is and what it represents, you can use
symbols such as —¦™¦—‹—�—˜—™˜º

Dan

"Tim Williams" wrote:

You could just use shapes, but whatever you use they will not be "in" the
cell, which means you always have to be careful to reposition them if the
end-user (eg) sorts the data.

Tim


"Rich" wrote in message
...
I got a request from a user to display dots like a trend graph -- in a cell
adjacent to another cell in a row - for each of several rows. The dots
don't
vary too much, and I was thinking I could draw these dots on VBA label
controls and place these labels in the cell for each row. Actually, I'm
not
sure if I could draw dots inside of a VBA label control. My other
alternative would be to create a custom label in .Net an add that as a
custom
control to Excel. Is there something simpler I could do within Excel
before
I go crazy with .Net on this?

Thanks,
Rich


.

With a percentage in A1

Enter this in B1

=REPT(CHAR(149),A1*CELL("width",B1))


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP



On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:59:03 -0800, Rich
wrote:

I got a request from a user to display dots like a trend graph -- in a cell
adjacent to another cell in a row - for each of several rows. The dots don't
vary too much, and I was thinking I could draw these dots on VBA label
controls and place these labels in the cell for each row. Actually, I'm not
sure if I could draw dots inside of a VBA label control. My other
alternative would be to create a custom label in .Net an add that as a custom
control to Excel. Is there something simpler I could do within Excel before
I go crazy with .Net on this?

Thanks,
Rich

Thanks all for the replies. Here is what I would have the dots look like in
some container:

—� —� —� —�
—� —� —� —�
—� —� —� —�

I am thinking displaying these dots in a label or some shape object would be
the most logical thing. The rows are a few rows apart, and this report
would be printed out so not to worry about a user reordering the data. The
other catch is that I would like to automate the placing of these dots.

Maybe the tiny graph suggestion may be an option. Will have to look into
that. Otherwise, I could create a custom library (dll) control in C# to com
that could draw dots like this and add that lib to my excel proj, but ideally
I would like to avoid adding dependencies to the Excel proj.


"Gord Dibben" wrote:

With a percentage in A1

Enter this in B1

=REPT(CHAR(149),A1*CELL("width",B1))


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP



On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:59:03 -0800, Rich
wrote:

I got a request from a user to display dots like a trend graph -- in a cell
adjacent to another cell in a row - for each of several rows. The dots don't
vary too much, and I was thinking I could draw these dots on VBA label
controls and place these labels in the cell for each row. Actually, I'm not
sure if I could draw dots inside of a VBA label control. My other
alternative would be to create a custom label in .Net an add that as a custom
control to Excel. Is there something simpler I could do within Excel before
I go crazy with .Net on this?

Thanks,
Rich

.